Around Virginia - Late October, 2010

In late October, friend Jack Bruce and I planned a three day trip centered around three objectives. We wanted to get pictures at Mechams River on the BBRR, CSX trains exiting Wasp Rock Tunnel on the James River Subdivision, and finally NS trains crossing the James River at Natural Bridge Station. We had hoped to accomplish this in a minimum of two days and use the third day for exploring and finding something new. As it turned out, it was a frustrating three days of shooting. The first day, on Oct. 21st, it took all day just to get one train at Mechams River on the BBRR. We had our sights set on Wasp Rock Tunnel on the morning of Oct 22nd, only to have the dispatcher give the railroad to a track gang for the entire day. We did get three NS trains crossing the James River late in the day. Finally, on Oct 23rd, we managed to get an eastbound exiting Wasp Rock Tunnel, only to have the railroad die for the rest of the day. When the smoke had cleared, we had shot six trains in three days. It was not one of our better trips. That said, I guess we should be happy that we indeed managed to shoot at least one train at each of our desired locations. Caption information can be viewed by clicking on the image.

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Suburban Maryland - August 31, 2010

I have wanted to shoot MARC's new MP36PH-3Cs since they put them on the road, but for one reason or another, I have not had the opportunity. Fortunately, my friend Bob Kaplan and I were able to spend an afternoon at Brunswick and Point of Rocks, MD to shoot the "commuter rush." It worked well for my limited ability to walk and MARC cooperated by sending us a couple of the new units. To add icing to the cake, we ran into fellow railfans David Ori and Terry Chiwak from the Cleveland area. I had not seen them since Summerail in 2008 and it was a pleasure to be able to visit for a couple of hours.

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Late August Weekend

It has been a while, over three months to be exact, since I last made a post to this blog. With one knee surgery and one back surgery under my belt, I am happy to say I am finally on the mend. That said, I am far from romping and stomping around shooting photographs of trains. This past weekend, my good friend Jack Bruce and I got out for some very mild railfanning. At this point I require good flat footing, a short walk, and last but not least, a seat. We decided to spend most of Saturday at Point of Rocks, MD and most of Sunday on the old abandoned Gunston Cove Road overhead bridge in Lorton, VA. Because of the lack of trains, both days were frustrating, but there were a few images worthy of posting. Caption information can be viewed by clicking on the image.

Thanks for viewing my images.

May 2010 Trip Along the James River

On May 20th and 21st Jack Bruce and I took a trip to shoot along the CSX Rivanna Subdivision which follows the James River through central Virginia. Between the lack of trains and the weather, things could have been better. That said, we did get to shoot at a couple new locations and built the groundwork for our future efforts. We even got to shoot the southbound Buckingham Branch freight crossing the James River before high sun totally nailed us.

My One Day in the Snow

The winter of 2009/2010 was a challenge to say the least. Simply put, I have never seen that much snow in one winter. In Northern Virginia, I am sure it exceeded 60 inches total. For someone in the express delivery business, it was about as ill timed as possible, right before Christmas and right before Valentines Day. Basically, I spent my time in the snow working, not shooting. I did have the good fortune to get out one day with Bob Kaplan and Mike Schaller to shoot on the former RF&P around Arkendale and Brooke. Thankfully, it was a dry snow and the trains really kicked it up.

November 2009 Chase of CSX F723

On November 7, 2009, Jack Bruce and I chased CSX's F723, the Hopewell Turn, from Acca Yard in Richmond, VA to Hopewell. Our mutual friend, Dale Diacont had his steady hand on the throttle and gave us a good show. A fun time was had by all. We took Dale's advice and shot the train at Goode Street on the south side of Richmond, a location new to both Jack and I. As information, the train is on the former SAL mainline, a shadow of its former self.

October 2009 Trip to Iowa and Illinois

In October of 2009, Bob Kaplan and I made a trip to Iowa, primarily to shoot some short line and regional railroads. In a world of mega systems and lease units, the attractive paint schemes found in Iowa were a welcome change. The trip was a challenge. We were faced with clouds and/or rain for six of the nine days we were there. We had to make the best of what little sun we had. Caption information is located at the bottom of each image and can be seen by clicking on the image.

Iowa Interstate is a prosperous regional railroad and grew out of the ashes of the old and bankrupt Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific. Its mainline runs between Council Bluffs, IA and Chicago, IL. We were able to spend one sunny morning the the IAIS.

Iowa Northern is another of the railroads that we photographed. Ethanol production has given Iowa Northern just the boost that it needed and appears to be doing quite well. They take a lot of pride in their railroad and we were impressed with their friendliness. We were able to spend a sunny afternoon and a sunny morning documenting their operations.

Without a doubt, our prime target was Iowa Traction, a small electric traction operation based in Mason City, IA. To my knowledge, this is the last of its type left in the United States. It runs on a 600 volt DC system and its newest locomotive is around 90 years old. We were blessed with one sunny morning to photograph the Iowa Traction. There is one word that comes to mind for this railroad....priceless.

Finally, yes we did shoot some big time railroad action. Actually, for the most part, we spent the cloudy days on the busy UP main line watching the action. The following is one image that I feel is worth sharing, a DPU on an eastbound stack train heading into the storm light.

I hope you have enjoyed the images. Thanks for viewing them.