A hardcore winter day of photography on the CNO&TP

[E.M. Bell]

Warning..this is kinda long, but probably a pretty good read..and a few laughs as well!  

Snow..its the one thing that will get me out on a cloudy day, and the more snow, the more I want to go.

This past Friday, the forecasters had said that our area here in Central KY would get a inch or so, but further South, there would be 4 or 5 inches..and this got me very excited, as it always seems to be the other way around.  Carmon was ready to go as soon as I mentioned it, so we packed up and headed out early Saturday morning, headed for the 2nd District down South of Somerset. We also made contact with fellow JREB member Butch Adkins to see if he wanted to go, but he called Saturday morning to say he was gonna stay home, as the roads looked bad...and come to find out he made a good choice (in a conservative kinda way)

Once we got through Somerset and started gaining a little elevation, the snow stared to get better and better..the deep fluffy kind that covers everything and even sticks to the tree's. The main roads where in pretty good shape, but the side roads..not so much. We had no trouble at all UNTIL I turned off of US 27 onto Parkers Lake road. While making the right hand turn (and at a slow speed I might add) we hit the ice, and before I could do anything at all about it, slammed into the guardrail, then fishtailed and smacked the rear end of the car on it. I was able to regain control, the car was still running, so we made it up to the usual parking place for the shot. Now..seeing as how I was headed for the first shot of the day, and the train was just a minute or two away, we jumped out and ran to get the shot of NS 40A. After getting the shot, we walked back to the car to see how bad the damage was..just a couple  of new dents and a little paint gone..no real damage, so off we went for the next shot.  

Besides the slow going on the back roads everything went well for a couple of hours UNTIL we popped over a hill (headed to turn around) and found ourselves faced with a steep, totally ice covered decent, that the car did well on. I turned around, headed back up the same hill, made it about half way, and spun out. The brakes would not hold on the ice, and we slid back down (at one point sideways) to the bottom.  Not being one to give up easily, I made a second run for the hill, got further, spun out, and started back down the hill sideways..somehow I was able to get the car pointed towards the hillside (instead of the huge drop off without a guardrail on the other side of the road) and we wound up stuck. By the time it was all over and done with, there where 3 cars stuck in almost the same place, and it took us well over a hour to get everyone out.

After all that excitement,I figured Carmon would be ready to go right back home and have a drink, but being the trooper that she is, we stayed out the rest of the day, and got a bunch of great winter shots.

I am putting a few samples here, but the entire set of 18 images in high Res can be had at this link..  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nscs2eb11

The first shot of the day, about 5 mins after hitting the gaurdrail..NS 40A with a sweet trio of EMD's at Parkers Lake KY

 

A going away shot of Southbound 66M, a loaded unit ethanol train at Parkers Lake KY



Carmon contemplates our situation, stuck in a ditch on the side of a ice covered hill in the middle of nowhere.



NS 215 creates its own blizzard as it crosses the KY/TN state line at Silersville, TN



Our last shot of the day, and what has to be once of my most favorite shots that I have ever taken. NS 295, with a pair of UP motors, passes through the winter wonderland at Cumberland Falls, KY.  Be sure to check this shot out on Pbase (click this link to go right to it)  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/image/131708900

[Matt L]

Wow! You and Carmon are hardcore! Having lived in a very snowy part of NY for nearly 20 years now, you two have my respect for getting out there to take your shots in the middle of a raging snowstorm. The first shot alone made your trip worthwhile- I absolutely love that one. (The rest are good, too.) 

[butch]

After wimping out yesterday, I decided to check it out this afternoon after church.  It wasn't nearly as exciting as Emmett and Carmon's trip yesterday.  There was not a lot running, but I did get a 3 mile hike in while shooting the three trains.  First up was 224 with UP 4646 on the point at Dead Ox Hollow.  Shortly afterwards, a much slower moving 177 came out of the cut.  I knew there was another SB coming, I just wasn't sure when, so I hiked up to the Keno Bridge, then went further to see what it would look like coming under the Cave Springs Road Bridge.  [Hence the 3 mile round trip hike.]  It would have been a good shot, but I finally gave up and headed back.  At this point the 5-minute rule kicked in so I hung out under the Keno Bridge and shot 117 against the ice.  Then managed to catch it passing the signal at the moment that it changed from green to red and the signal is dark in the picture.  Of course nothing nearly as good as Emmett's UPs.

[E.M. Bell]

Butch, that shot of 117 with all the ice is a good one...looks like you managed to get down into some places we didnt.  Well, let me rephrase that.. I WAS planning on going to Keno and DOH, but after the events that transpired, it was strongly suggested that we didn't, and it was a long walk home if I even thought about it again..

[Ed Fury]

More snow coming Monday night and carrying over into Tuesday.

I like the NS 197 in the sunlight and the 197 just at the edge of the sunlight. All are great photos.

[butch]

Probably a good call on not going there on Saturday.  The access to KD Tower and DOH would have been ok, but the road running the ridges was still nasty in spots Sunday afternoon and would have been very tough without 4-wheel drive on Saturday.  Of course I would have probably still tried...

[VirginiaSouthern]

This is a fantastic series.  I definitely love the first one, but the second shot with the string of tank cars is absolutely gorgeous art.  Both would make for excellent framed prints.