_MG_0129
Alabama Southern’s Reform, AL/Artesia, MS Turn slips through the small forgotten settlement of McCrary, MS. Though nothing spectacular location wise, the location is one of serious sentiment for the photographer as the line runs a few yards across from where my sister and brother in law once lived. I spent many an adolescent evening, night or pre dawn morning on their wrap around porch swatting off mosquitoes and admiring darting fireflies that helped kill time while patiently waiting to watch old a string of MidSouth GP10’s leading a train rumbling up the line with their 567C’s roaring wide open, puking oil and exhaust smoke skywards as they swayed side to side with unlatched hood doors lazily swinging open and closed as they trundled down the ill maintained track. It was almost as similar as seeing an older relative walking down the pitch black hallway to the bathroom in the middle of the night hearing their creaks and groans.
30 years later things are bit different yet still the same. The track is in better shape, the little house track siding that once held defective cars en route piquing further interest laid off to the right of the mainline is long gone. The larger power that handles the same old slow trains comes in a different dress. The slight elevated curve seems a bit out of place if not comical considering the slow speeds. Of note is that I was standing dead square on the Mississippi/Alabama state line while capturing this image. By the time I’d drop my camera after taking this shot the lead unit would be a mere couple of seconds into Alabama.
_MG_0129
Alabama Southern’s Reform, AL/Artesia, MS Turn slips through the small forgotten settlement of McCrary, MS. Though nothing spectacular location wise, the location is one of serious sentiment for the photographer as the line runs a few yards across from where my sister and brother in law once lived. I spent many an adolescent evening, night or pre dawn morning on their wrap around porch swatting off mosquitoes and admiring darting fireflies that helped kill time while patiently waiting to watch old a string of MidSouth GP10’s leading a train rumbling up the line with their 567C’s roaring wide open, puking oil and exhaust smoke skywards as they swayed side to side with unlatched hood doors lazily swinging open and closed as they trundled down the ill maintained track. It was almost as similar as seeing an older relative walking down the pitch black hallway to the bathroom in the middle of the night hearing their creaks and groans.
30 years later things are bit different yet still the same. The track is in better shape, the little house track siding that once held defective cars en route piquing further interest laid off to the right of the mainline is long gone. The larger power that handles the same old slow trains comes in a different dress. The slight elevated curve seems a bit out of place if not comical considering the slow speeds. Of note is that I was standing dead square on the Mississippi/Alabama state line while capturing this image. By the time I’d drop my camera after taking this shot the lead unit would be a mere couple of seconds into Alabama.