NS' Des Moines Switcher
These days, NS doesn't run any regular road trains in/out of Des Moines, but they DO run two different switch jobs across the city's southeast side, with at least one of them operating every day of the week. On July 7th, a number of factors combined to allow me to photograph "Job 1" for the first time, although I've been through the city countless times.
Here, a classic, ex-SOU high-hood EMD GP38-2 had just finished up at DAR PRO Solutions, and was heading over to Ash Grove Cement near 21st and Maury. Over the past decade plus, so many of these high-hoods that defined NS in their early years have been retired or rebuilt, that it's an absolute treat to catch one working in any situation, let alone one like this where it's solo.
NS' Des Moines Switcher
These days, NS doesn't run any regular road trains in/out of Des Moines, but they DO run two different switch jobs across the city's southeast side, with at least one of them operating every day of the week. On July 7th, a number of factors combined to allow me to photograph "Job 1" for the first time, although I've been through the city countless times.
Here, a classic, ex-SOU high-hood EMD GP38-2 had just finished up at DAR PRO Solutions, and was heading over to Ash Grove Cement near 21st and Maury. Over the past decade plus, so many of these high-hoods that defined NS in their early years have been retired or rebuilt, that it's an absolute treat to catch one working in any situation, let alone one like this where it's solo.