Eastbound Circus train in the rain

[CarmonH]

EB had mentioned something to me last night about a circus train running today out of Louisville , and several post here on the board had confirmed that. As luck would have it, I didn't have to work today, and after dropping my daughter off at school this morning, I turned on the NS radio and waited.

I headed over to East Talmage KY on the Louisville District after hearing the 048 on the radio, and was able to get a few shots there and also in Harrodsburg. 048 had to wait at Talmage for over a hour for a couple of Westbound trains, and by the time they got moving again the clouds and moved in, and so did the rain. Despite the less than favorable conditions, I wound up with a few decent images, which can be found at the link.

Check the links for the pics.  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/ns2011carm

[Ed Fury]

Yes. Thank you. I checked the rest on the pbase account too. Still kicking myself for not getting out the door in time this morning. Warbonnet, circus train, Louisville district.. well at least the RBBB CT will be back in 364 days.

[SimRacin40]

I'll add my photos to this thread, if that's okay. Doesn't make sense for two threads about the same train.

I made it to Louisville yesterday morning just in time to hear the train clear the hill at Buechel. I then had to race across I-264 and then I-64 to beat it to Simpsonville, which I easily managed to do.

376 was ahead of 048, I caught them first at Simpsonville, with less than a minute between my arrival and the train's.

NS 376, with the lead unit missing a few "whiskers" on the nose.

The clouds arrived just before 048 did, of course.

After leaving Simpsonville, I headed to Waddy, to the overpass east of the main crossing in town. I had never taken any photos from that bridge, so I figured it was worth a try. I once again managed to beat 376, and it came through first. A brief rain shower followed, but fortunately moved on before the Circus Train arrived. 048 came through under cloudy skies again, if you look at the photo below you can see sunlight on the ground in the distance, I wonder how soon the sun came out after the train had passed.


I then chased the train to Lawrenceburg, arriving there at about the same time as the train did. It met 22A in the siding to the west of town. Unfortunately, as soon as I got near downtown, the skies opened up, and the rain really started coming down. I decided to call it a day since I figured I'd be out of luck on any further shots.

Video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaKysSF67sM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Baa0ORcbqs

I can't complain, though, this is my third attempt at trying to catch the circus train, and the first time I've actually caught it. I missed it earlier this year when it came down the LCL Sub on CSX. I missed out on another attempt a few years ago when the train's routing changed at the last moment.

- Jeff