Jon Celotto
High Risk, High Reward
Life is a constant battle of sacrifices and concessions. Being in the throes of work leaves me with very little time to railfan outside of the near-constant disappointment of Norfolk Southern, and even then, I barely have the energy to do so (commercial electrical work is not for the faint of heart). Thank goodness federal holidays exist that cause military bases to close and give me a bit of a break. I decided to take Memorial Day as a chance to visit the Wilmington area for the first time in over a year. Ever since I first took the 2 hour drive down when I was 17 years old, I've always been extremely fascinated by all the neat operations that fly under nearly everyone else's radar, from CSX to the various industry switchers and port operations. I've visited and posted photos of the one shown here numerous times, but I never get tired of it and just how many angles you can capture. This is International Paper's plant in Riegelwood, about 15 minutes due west of downtown Wilmington. It hosts a sizeable yard operated by a private switching operation, using this beauty of a GATX MP15AC as their main source of motive power, while also having their own former IC SW14 rebuild as a backup unit. After I had grabbed this shot, the engineer and I had a great talk about the operation here. I learned he was actually the owner of the contractor, and he explained how he got it and what it entails. It's the great interactions with railroaders like him that remind me how fulfilling this hobby can be sometimes.
For anyone trying to shoot this, I recommend to tread lightly. I've never had any bad luck here, but I also avoid security guards like the plague. I'm sure they would evict any railfan in a heartbeat.
High Risk, High Reward
Life is a constant battle of sacrifices and concessions. Being in the throes of work leaves me with very little time to railfan outside of the near-constant disappointment of Norfolk Southern, and even then, I barely have the energy to do so (commercial electrical work is not for the faint of heart). Thank goodness federal holidays exist that cause military bases to close and give me a bit of a break. I decided to take Memorial Day as a chance to visit the Wilmington area for the first time in over a year. Ever since I first took the 2 hour drive down when I was 17 years old, I've always been extremely fascinated by all the neat operations that fly under nearly everyone else's radar, from CSX to the various industry switchers and port operations. I've visited and posted photos of the one shown here numerous times, but I never get tired of it and just how many angles you can capture. This is International Paper's plant in Riegelwood, about 15 minutes due west of downtown Wilmington. It hosts a sizeable yard operated by a private switching operation, using this beauty of a GATX MP15AC as their main source of motive power, while also having their own former IC SW14 rebuild as a backup unit. After I had grabbed this shot, the engineer and I had a great talk about the operation here. I learned he was actually the owner of the contractor, and he explained how he got it and what it entails. It's the great interactions with railroaders like him that remind me how fulfilling this hobby can be sometimes.
For anyone trying to shoot this, I recommend to tread lightly. I've never had any bad luck here, but I also avoid security guards like the plague. I'm sure they would evict any railfan in a heartbeat.