Possum, EMD and a little Heritage in TN, NC & KY

[E.M. Bell]

I am STILL plodding along through a virtual pile of pixels, trying to get caught up on processing everything we shot while on the road in November, and the bottom of the barrel may be in sight. With all of this nasty ice and snow we are having this weekend, I might just be able to get it all done (if I dont go out in this mess and make even more work for myself)

Here is another round of assorted goodies from the past month. I didn't really think about how much good (EMD) power we saw last month, but we seem to have done pretty good finding them. SD40-2's, SD60's and I will even throw in a GE just to keep those odd people who like them happy.  Full sized version of these and a lot more can be found at the link >>  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/railshorts13

Stay tuned for more in a day or Two, including a update on the Double track project on the CNO&TP at Brunside, KY, Southern 630 on the River line to Asheville NC and a few days of CNO&TP action!

Friday November 15th, we made a slow trip towards Knoxville for the Southern 630 trips, and spent the bulk of the day on the CNO&TP. The weather was cloudy and wet, so we just killed time by hanging out at a few places and let the action come to us. The first train of the day was a Southbound unit grain train, which just happened to have a BNSF SD70Mac, still wearing that good ol "possum" paint job. Here he just North of Waynesburg, Ky.


A little later in the day, we ran across the Oneida local working the wood yard at Pine Knot, KY. with NS 3387 and 5085. With that sweet SD40-2 - GP38-2 combo, I really didnt mind getting wet.


Saturday November 16th, while following the SR 630 towards Asheville, NC. we ran across NS 3222 tied down at Newport TN.  There are probably better locations around Newport to shoot, but I knew what I had to do...a shot with a pair of my favorite things in it.


While 630 was laying over in Asheville, our little group headed over the Ridgecrest tunnel to shoot the CNJ Heritage unit (I shared those shots a couple of weeks ago)...Running just ahead of the CNJ was Westbound 165, which had a freshly painted NS SD60I leading. Here is 165 popping out of the tunnel, struggling to get the train over the top of the steep climb up Black Mountain. This series of images really show just how steep the hill is coming out of the hole.




And...165 later in the day, following the French Broad River through downtown Marshall NC.  This is the shot I had planned for the 630 as well, but by the time that train got to us, the sun was gone...foiled by a dead (and recently rebuilt) slug set that had to be swapped out in Asheville.


and one more for the GE fans among us...you know who you are. Central of Georgia 8101 leads train 23G through Vanarsdale KY on December 5th. The storm clouds and rain made for a rather depressing scene, but Carmon and I decided to run out and get it anyway.

[dschlegel]

Nice shots EM! The climb out of that tunnel looks steep for sure, and the shot of the 3222 and 630 is lit really nice. Can't wait to see more!
PA Dan

[Ptrainman]

Looks great EM. I think we fared decent with the CG today. He was extremely early today, he made a 4 hour trip from Knoxville to Bristol. That nearly unheard of.


Paul

[E.M. Bell]

Samuel sent me a text early this morning and said yall got him..He must have made a QUICK trip all the way to Knoxville the way it sounds.  Sometimes they can roll them non-stop (usally when YOU need a little delay!) 

[Ptrainman]

Quick is a vast understatement. He made a stop and swap in Knoxville and came on. I think its the quickest trip 23G has made in a long time.


Paul