UP 8178 leads INPOA through Pulga on a cold morning. The train has reached low enough elevation to be out of the snow and soon will reach the Central Valley.

A handful of railfans catch a pair of CSX GEs hustling an empty extra grain train west along the B&A at Springfield Union Station in some of the last light of the day. Unfortunately there were no Amtrak or CT Rail commuters in the station to greet it. You take what you can get...

CSX G104 @ Springfield Union Station, Springfield, MA

CSXT ES44AH 3213

CSXT ES44AH 3179

msullivan.smugmug.com/Social-Media/Flickr1/n-Pfzfdn/2022/...

A H2 coal motor is splicing a pair of CitiRail leasers as they bring up the rear of a northbound coal empty near Spruce, CO.

This was the first snow storm of the season and it was quickly followed up by two more in less than a week. 3 winter storms in October, 2 of which hit 48 hours apart, and the 2019-2020 snow season is off and running!

Cambridge, OH

14,411 foot tall, snow-capped Mount Rainier shimmers resplendantly in beautiful evening sunlight, towering out from atop the foothills surrounding Puyallup, WA. Meanwhile, down below on BNSF's Seattle Subdivision, a high density rail corridor shuttling freight and passenger traffic between the metropolitan hubs of Seattle and Vancouver, a pair of company General Electric products swing their H VBTLVJ1 02A around a sharp curve, orienting themselves now in a northwest direction toward Tacoma, putting the very Mountain that has been a sight out there window for most of the trip, to their rearview. Dancing in the long shadows, tonight's 64-car, 3900 foot consist of mixed merchandise traffic from the Canadian border, short by today's railroad standards, is fighting through the evening's rush of Sounder and Amtrak people movers, as well as freight congestion around Auburn Yard as the crew works to make their destination at the Port of Longview. Originating in Vancouver, British Columbia, this VBTLVJ was routed south out of the country via the New Westminster Sub to the US/Canadian border at Blaine. From there, the train would head down the Bellingham Sub to Everett JCT, following then along the banks of Puget Sound via the aptly named Scenic Sub before reaching Seattle's King Street Station, namesake of the Seattle Sub, at mile 0. Although it may seem rather close, the mountain's peak actually looms nearly 40 miles away from here. Fresh off my plane at SeaTac, not a bad first shot to kick the trip off.

Just south of Heavener, another loaded grain train heads out to do battle with Rich Mountain on its way south. Three ACs lead the train with a fourth on the rear in DP.

In 1927, Highway 99 was being constructed through the mountains of Northern California. That year a tall arch bridge would open that overlooked the Southern Pacific as it paralleled the Sacramento River. This would be the Dog Creek Bridge, and it would be part of the main highway over these mountains for decades. However, this bridge would only see about a half century of use.

In the 1960s, a new interstate started constructed to replace 99 and other routes all the way to the border of Canada. This new interstate would be I-5, running from the Mexico border to the Canada border, and in 1974 this section of 99 would be closed. Although much of the original highway was replaced by I-5, many sections still exist and some are even still in use as highways. The Dog Creek Bridge would be one of these existing pieces, and it has become a great interest for railfans and local historians.

Fifty one years after being removed from service another day’s first light starts to illuminate the old bridge. It doesn’t take long before the Coast Starlight comes rushing through, with an interesting set of power leading the way. Amtrak 510, a rare sight on the mainline, leads the Starlight with Amtrak’s “Pepsi Can” scheme heritage unit 160 behind it. 160’s scheme is the same that 510 and all the other dash 8s had when they were first delivered in the early 90s. This duo would not last long though, as the trip south would see the addition of a third motor to replace 510. Regardless, having the opportunity to see a dash 8 lead the Starlight again was appreciated, with the last one to lead before that being 2020. Although neither the bridge or dash 8s seem to be going anywhere, dash 8s very rarely make it on the Starlight, so who knows when the next chance to get this shot again will be.

CN 3061 looks out of place in CP's Lachine IMS Yard as it slowly leads CP 112 through the yard on a frosty morning.

After arriving at Turcot Ouest with only 23 cars, CN 321 is lifting a large cut of cars off of the Freight Track. Above at left some pedestrians take a look at the train while they walk their dog.

CN Freight L580 is about to leave the Mackenzie Sub and swing south onto the Chetwynd Sub at Kennedy British Columbia. Both Subdivisions were constructed by the then provincially owned British Columbia Railway, and thankfully still see a good amount of traffic under CN ownership

And yes, that is my truck in the shot

Two trains pass at the Scenic Summit Overlook on the Cajon Pass.

6814 & 4695 provide extra power at the back of a train of tanks, 8185, 6376, 5726 & 8173 head a double stack container train, 26 Oct 2019

An ET44AC is the sole power on windmill train CN X319 as it departs Turcot Ouest after a crew change just a bit under a year ago. These trains stopped running this past winter, as the builder of these blades have shifted to building larger products that can only be shipped by boat.

A crusty and faded Warbonnet sits in the evening sun. Not long later it would take off to go up the Feather River Canyon.

The sun is briefly out as CN 310 with the WC heritage unit leading slowly heads east after setting off cars near Turcot Ouest. A bit further ahead the train will stop until the conductor is taxied back to the head end.

BNSF's path through the Gorge is probably the most scenic section on BNSF's system. No where is the beauty so extreme, and nature so raw, than the Drano Lake Tunnel. I've taken photos at this location for years, and it draws me back again and again.

The only active set of original steel hoppers swings through the horseshoe curve at Fabro British Columbia. Bound for Thunder Bay Ontario, this coal set is the only one of it's kind to travel east on CP's Cranbrook Subdivision after loading north of Sparwood at Teck's Line Creek Mine.

Although the striking Daylight streamliners have for many years been an iconic part of railroad history, the routes these ran on are a good chunk of what made them super famous. Although the main services were the Coast Daylight, Shasta Daylight, and San Joaquin Daylight, there was also a smaller route called the Sacramento Daylight. On top of this, SP had launched a few in Texas, the Sunbeam, Hustler, and Owl, however these were less known and shorter lived trains. The creation of Amtrak saw the end of these iconic streamliners, and eventually the Coast and Shasta Daylight routes were merged to create the Coast Starlight. However, a couple changes were made: the new route would not go to San Francisco, but would rather continue north out of San Jose, and an extension was made for the train to connect all the way to Seattle from Portland. Amtrak had the commuter operations take care of the passengers going to San Francisco until Caltrain was formed in 1985 to take over all passenger operations between San Jose and San Francisco.

Over fifty years after the end of the Daylights and nearly thirty after the demise of the Southern Pacific, passenger trains looks a lot different through the Cascades now. On this day, Amtrak 14 rolls along the Upper Klamath Lake in the late morning. Standing tall behind the train is Mt. Shasta, which the train had been going around only a couple hours prior. The orange and red streak has been gone for decades, long replaced with a streak of grey with red, white, and blue stripes. As unfortunate as it is that the colorful and unique streamliners are a thing of the past, at least passenger service still exists, and if you get lucky you may even see an old car or two still roaming the rails.

One final shot of a still-clean'ish 25th Anniversary unit leading a northbound coal empty into Castle Rock, CO.

Like the previous two uploads of this train, this was shot through chain link fence. Grateful to CDOT or whoever it was who went with standard chain link and not the itty-bitty tiny-hole'd fencing you see popping up more and more...

Clinging against every inch of Minnesota's remote northern backwoods, evidence of winter's beautiful agony paint's a perfect backdrop for the passage of CN U79381 14 and their 156 loaded jennies of Minorca taconite, dashing through snow-coated rails approaching the small dot on the map known as Highland. The brightly painted red nose of Canadian National's company image contrasts well with the surrounding frosty white splendor as a trio of General Electric Dash 8's lean into the curve rounding a frozen Lake Highland, working their way down the old Missabe to the docks at Two Harbors. Eyes locked directly on our presence with smiles on their faces, the crew of the CN #2006 were most certainly amused at the sight of us standing outside by the railroad tracks with cameras in frigid January conditions, probably contemplating for us all the better things we could be doing otherwise, likely sharing a laugh as they did. Sometimes I'm left to wonder what I'm even doing out here.

This past fall brought colour to parts of the Edson sub that beat anything we've had in the past several seasons. Junk train M416 passes through a swath of yellow at Magnolia Alberta

|17.07.2020r.|

Dwa Batmany o numerach 12 i 14 prowadzą skład węglarek w kierunku wschodniej granicy, zbliżając się do Zawady od strony Szczebrzeszyna.

In the 1990s, Amtrak had a fleet of EMD F40PH locomotives that were in need of a replacement. Amtrak partnered with General Electric to make the "Genesis" series of locomotives, however due to delays Amtrak needed a fleet of new locomotives to be put in service while the new P40DC (later P42DC) locomotives were being built. This is when GE turned to their previously made B32-8 and modified it with passenger specs and a wide cab to make the P32-8BWH.

Being delivered and entering service in 1991, these dash 8s found themselves running on everything alongside the soon to be retired F40PHs. These new units were famously nicknamed "Pepsi Can" as the paint scheme applied to these did somewhat resemble a can of Pepsi. Of the 20 that were delivered two would get sold off to Caltrans, and these would become CDTX 2051 and 2052, which quickly became very famous. Around the turn of the century, the dash 8s would find themselves being painted into the Phase IV paint, and by this point worked mostly alongside the Genesis series with the last F40PHs being retired around 2002. However, it wouldn't take long before Phase IV was phased out, and by 2016 Amtrak 515, the last Phase IV, would head to Beech Grove, IN to get the Phase V paint.

The delivery of the Genesis locomotives marked the point where the dash 8s would be seen on just about anything. Unlike the dash 8s, the P40DCs and P42DCs were designed basically only for mainline running as these had a cowl body, this made the dash 8s a universal unit as these don't have a cowl body which made them more preferable for switching while also still being good for running trains. Eventually, this would find the dash 8s being stuck as switchers and on MOW work, although sometimes still being put on the mainline. On top of this, Amtrak California's two dash 8s would be retired from mainline service in 2018, with 2052 being completely dead and 2051 becoming the Oakland yard switcher where it still runs today.

In 2016, a new competitor who in recent years prior had pushed into the U.S. locomotive market, rolled out something that threatened the career of the fleet of now all P42DCs. Siemens had released the SC-44, known as "Chargers," which were built to takeover regional routes such as the Cascades, Midwest services, and Surfliner. This would immediately lead to the retirement of the majority of Amtrak's F59PHIs, removed the need of P42s on these services, and other railroads that bought chargers would phase out their older power. This would prove to be a bad decision for these railroads as the units have several design flaws that caused them to break down a lot. Despite this, in 2021 the first ALC-42, the long distance version of the SC-44, was delivered to Amtrak. Both variants experience similar problems, with the first runs of the ALC-42 in service being plagued with problems. Very quickly, this would become so bad it caused the dash 8s to see a massive reappearance on trains and Class I leaders became more common than ever as breakdowns became that common, especially in the winter. It also didn't help that the P42s were old and therefore had been racking up many miles, causing them to occasionally break as well. Despite that, even though the chargers were supposed to replace the aging GEs, so far it has become quite the opposite situation, with trains such as the Coast Starlight and Empire Builder seeing these P42s constantly, even though Amtrak had ALCs fully take over these trains quite some time ago.

Seen in this photo is a perfect example of that. Early morning on UP's Black Butte Subdivision sees Amtrak 14, the northbound Coast Starlight, making its way to Seattle. This day there were no chargers in sight, just a dash 8 and a P42. Due to breakdowns, Amtrak 160 was the only unit ready to take the train, but it needed a second motor so Amtrak 510 left its usual duties switching and occasionally running commuters out of LA to take this. Notably, 160 is one of Amtrak's heritage painted motors, painted in the dash 8s iconic "Pepsi Can" scheme. Unfortunately, once this power set returns to LA tomorrow, it appears that 510 is going straight back to its usual routine.

BNSF 6178 is on the rear of a northbound coal empty as it cruise past the North Gate Bridge on the U.S. Air Force Academy, CO.

Yeah, it's a GEVO and it's a DPU...but this is my first shot along the Joint Line since late August due to life events. Sure, I would have preferred an ACe, but I was just happy to catch something.

As the first significant snowfall of the 2020-2021 season is covering the landscape, CN's daily Toronto-Halifax stack train is slowing down to crossover to the north track at Montbec and continue on to the Drummondville subdivision. Consist : CN 3278, CN 3062, CN 4711, CN 9547, CN 3893 (mid-train).

UP 8173 leads a windmill blade train down the Palmer Divide and out of Palmer Lake, CO.

Despite the sharp curvature seen trailing above the power, these long blades had no trouble making their way down the line. I always enjoy the blade trains, and you can catch them going in both directions up and down the Joint Line...

In the mid 1990s, Mexico's government owned rail network was crumbling. Ultimately, the country would privatize the rail network as it would be in better hands. This sparked the uprising of three major railroads, Ferrosur, Ferromex, and Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM). While Grupo Mexico would gain control of both Ferromex and Ferrosur in the early 2000s, TFM would go down a separate path.

Kansas City Southern Industries and Transportación Maritima Mexicana formed TFM, using the TMM logo and KCS "Grey Ghost" paint scheme. At the time, KCS had some control or owned Kansas City Southern, Panama Canal Railway, Gateway Western, Texas Mexican Railway, and TFM. After KCS gained full ownership of TFM in the early 2000s it would be rebranded as Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM). Despite this, for many years seeing TFM marked equipment would still be common, but eventually it would catch up.

Despite it being two decades since TFM was rebranded, it is still possible to find locomotives running around in the original Grey Ghost paint. The most notable of these are the AC44s, which can be easily identified by the very worn out and simple grey paint job these units wear, and as of today are the only GEs on KCS and KCSM to still wear it. However, the locomotives no longer wear the TFM logos, though it isn't hard to see where KCS repainted over several areas to patch out the old numbers and logos for current ones. In the photo, a Grey Ghost AC44 leads a northbound empty grain train out of Roseville, many miles from home. The stripes that were originally a vibrant yellow when it first came out of the paint shops has since faded to white. I guess you could say these are ghosts that still remind railfans of a time long gone.

During a break of severe weather, BNSF 8064 wastes no time leading a high priority Z-train westbound for Denver as it heads out of Wiggins, Colorado.

Passing the ancient Clinchfield slide detector fence, time freight Q692 works through a reverse curve at Hill Station, Virginia on January 30, 2021. This downhill 0.275% grade extends all the way from Clinch Mountain Tunnel to Starnes (roughly ten miles).

Nákladní vlak jedoucí z Ulaanbaataru směrem na jih, k Číně.

Grade.

The eastbound California Zephyr, behind P42DC's 131 & 205, running pretty much to time, having just cleared Moffat Tunnel.

The leaves are just starting to get their fall colours and the Front Range is alive and vibrant!

BNSF 5312 thunders north through the Greenland Open Space in Greenland, CO.

Thank God for the open space here in Douglas County as it is a wonderful break in the explosive urbanization taking place in this part of Colorado...

A westbound grain train rolls through a sea of recently harvested fields near Belle Plaine Saskatchewan

It's a nice June morning in the Sacramento River Canyon. It isn't quite sunrise yet, still blue hour, but the small settlement is busy. The sound of cars and roaring semis on I-5 overpower the sound of the river. Tied up MOW equipment is silently sitting in the siding, waiting for maintenance crews to show up. The signals are on and lined, it's time for Amtrak.

The only warning before the train flew by was the sound of squealing rails and a subtle rumble of GE prime movers. As it came around the horseshoe, the train could be vaguely seen through the brush and trees. After passing Gibson, it was straight to Cougar for a shot with Mt. Shasta soaring high above the train.

East of Truckee is a small town called Hinton. The town is located along the Truckee River and at one point in time both the Lincoln Highway and the railroad ran through here. Today, the highway is nothing more than a lightly used road after the construction of I-80 retired the outdated Lincoln Highway. Despite this, trains still pass by the small town which is just a neighborhood.

Under smoky skies, UP 6765 leads the westbound INPOA (North Platte to Oakland, CA Manifest) through Yuba Gap, CA.

April 18, 1993: Using trackage rights over CSX's Clinchfield, a southbound NS coal train flies high across Copper Creek Viaduct near Speers Ferry, Virginia.

(Scanned from Kodachrome 64 slide.)

BNSF H1 Dash-9 No. 1018 leads a northbound loaded cement train from Minnequa in Pueblo, CO bound for Irondale in Commerce City, CO as they roll through Colorado Springs during the last couple hours of daylight.

I swear sometimes when you wander into the mountains you will find the weirdest shit tucked away in the woods. This spot is no exception, as next to the tracks in Alta sits the shell of an SUV. As to why this is here or how it ended up on its side and stripped of everything, who knows. But hey, maybe it can be someone's next project car.

Going to the train now, an SP painted leader brought me out here this day. MROMI had UP 6378, one of five remaining SP painted AC44s, leading this westbound on one of SP's most famous lines. Crawling into Alta, the train for some reason had its ditchlights dimmed, which I assume the train had met an eastbound and the crew had forgot to set the headlights back. I would end up following the train to Davis before running out of light and headed home.

September 22, 2012 finds a loaded coal train in the process of tying down in the yard at Carbo, Virginia as it passes the open air shop building. This yard and shop are now closed.

The sun has already dropped below the horizon, and the day is coming to an end, but for the railroad it is not. As BNSF H-BARPAS sits in the siding, a headlight can be seen gliding down the side of Table Mountain. With the final light lighting up the train, a UP manifest rolls through Kramm. Not long after, the BARPAS would leave. The BNSF was interesting, hosting foreign power and on the rear an SP caboose.

Earlier this month, the last active SP signal bridge on Donner Pass was removed from service. Brand new sets of signals were put up on both of the crossovers in Truckee to replace the nearly thirty year old signals installed shortly after the SP went out. This bridge has been the lone active survivor since the signal bridge and searchlights at Norden were torn down on Thanksgiving of 2021. Despite the fact that it was the last active bridge, it isn't the last one standing. Several of these old bridges still stand in places such as Verdi, Yuba Gap, and Andover, which is just west of Truckee. Some of them even still have searchlights, though a signal indication hasn't showed for many years.

Since the Truckee bridge is bound to come down soon, I took a morning to try and catch one last eastbound go under. Although traffic was slow due to it being the weekend and there was a stalled stack train at Alta, just before 10 AM the MRVGR would show up. Prior to this, the only other trains that had passed in the previous few hours were the ZG2LT and the MROMI, which had cleared Truckee about twenty minutes before the manifest came through.

The MROMI (Roper Yards, Salt Lake City to Milpitas, CA) rolls west through Gold Run, CA.

Preserved boxcab CN 6710 in the snow. It has been at this location a bit over a year now after being moved from near the Deux-Montagnes Station.

BNSF H1 Dash-9 No.1044 leads a 2x0 mixed freight from Slaton, TX to Denver, CO through Palmer Lake at the start of the day.

US Air Force crew out of Shaw Air Force Base brings a short train to the interchange with CSX in Sumter, South Carolina back in 2012. I had been trying to get a shot of this train for six years and I finally got some good information on when it would be running next. I was lucky. This was the only time I was able to shoot it. At the time, they got jet fuel from CSX but later stopped running the trains. Recently they hae sold off the GE center cabs and rumors are they will be pulling up the track soon.

As my car sits in a parking lot about 100 yards away with a dead battery awaiting some jumper cables, I managed to catch BNSF 4996 taking the lead of a southbound Q-Train through Castle Rock as they tackle a 1.5% grade.

On a warm May afternoon, Kansas City Southern 4578 found itself a long way from its namesake, soaking up the west coast sunshine in Milpitas, California. Earlier that morning, the engine arrived in Union Pacific's Milpitas yard on the Roper Utah manifest train. With the train having been put away with the yard, the engine would sit silently awaiting its next assignment on the AMICH (Auto train from Milpitas to Chicago). For this shot, I made use of the appropriately colored end-of-track buffer and framed the engine between the opening. The shot ended up coming out pretty well and was different from anything else I've seen shot at this yard. Despite this location not having much scenery to work with and the constraints of the predetermined railroad track layouts, it is a fun opportunity to get creative and leave no stone unturned in trying to obtain a unique composition.