Triple Crowns and Corn Fields

[E.M. Bell]

When we are on the road shooting the steam trips, I always try to schedule a day around it to do some scouting and shoot some "regular" stuff in the area. Its always a good excuse to get to some places we wouldn't usually go to, as well as get some location scouting done.

When we headed North a couple of weeks ago for the 765 trips in Indiana, we took the opportunity to spend the Friday before out on the old Wabash main between Fort Wayne and Lafayette. Thanks to some tips from a couple of friends and few nights of pouring over maps and timetables, we did pretty good catching several trains at some scenic locations. Even better was the fact we managed to shoot several Triple Crowns (roadrailers) and get some of the old Wabash searchlight signals. We missed a few, shot a few, and enjoyed the day exploring. While I often joke about there not being much scenery up that way, there is plenty of great places to shoot, you just have to look a little harder. Here in Ky, we have the hills and mountains with very few places to get those "wide open spaces" like you can up North...to be honest it was pretty neat to stand a mile or so away from the tracks, use a 300mm tele as a wide angle, and still get an entire train in One frame!

Below are a few from our day exploring, and the entire set is over on Pbase if you want to take a peek.  >>>>>  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nsindiana2013

10/25/13

The first train we shot Friday morning was Westbound 35N, coming by the Wabash searchlight signals at Delphi, Indiana.


Eastbound Triple Crown 260 rolls through the wide open spaces near Rockfield, Indiana. This is the location where I used the big glass as a wide angle..check that out over on Pbase..


Eastbound Triple Crown 255 climbs out of the little dip at Buck Creek, running along next to the newly opened US 25. It was almost culture shock to see a 150 car roadrailer running with a single unit.


Westbound 15E (I Think) passes the punkin field near New Waverly, Indiana.


Once we got East of Peru late in the day, we managed to miss 3 trains in a row while trying to find a suitable location, which ticked me off big time. We found ourselves on a backroad, and soon came to a crossing in the little town of Andrews. I had been hearing a 171 on the radio, but had no idea where he was (or for that matter, where WE where) but...I saw a headlight down the tracks, and without time to even think about it, pulled off the road, grabbed the camera and framed up this nice little scene..  NS 171 at Andrews, Indiana.


Just before dark, NS 2601 leads a Westbound out of Fort Wayne, seen here near the East end of the siding at Roanoke, Indiana.