A.C.H. Photos
The Things Progress Has Taken
I had not returned to Norfolk Southern's Pittsburgh line since NS decommissioned the CPLs in 2019. Like many railroads across America, the distinctive signals were themselves a draw to so many locations that became signatures on the railroad because of the signals. A few weeks ago, I wanted to check out the Station Inn, support the new folks carrying on that important legacy, and also shoot the Western Maryland's winter steam. So I made my return to the mountain, without the signals. It was harder than I thought it would be: one of my formative railfan experiences was watching heavy NS trains in the Alleghenies as a much younger man without all this damn gray hair. It was one of my first REAL solo trips on a real-deal mainline railroad. I returned to this venerable spot on the Jamestown road bridge, where CPLs once governed from this unique position on the road bridge. While it's sad and tough to see, I also do enjoy the juxtaposition here: the present carrying through with an ever present reminder of what 'progress' takes from us. In railroading, that is so often replacing the cool with the modern, which often is never as cool as the past. But if we don't shoot the present- it also becomes the past one day- and that doesn't help either if we don't capture it, does it?
The Things Progress Has Taken
I had not returned to Norfolk Southern's Pittsburgh line since NS decommissioned the CPLs in 2019. Like many railroads across America, the distinctive signals were themselves a draw to so many locations that became signatures on the railroad because of the signals. A few weeks ago, I wanted to check out the Station Inn, support the new folks carrying on that important legacy, and also shoot the Western Maryland's winter steam. So I made my return to the mountain, without the signals. It was harder than I thought it would be: one of my formative railfan experiences was watching heavy NS trains in the Alleghenies as a much younger man without all this damn gray hair. It was one of my first REAL solo trips on a real-deal mainline railroad. I returned to this venerable spot on the Jamestown road bridge, where CPLs once governed from this unique position on the road bridge. While it's sad and tough to see, I also do enjoy the juxtaposition here: the present carrying through with an ever present reminder of what 'progress' takes from us. In railroading, that is so often replacing the cool with the modern, which often is never as cool as the past. But if we don't shoot the present- it also becomes the past one day- and that doesn't help either if we don't capture it, does it?