NKP 765 - May 25, 2013

Hi, NS ran 3 public steam powered excursion trips powered by former NKP 2-8-4 #765 over the Memorial Day weekend.  The trips ran from Lewistown, PA around Horseshoe Curve to Gallitzin, PA and return.  The train deadheaded from and to Enola yard so it could be turned on the wye at the west end of the Rockville Bridge.

At 6:00 AM on Saturday, May 25 friends Bill Kalkman, Jim Kleeman, and Tom Bunjon, and I left Jim's house and began a 2 day chase to photograph the train.  This would be my first opportunity to photograph this engine.

Our first location was at Fostoria, PA, a few miles north of Altoona, where the special arrived a few minutes after 10:00 AM after the passage of 2 freights; one eastbound and one westbound.

We easily beat the train to the Brickyard on the south side of Altoona.

We used the road past Horseshoe Curve to get to Gallitzin and reached the track outside of the Portage Tunnel just ahead of the train.  It stopped here so that the jumper cables between the water tender and the lead diesel could be disconnected.  This allowed the diesels to control the train using their dynamic brakes as it descended the grade back to Altoona.

The Dover Harbor, owned by the Washington D.C. Chapter, NRHS, brought up the markers.

The 17th Street overpass in Altoona provided our next vantage point.

The train passed the now closed Alto tower as it crossed over to reach the station platform for a 2 hour lunch stop.  We used this opportunity for a fuel and food stop.

Jim Kleeman's research before our trip indicated there would be a good sun angle at Mapleton.

We were able to get ahead of the train again for a shot as it returned to Lewistown.

While the passengers detrained at Lewistown we made our way to Mifflintown.  A tie train waited on a siding.

Our final location, again as a result of Jim's research, was just outside of Newport.

We spent the night at a Day's Inn on the north side of Harrisburg.  I hope you enjoyed these photos.  I will post the May 26 results soon.

Cass Railfan Weekend - 2

Hi, On Thursday, 5/16 Jeremy, Dave and I met up with the Dale Diacont, the fourth member of our group, at Cheat Bridge, WV.  This was the starting point for a full day of photography along the routes of the New Tygart Flyer and the Durbin Rocket.

Our train along the route was led by F units painted for the Western Maryland Railroad.

We were accompanied by a short freight train with a geep and caboose painted in B&O colors.  In the photo below the freight is backing up.

We had a number of really good photo stops with multiple runbys in remote locations.  Only a few are presented.

After passengers who so desired detrained at the High Falls of the Cheat the train proceeded up the line a few miles to a siding so that the locomotives could run around the train.  Lunch service, which was included, started while we were on our way back to the falls.

Back at the High Falls of the Cheat there was another opportunity for photos.  We were told this is the sharpest mainline curve in North America.

Below are photos at two more photo locations.

The trip behind the F units ended about 3:00 PM and we drove a few miles to Durbin for a short trip on the Durbin Rocket powered by this Climax Locomotive.

Durbin is a classic West Virginia mountain town.

Our route was on trackage formerly owned by the C&O/Chessie System.  The Cass Scenic Railroad took possession of the route between Cass and Durbin when Chessie abandoned its Greenbrier Division in 1978.  This severed Cass Scenic Railroad's connection to the outside world.

After our trip on the Rocket it was time to repair to the firehouse for a chicken dinner, included with the trip.  I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Cass Railfan Weekeend - 1

Hi,The weekend began on May 14, 2013 with diesel power, not steam.  I picked up friend Dave Busse, who flew in from California for the weekend, at Dulles Airport and we immediately headed to Manassas, VA to see what we could find.  First up was a VRE commuter train,

followed a few minutes later by Amtrak's Crescent.

The conductor soon was on the platform checking people in with his iphone.  After the Crescent departed we left to get dinner and hit the sack.

The next day we were joined by friend Jeremy Beck.  We elected to check out Sand Patch on our way to Elkins, WV where we would spend the night.  Unfortunately, there were only 3 trains between about 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM.  One of these was a work train dropping ties at Hyndman, PA.  He cleared up so that Q352, shown below, could cross over from Track 1 to 2.

Then the work train, WR74, went back to work.

Work equipment was parked on a siding just west of Sand Patch summit.  We assumed it was for use in increasing clearance in tunnels.  Note that what looks like a locomotive actually has rubber tractor wheels for traction and small flanged wheels at the ends.

The final train we saw was Q368, shown here just short of the summit.

We easily beat it to the western outskirts of Cumberland, MD.

After the passage of Q368 it was time to head for Elkins and dinner.  I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Sri Lanka and India

Hi,This post contains railroad photos taken on a recent trip my wife and I made.  The first part of the trip was a 2 week cruise on the Azamara Journey from Singapore to Mumbai with stops in Penang, Malaysia; Colombo, Sri Lanka and Cochin and Goa in India.

One of the shore excursions we took while in Colombo was to an elephant orphanage in Kegalle. We traveled to Kegalle by train, returning by bus.  Our special train consisted of 3 cars, two observation cars spiced by a car for serving snacks.  The observation cars were air conditioned but the the food service car was not.

The car was nicely decorated with wood trim.

There were some opportunities from the train, here as we exited the station.

Manual labor was in much evidence, both here and in India.  Control of operations was through towers.

When we arrived in Kegalle I asked for and was given permission to go to the head of the train for a picture.  The locomotive was built by Henschel. 

While we were boarding the bus to the orphanage a regular service train pulled up alongside our equipment.

The regular service train followed our equipment out of the station, shown here through the bus window. 

After the cruise we disembarked from the train and began a 5 night odyssey that took us to three cities in northern India.  This provided my second, and last, opportunity for railfan photography.  I was dropped off by our coach near a railroad station in our first city, Jaipur.  The first train was just sitting in the station.  It remained there for the roughly one hour I hung around.  By the way, while I was there no body bothered or questioned me.

The station is typical of India Railways; it is very busy.  Our guide told us India Railways handles over 10 million passengers per year.

Another train arrived while I was shooting.

Unloading and loading occurred on both the platform side and the track side of the train.

Even on long distance trains some people either hang out of the doors or sit at them.

A second train arrived, this time headed in the opposite direction.

At the same time as the train in the photo above arrived, a freight passed through the station.  Had I known it was coming I probably would have opted to photograph it.

After getting the photo above I walked back to our hotel.

I found the railroads in India to be very interesting and only regret I did not have more opportunities shoot them.  I will be posting a series of non rail photos in the next few weeks.  In the mean time I hope you enjoyed these.

Railfanning 3-30-2013

Hi, Friend Rudy Volin and I spent the day in the Lebanon, PA area.  Our main objective was to check out progress on the 9th and 10th Street Bridges being built over the NS Harrisburg Line in town.

We found the 9th Street Bridge completed and in service, as we expected.  The photo below shows the 10th Street Bridge under construction viewed from the 9th Street Bridge.  An empty slab train is eastbound.

A few minutes later loaded slab train #67T went west.

The slab train was followed by #34A.  Note that a few of the old buildings in town still stand.

Next up #14G passed under the new bridge.

We decided to move to the east end of town where we photographed an auto rack train westbound.

The remaining photo angles we wanted were of westbound trains and the sun still favored eastbounds so we headed east to see what we could find.  After a little exploration we decided to hang out at a grade crossing in Meyerstown.  This eastbound stack train

was followed closely by #16T.

After photographing this westbound stack train we decided to head back to Lebanon to get the final shots we wanted there.

Unfortunately, NS did not cooperate, sending us just one more westbound, #35Q, before the light became poor and we headed home.  There were, however, 3 more eastbound trains during this period.

Thanks for looking.