A Snowy Day on the Pokey

Ptrainman · February 20, 2015, 12:52:11 PM

With the impending fall of the old N&W CPLs on the Pokey looming I had been wanting to get out there and shoot some of them before they were gone. But the crappy gloomy weather just wouldn't seem to go away to make the 4 hour drive just to get to Bluefield worth it. Last weekend seemed like the opening I was looking for, forecast was showing sun for both Saturday and Sunday even though it was going to be bitterly cold. So I packed up and left home at 3am to be in Bluefield when the sun came up. But unfortunately the clouds decide they wanted to rule the day and the sun never made it out but what I didn't know was that after I got out of phone signal a nice winter storm started brewing and slammed the hills of WV late Saturday afternoon. Getting back out of WV with a two wheel drive truck was no fun at all but I guess the shots were worth it. Sunday turned out to be a total bust because all the eastbounds had gotten held in Ohio due to the snow and the westbound weren't called out of Roanoke till after dark. All in all its was a pretty good trip but I guess Ill let y'all decide that.

All the nice big hi res stuff can be found here: http://southernrailsphotography.smugmug.com/Trains/Norfolk-Southern/Norfolk-Southern-2015/47123930_t6dp7r

The first decent train of the day came in the form of westbound empty PGNX train 767 emerging from Elkhorn Tunnel behind an old D8-40C. This shot screams the Pokey in the late 90s when 8600-8700s were the common power, all the CPLs were still standing, and the Pokey was a nonstop mainline.

After 767 passes there was a lot of chatter on the radio about a couple trains coming up the hill. After playing musical tracks at Keystone and Eckman everybody got out of everybody else way and the eastbounds started up the hill. The first one had the days first EMD seen here struggling up the last few miles of Elkhorn grade past the little white church at Switchback, WV.

Now this is my kind of train, not a GE in sight. 098 with a string of 70ACe export units in tow pops out of the double tunnels at Huger behind an old warhorse. Judging from what little paint I could see I would say these units were bound for BHP in Australia.

Another rough looking little white church overlooks 098 as it swings around the curve into the small community of Eckman, WV.

Westbound 29G kicks up snow as it charges out of Twin Branch #2 and past the CPLs at Marytown, WV. With no double stacks in sight this is another shot that could easily have been taken 10 years ago.

J54 emerges from Twin Branch #1 as it heads west to rescue a stalled 756 at War Eagle and shove it back east. The Southern style number boards look so much better than the black on white especially with the white brows.

Paul

leroy · February 20, 2015, 06:01:29 PM

Paul...
The pictures are great... I love the old CPL lites too...

By the way, where is Poe...? My Uncle Jack always talked about "Poe"...

leroy AKA joe

florida581 · February 20, 2015, 07:57:27 PM

Quote from: leroy on February 20, 2015, 06:01:29 PM
Paul...
The pictures are great... I love the old CPL lites too...

By the way, where is Poe...? My Uncle Jack always talked about "Poe"...

leroy AKA joe

Leroy, Poe is NS' auto distribution ramp on the east side of Petersburg, VA on the ex- N&W Norfolk District. Its address is 999 Wagner Rd Petersburg, VA.

leroy · February 21, 2015, 08:31:39 AM

Thanks Paul... I appreciate it...

joe

butch · February 21, 2015, 11:03:55 AM

A bunch of good tunnel pix, thanks for posting.

Ptrainman · February 21, 2015, 10:04:58 PM

Thanks for answering Leroy on that one Andrew. I've been sick this week and haven't been around the computer much.

And thanks for the comments guys.

Paul

leroy · February 21, 2015, 10:41:34 PM

Thanks Andrew...! I didn't notice that ya had answered...
leroy

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