Guss asked me about a photo from back in 2008. It reminded me of one of our Summerail trips were we stopped and did the blades on the Monon. I wasn't super excited about it, but looking back now...glad we got a few trains. One was this local J760 passing the well known semaphores at the south end of Romney. The train has an approach due to Q642 is sitting at Linden waiting for J726 to head into the siding to clear up. There was about 8 sets of blades on the north end of the Monon between Crawfordsville and Lafayette. An era that wasn't long for the world.

CSXT 8320 hustles J726 past the semaphores at South Romney at sunset.

CSX SD40-2 #8349 hustles J726 North past the single semaphore near Raub, IN.

Nearing the trailer "down by the river," a re-crewed Q643 heads south behind J726. This train sat all morning in the hole at Linden for a fresh crew. The tall blade can be seen at left, disguised in the shadows by this time in the afternoon.

A rather large J726 finally makes it south out of Lafayette in the last light of a frigid December evening in 2008, seen here passing the semaphores at Romney.

J726, with the standard pair of SD40-2s, flies through the intermediates between North Linden and South Romney on the way toward Lafayette.

What became a normal catch on J726 heading south, CSX 8181 leads past the Monon semaphores at the north end of Linden Siding.

Classic Indiana Railroading: CSX J726 flies north past the last blade on its way to Lafayette. I was using the replacement signal as a shooting platform.

J726 has three older EMD six axles and all three are barking their loudest as they struggle up the slight grade leaving Crawfordsville, IN on the Monon Sub. They've got a huge heavy train to deal with, having tried to alleviate a plugged Lafayette yard. Behind them is another freight, J771, who is almost as big. There's a W034 rail train waiting for both of them to clear so he can go north. Wearing the YN1 paint scheme, the 8404 looks a little tired. She may look like an SD40, because that what she was when she rolled out of LaGrange, built for the C&O. It's early March, 2010, and we had gone in search of some semaphore action before they all disappeared. Getting three trains in one spot was kind of nice.

6 EMD's lead CSX J726 South at Main St. in Crawfordsville on a pleasant fall afternoon in central Indiana.

Possibly my most astonishing find in a long time, I saw this just after leaving work today, and I was only just getting my head around the Y-reg Mondeo I'd seen on the walk back to the office at lunchtime. The "big news" this week was the incredible Daihatsu Sirion that has turned up at my work - could never have predicted that one 😊

Supercar Night at The Hop Pole of Retford

Ames, IN is on the southeastern outskirts of the bustling metropolis of Crawfordsville. It is important in the eyes of CSX as it is where trains traveling between Lafayette and Indianapolis enter or leave the former Monon for the former Conrail line, The Monon was one of the last bastions of semaphore signals on CSX. I believe they are all gone today. We were visiting in November of 2009 and caught J726, the daily turn between Indy and Lafayette struggling up grade with the usual monster train out of Lafayette. He's about to pass the old semaphore at Ames before making the turn onto the old Conrail for the run to Indianapolis. The semaphore we see here actually is not his signal as it is to protect northbound trains. As old as that semaphore is, the 8881 is no spring chicken, either. The old EMD actually started life on the Pennsylvania RR as an SD40, worked for Penn Central and Conrail, and somewhere along the line got turned into a SD40-2R. She wound up on CSX due to the split of Big Blue with NS. And as far as I can tell, she's still on the roster today. No such luck for the semaphore, though.

1992 SAAB 900 S 16 Valve turbo convertible.

206,489 miles at its last MoT test in September 2020.

One from the old Monon 6 years ago I somehow overlooked. A nice quartet of standard cabs leads the daily J726 back toward Indianapolis. The YN2 GP38-2 was a nice change from the usual SD40-2s.

The high-low set of semaphores on the north side of Crawfordsville, IND sees southbound local J726 rolling by from August 7, 2004.

1992 Ford Orion LX.

1753cc diesel.

Last MoT test expired in December 2018.

"Northern TV World" says the tour information board in the windscreen, which probably means a trip to the Granada Studios Tours. Either that or a visit to something about cross-dressing...

Manchester, turning into Piccadilly, 28/09/1992.

CSX J726 splits the semaphores at Main Street at Crawfordsville, Indiana just weeks before being replaced.

1991 Nissan Figaro.

Registered in March 2007.

When I arrived in Lafayette I was thrilled to see a pair of Conrail units working the CSX yard. I was hoping that would be the power for J726, but instead I had to settle for the usual mixed bag of CSX EMDs. No matter what the paint though; classic power, bright sun, fresh snow, and a set of blades sure make a great photo.

The northbounds kept coming as we heard that J726 (Avon to LaFayette) was coming north. We relocated to Romney to catch the north set of blades. The engineer gave us a friendly wave as the three of us had to have been quite the sight standing amongst the ditch-weed getting the shot.

By now it was 1009 and we'd shot 4 trains at 4 sets of blades in just over 3 hours. With the Quad Cities a decent drive still to come, we opted to head down to Crawfordsville to record the last few blades and head for home. CSX had other ideas...

08-19-2008

CSXT's J726-19 crew returns south with Q643's train through the blades at MP 133.2 south of Romney, IN.

August 19, 2008.

1991 Nissan Figaro.

Registered in March 2007.

Anglia Car Auctions, King's Lynn -

"Chassis number: FK10016876

Finished in Lapis grey. Offered direct from the film company who have used this Figaro in TV advertising and a new drama arriving shortly called January. It was first registered in the UK in 2007 and has had five registered owners since. The vendors advise that it has been dry stored and drives very well. It comes with MoTs, Japanese certificate of de‑registration dated 2006, Japanese handbook, DVLA confirmation letter and a very few receipts. The odometer records 125,000 kilometres (approximately 77,000 miles)."

Estimate - £3500 to £4500. Sold for £4770 including premium.

1992 Land Rover Defender 90 soft-top.

Ex-military and registered for civilian use in October 2011.

Wallace Arnold J726 CWT is a Volvo B10M with Plaxton Excalibur coachwork, new in 1992.

CSX's J726 train rolls south near one of five remaining semaphores on the former Monon main line in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

CSX J726 whips past the Monon semaphores between South Romney and North Linden.

CSXT 8459 and two SD40-type siblings drag local J726-06 (Avon Yard, Indianapolis, Ind.–Lafayette, Ind.) past an endangered pair of semaphores at Main St. in Crawfordsville, Ind., during an intense round of flurries on the morning of Dec. 6, 2008.

CSX J726 rolls north through Hoosier cornfields and past Monon semaphores at North Romney, IN.

Mercedes 1120/Carmichael FoT at BP Saltend in 2004. This appliance was formerly at BPs Baglan Bay works in South Wales. Thanks to Phil Ostler.

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On a cold and rainy December day, CSX train J726-11 rolls off the P&E for the Monon with blocks all the way to Lafayette. This area is called Ames in Crawfordsville, IN and is the location of one of the last remaining Monon Semaphores. But not for long. The yellow "X" spray painted on the pole says it all. This blade and the other two sets north of here are all set to be decomissioned later this year; almost 100 years since they were first put in service.

Josui Office "J726"

Tachikawa Bus Co., Ltd.

Chassis　Isuzu Motors Co., Ltd. KL-LV380L1

Body　ISUZU BUS MANUFACTURING Co., Ltd. (IBM) "ERGA" One-step Bus

Manufacture Year　2000

上水営業所「J726」

立川バス株式会社

シャーシ　いすゞ自動車 KL-LV380L1

車体　いすゞバス製造 (IBM) 「エルガ」 ワンステップバス

製造年　2000

J726 is struggling with its usual heavy train as it passes one of the last semaphores on the line. The Indy-Lafayette turn will soon be off the Monon sub and headed east to home.

Just seconds before the sun sets on this cold windy December evening, CSXT J726 passes the semaphores at Romney just south of Lafayette, Indiana. Dec 5, 2008

Glacial Potholes in Shelburne Falls

Photo Courtesy: Mohawk Trail Association

Address: J726+W7, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370

Phone: 413-625-2544

Website: www.shelburnefalls.com/vistor-information/3-see-the-glaci...

Just downstream from the Bridge of Flowers is Salmon Falls. The river bottom is now nearly dry and has the largest selection of glacial potholes in the country. These ancient potholes, predating the Indians by thousands of years, came into existence by attacking whirlpools of water and gyrating stones of the Glacial Age that eroded the granite.

CSXT's J726-19 heads north through the blades at MP 132.5 in Romney, IN. This local wasn't on our initial lineup for the morning, but was a welcomed sight!!

August 19, 2008.

J726 splits the semaphores slowly as it battles uphill heading for Ames and then Indianapolis. It was running 10 minutes ahead of J771, who is shown earlier in the photostream. This guy was even larger and heavier than J771. Lafayette must have been intent on emptying out the yard this day.

CSXT train J726 waits at West Demun with a trio of Geeps.

Doubled up and ready to rock, this J726 had 3 blocks to run to Ames and everything...The train gets put together and then the DS tells them to release their blocks and shove back into the yard, they let Q642 out of Indy and the siding at Linden was filled with cars, so there was no where to make a meet enroute...that was the kind of luck ExtraTrashy and I had Friday...then it got worse, but thats a story for another time...

CSX Monon Subdivision. Southbound.

J726 is picking up speed as it nears Wabash Ave. on the way out of Lafayette. The crappy lighting conditions would have me call off photography for the day after cashing this one.

Taken on 3/30/2012