Paper Boy

I strive to be the king of shooting North Carolina's most obscure railroad operations. Being able to see things that no other railfan has seen before is always extremely rewarding and further fuels my ego. On this day, I decided to head down to the Wilmington area for the day to see a mix of Wilmington Terminal, CSX, and some of the industry switchers that can be found outside of the city. This location was one that had really interested me for a long time. International Paper in Riegelwood, a sprawling paper mill with a very large receiving yard and two very attractive EMD endcabs. I'm a huge sucker for endcab switchers, so I had made it a mission to see this operation in action somehow. I first saw it in January, but had arrived too late to get any meaningful photos of them switching the yard. My luck was fantastic this day, however, as I was able to see them assemble a cut of cars for CSX L605 to pick up later in the day. Here, we see GMTX MP15AC #339, formerly CSX 1157, as it heads towards the front of the yard to assemble its consist for interchange. This dark blue variant of GATX's livery sure is sharp. The mill also has another switcher, AKRX SW14 #1411, of obvious IC descent. I'd certainly love to see that thing working some day as well. I have to give a shoutout to the paper mill workers for being very hospitable and letting me get my photos of this operation, as they could've easily kicked me out. Thankfully, they gave me their blessings and I was able to shoot this never-before-seen operation to my hearts content.

Done