47614 leads the Branch Line Society's 1Z50 09.45 Crewe to Bidston "The Wirral Squirrel" through Ince & Elton on 3rd October 2021. The rear loco was 40013.

The line sees few loco hauled passenger trains and a number of people had turned out at the quiet shack to witness the event.

The loco was originally D1733 and was the one chosen by BR for the experimental "XP64" livery in 1964. It was subsequently renumbered to 47141 and then 47614.

37263 leads Transrail branded 37230 working the Godstone tip to Margam blast furnace slag empties which comprised a rake of MEA wagons, seen approaching Kensington Olympia on 4 August 1998

A CSX SD60M EMD engine leads a CSX C40-8W GE, as they pull a string of ethanol tank cars (empty) through one of the many S curves on the old Western & Atlantic Subdivision, seen here at Emerson, GA. Taken on 3/17/2017.

Watch the video of this train here www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=x4VdHRUF_j8

ALCo DL-500C number A 302 leads a southbound freight past the north switch (and water plugs) as it approaches Platamon, Greece for a meet with a northbound local. Residents use the right-of-way for walking commutes to and from work. The siding here is laid with metal ties. OSE rostered 10 DL-500Cs, I was lucky to catch two of them this day. They are double ended, but with a flat-faced cab on the other end. The A302 was preserved and operated on specials into the early 2000s. The OSE rostered their locomotives using an alpha-numeric designation, using the greek alphabet, so this is Alpha 302. Diesels had an alpha prefix, whereas steam engines typically had a double alpha prefix such as M-alpha, Theta gamma or Lambda-beta before a unique numerical series. I have yet to understand why.

Leads a Lawley St to Felixstowe intermodal through Egleton

NS 2572 leads 5 other GE locomotives on a manifest through the Pennsy Position Lights at Portage, PA.

A patched Southern Pacific GE AC4400CW no. UP 6417, ex SP 371 leads three UP GE's on the MNYRO (North Yard - Roper Yard Manifest) at Coal Creek Canyon near Blue Mountain Road.

An ACe leads a trio o GEs on a westbound doublestack gliding down the KCT East-West Corridor by KC's Union Station. Seeing ACes on BNSF intermodals was almost unheard of before, but in recent days, they have begun to show up a little more frequently, which is a nice break from the seemingly endless stream of GEs that are seen. 9/2/16.

20302 leads the RHTT towards Sheffield passing Swaithe on the outskirts of Barnsley (Pole used but can be done on steps from further up the field)

...leads up to the Mt. Victoria lookout.

But on rare occasions, you need to look out for dougnuts doing dougnuts...

I only framed up this scene for the mix of light and shade as a test of a camera I just bought,...and then this happened.

UP 6591 leads a southbound CSUX coal train over the famous Santa Fe bridge in Larkspur, CO.

I'm loath to shoot UP, but it was the only thing running at the time!

47727 leads 47749 through Attenborough and heads towards Nottingham with 6Z56, 06:02 Washwood Heath – Boston Docks formed of empty steel wagons, 25th August 2010.

Locomotive History

47727 was built at Crewe works as D1629 and entered traffic in October 1964 allocated to Nottingham MPD. Two months later it was transferred to D16, Nottingham Division which was in effect Toton and it remained a Midland Main Line engine for virtually the next six years before transferring to D05, Stoke Division (Crewe) in March 1971. After a short spell allocated to D02, Birmingham Division (Bescot) it transferred to the Eastern Region at Immingham in June 1972. It was renumbered 47047 under the 1973 TOPS renumbering scheme and remained an Eastern Region engine transferring to Tinsley (1973), Holbeck (1975), Immingham (1976) and Stratford (1980). At the end of 1980 it entered Crewe works for classified repair and emerged in January 1981 fitted with electric train heating and a new number, 47569. The next thirteen years would see 47569 allocated to Gateshead (1986), Inverness (1987), Eastfield (1988), Bristol (1989) and Crewe (1991). 47569 was renumbered to 47727 in January 1994 when fitted with “cab power demand” equipment and RCH type nose end jumpers for operating with remote driving vehicles on Royal Mail trains. It was transferred to Toton in January 2004 and stored a month later at the Willesden Railnet Royal Mail depot. In 2007 it was sold to Serco (now Colas), moved to Eastleigh, overhauled and and re-entered traffic in September 2007. 47749 was originally D1660 and was built at Crewe works, entering traffic in February 1965. Under the 1973 TOPS renumbering scheme it became 47076 and was renumbered 47625 when fitted with electric train heating in 1984. Renumbered to 47749 in 1995 it was withdrawn in March 2004 and dispatched to EMR Kingsbury for breaking up in 2007. However it was purchased by Serco (now Colas), moved to Eastleigh, overhauled and re-entered traffic in September 2007.

...that leads to the bus door. Early morning bus queue, since some train stations remain offline after being damaged by a fire.

Leads 91122 and the DATS test train through Egleton

NS 9916 leads train 195 out of Huger Tunnel and right over the bridge that spans the Tug Fork river on the railroads Pocahontas Division in route to Bellevue Ohio. The Huger Tunnels are located a few miles south of Welch W.Va.

43145 leads the 10.41 Glasgow Queen Street to Aberdeen HST into Dundee. The train has run along the Highland Main Line via Perth and is about to join the line from Edinburgh whose tracks are visible on the left.

BNSF 8456 leads a northbound coal empty around the shores of the namesake lake in Palmer Lake, CO.

On this particular morning, the Lions Club was sponsoring the Tri-Lakes Kids Fishing Derby, and, although you can't see it in the image, the north and east shores of the lake were shoulder-to-shoulder with young fishermen (fisherpeople?) and their parents (adult supervisors of mixed and/or unknown gender?). I was the odd man (person?) out as I was the only one standing along the shore with a camera. But I was able to haul in my catch and walk away without having taken an errant hook to the face!

Leads an East Midlands Gateway to Felixstowe intermodal through Ashwell

National Rail/Pacific National locomotive DL41 leads a train out of Plateau tunnel on the Sydney model railway society HO scale layout

A path through the tall grass's leads towards the Milky Way as it rises over oak trees in the San Diego mountains.

I went up into the San Diego Mountains recently to practice using my star tracker to do pano's before the season moves on. Unfortunately I did not have enough juice in my tracker ( always make sure they are full charged before heading out, which is hard to tell sometimes ) so I ended up just shooting and stacking shots for a cleaner image. I was still really happy with the pano I got, but while you are there you might as well shoot as much as possible. So with that in mind I went in for a tighter shot of the Milky Way and grasslands.

I shot the trail from a couple of different angles but I ended up liking having the trail and the milky way converge in the image.

Stacked and Blended Image

Foreground taken at Blue Hour

ISO 400, 24mm, f/8.0, 30 seconds

Blended with stacked image of the sky

ISO 6400, 24mm, f/1.4, 8 seconds x 15 exposures and 10 dark frames.

The road leads us by the hand like a mother !

Don't forget where you started.

66738 leads 4L13 1111 Hams Hall to Felixstowe North intermodal past the closed station at Manton Junction.

A variety of other industries have taken over the fascinating assortment of buildings here. Boat building, however, isn't one of them.

21st April 2022

6AM6 Contrans service from Islington to Melbourne powers uphill through Balhannah with X52,C502 on 20-1-1995

Italien / Südtirol - Ultental

Ultimo Farm Trail

Ultner Höfeweg

The Ulten Valley (German: Ultental or Ulten, Italian: Val d'Ultimo) is a 40 km long mountain valley in the western part of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy.

It is the valley of the stream Falschauer, a right tributary of the Adige. Its orientation is southwest to northeast, parallel to the lower Vinschgau, and it is located south of Meran. The valley ends in the commune of Lana. A small road leading south connects the valley with Proveis and the Val di Non in Trentino.

The municipality Ulten covers most of the Ulten valley. The lower part of the valley is in the municipality of St. Pankraz. The population of the Ulten valley is predominantly German-speaking (more than 98% according to 2001 census). The westernmost, highest part of the valley is part of the Stelvio National Park.

(Wikipedia)

The Ultimo Farm Trail - "Via dei Masi" in Italian, "Ultner Höfeweg" in German - is one of the best ways to get to know the valley and its beautiful old mountain farms. Starting in Pracupola (Kuppelwies), we follow the trail on the sunny side of the valley until Santa Geltrude (St. Gertraud) and hike back on its shady side. The trail is 18 km long and can be done in one or two days. Today, we decide to do the longer of the two parts of the Ultimo Farm Trail. Starting at the Ultimo Valley Museum (Ultner Talmuseum) in San Nicolò (St. Nikolaus), we pass the church and hike upwards, following the signpost "Ultner Höfeweg". First, the trail leads up the valley into the forest.

We see and smell the first signs of spring. Up and down the valley, across some small bridges and passing several beautiful mountain farms with typical shingle roofs, we follow the trail through forest and meadows. The trail is very well marked and maintained. After about 3 km, we reach the highest point of this hiking tour at 1,468 m a.s.l. Getting closer to the top of the valley, the trail leads gently downwards until we reach Santa Geltrude.

After a short rest we start our way back on the other side of the Valsura river. After about 20 minutes from Santa Geltrude, we pass the huge ancient larch trees before we finally reach San Nicolò, the starting point of the Ultimo Farm Trail, which unites culture, way of life, history and nature in a very beautiful and unique way. This tour is particularly recommendable from late spring (when also the shady side of the valley is empty of snow) until autumn.

(suedtirolerland.it)

Das Ultental, auch einfach Ulten genannt (italienisch Val d'Ultimo), ist das 40 km lange Tal der Falschauer in den Ortler-Alpen in Südtirol. Es verläuft parallel zum nördlich gelegenen Vinschgau und mündet bei Lana ins Etschtal. Der größte Teil des Ultentals gehört zu den Gemeinden Ulten und St. Pankraz, der Taleingangsbereich zur Gemeinde Lana. Die obersten Talabschnitte befinden sich im Nationalpark Stilfser Joch.

Die Ortschaften im Ultental, in talauswärts gerichteter Reihenfolge, sind

St. Gertraud (1501 m, ca. 300 Einwohner)

St. Nikolaus (1256 m, ca. 300 Einwohner)

Kuppelwies (1153 m, ca. 150 Einwohner)

St. Walburg (1190 m, ca. 2200 Einwohner)

St. Pankraz (735 m, ca. 1568 Einwohner)

Zwischen St. Walburg und St. Pankraz zweigt nach Süden die Straße über das Hofmahdjoch ins Nonstal ab.

In der Nähe von St. Gertraud befinden sich die drei Ultner Urlärchen, die auf ein Alter von 850 Jahren taxiert werden.

Der Ort St. Walburg weist mit dem latènezeitlichen Brandopferplatz am Kirchhügel eine im Alpenraum herausragende archäologische Fundstelle auf.

In der Mitte des Ultentals befindet sich das Skigebiet Schwemmalm. Des Weiteren gibt es eine Langlaufloipe von St. Nikolaus nach St. Gertraud.

Das Ultental bietet auch viele Tourenmöglichkeiten für Bergwanderer. Angefangen von gekennzeichneten Wanderwegen bis hin zu hochalpinen Tourstrecken. Der höchste der Ultner Berge ist die Hintere Eggenspitze mit 3443 m.

Im 19. und Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts hielten sich besonders im Badeort Mitterbad bei St. Pankraz viele berühmte Persönlichkeiten auf, so etwa Kaiserin Elisabeth v. Österreich, Bismarck, Franz Defregger, Hermann Sudermann, Franz Kafka, Hermione v. Preuschen, Domherr Graf zur Lippe, Thomas Mann und Heinrich Mann. Viele kamen wegen des bekannten Arztes und Philosophen Dr. Christoph Hartung von Hartungen, der in Riva am Gardasee das Sanatorium von Hartungen betrieb und im hinteren Ultental, bei St. Nikolaus, seine Sommervilla Hartungshausen besaß.

Die Wasserkraftwerke im Ultental sind eine Reihe von Speicherkraftwerken, welche die Wasserkraft der Falschauer und ihrer Nebenflüsse und -bäche mit Hilfe von sechs Stauseen zur Gewinnung von Energie nützen.

(Wikipedia)

Der Ultner Höfeweg eignet sich besonders gut, um einen Eindruck vom Ultental zu bekommen und die urigen Höfe, die das Tal so besonders machen, aus nächster Nähe zu erkunden. Der Höfeweg startet in Kuppelwies und führt auf der Sonnenseite taleinwärts bis nach St. Gertraud, talauswärts verläuft er auf der Schattenseite - insgesamt ist er etwa 18 km lang und kann in einer Tageswanderung als auch in zwei Teil-Etappen zurückgelegt werden. Wir entscheiden uns heute für den längeren der zwei Teilabschnitte. Wir starten am Ultner Talmuseum in St. Nikolaus und wandern an der Kirche vorbei aufwärts, der Markierung "Höfeweg" folgend.

Der Weg führt taleinwärts und in einer Steigung in den Wald hinein. Der Frühling liegt in der Luft und die ersten Boten sind auch hier schon zu sehen. In ständigem Auf und Ab, über Brücklein und vorbei an hübschen Paarhöfen - natürlich mit typischen Schindeldächern - im Wald und über Wiesen. Der Weg ist stets gut ausgeschildert, die Orientierung ist einfach. Den höchsten Punkt der Wanderung (1.468 m ü.d.M.) erreichen wir nach etwas mehr als 3 km. Nähert man sich dem Talschluss, geht es allmählich bergab, bis man im Dorf St. Gertraud ankommt. Nach einer kleinen Rast machen wir uns auf den Rückweg, der entlang der anderen Seite der Falschauer verläuft.

Dieser Abschnitt ist schattiger und erst im späten Frühling schneefrei. Nach etwa 20 Minuten ab St. Gertraud gelangen wir zu den Ultner Urlärchen. Deren Umfang ist wahrlich erstaunlich! Blickt man auf die gegenüberliegende Talseite, staunt man über die Lage mancher Höfe. Allmählich nähern wir uns wieder St. Nikolaus, wo unsere Wanderung am Ultner Höfeweg endet. Kultur, Lebensweise, Geschichte und Natur sind entlang dieses Weges in einzigartiger Weise vereint. Empfehlenswert vom späten Frühling (Schattenseite oft erst spät schneefrei) bis Herbst.

(suedtirolerland.it)

50007 'Hercules' leads 97205 (31163), 47727 'Edinburgh Castle', 41001 and 50031 'Hood' through Cossington, working 5Z89 Keighley & Worth Valley Railway - Kidderminster Severn Valley Railway.

Leads a Lawley St to Felixstowe intermodal through Egleton

70801 leads the retimed log empties north passed a rather busy (by modern standards) Upperby whilst working 6Z37 Chirk - Carlisle Yard.

Stabled prior to weekend engineering are Colas’ Dr73910: which had earlier arrived as 6J73 from Guide Bridge and GBRf 66776 and 66756 which had chaperoned Schweerbau High Speed Milling Machine Dr79602/3/4 from Durham as 6X69 overnight

05/02/21

37688 leads and 37521 trails a Anglia class 720 unit from the Alstom factory at Derby for storage at Worksop

CREX 1435 leads this oil can bound for Hayti, Mo. south on the BNSF Hannibal Sub. as it makes its way towards Orchard Farm, Mo. at the Church Rd. crossing.

This was a nice color combo considering it was all GE's, just happy the CitiRail was on the point.

NS leads the way northbound thru Woonsocket R.I making it's way to Gardner M.a with empty ethanol cars

UP 7845 leads the 48 local north out of the siding in Durant after waiting for a southbound to pass. This train would pull north past the north switch and then the conductor would ride a shove move around the connection track to the Kiamichi Railroad line. Once they back around the connection track the conductor would climb back on board and the train would depart eastbound, cross back over the UP line and continue east towards Pirtle siding to drop off cars for the Kiamichi to pick up.

47813 leads the late running 2J83 15:50 Lowestoft to Norwich through Haddiscoe on 19/07/13.

Leads a heavy freight train into Pirdop station.

What a great morning to wake up and see this! Oct 15, 2016 Scranton, PA

© Eric T. Hendrickson 2016 All Rights Reserved

This gate leads to the Tyringham Cobble, an open space reservation located in Tyringham, Massachusetts. It's the site of a hike that my family takes on the 4th of July every year. When I look at the photograph of this fence it makes me wonder how many other people have passed through this gate on their journey through life...

Leads 5M17 from Leicester to St Pancras through Egleton (43238 on the rear)

Union Pacific C41-8 #9471 leads a pair of Chicago & North Western SD60's, #8029 with an Opeartion Lifesaver logo and #8003 in Zito yellow along with UP ex-MOP B23-7 #131 Southbound at Coal creek Jct. in Sept. of 1995.

Burlington Northern's Gillette Road switcher is seen in the background. Not sure how good those buffer flat cars would protect the engine and caboose in case of an explosion:}

BNSF 789 leads a 9800 foot H-NTWGFD through East St. Cloud at the brink of blue hour on a quite hazy July evening. With wildfires still burning up in North Dakota and Canada, along with the 90+ degree Minnesota summer days, perfect conditions are few and far between these days, however, tonight I found my acquisition of this “fakebonnet” satisfying to myself. Although not the ideal shot, it does get the job done, and well enough for me to post about it. I attempted to acquire the train near Clear Lake, MN, however with minimal time, unfortunately that did not occur. I was able to beat the train to the Public Works building in East St. Cloud with an idea to incorporate the small yellow flowers within the shot, however I used too low of an F-stop and used an auto section for my focus setting. Lesson learned, but overall I can say I’m alright with how this all panned out.

43070 leads the diverted 09.50 Glasgow to Penzance having just crossed Dent Head viaduct on 24th April 1993.

©Dave Peachey.

73968 leads a rather late 1A25 London Euston to Aberdeen 'Caledonian Sleeper' north through Carnoustie some 7 and 1/2 hours late.

An unfortunate combination of a late start from Euston caused by stock issues, a signalling problem en route and then issues with the train loco at Thornton led to one of the latest recorded arrival's in Aberdeen for the sleeper ...3pm.

73966 on the rear was summoned from Craigentinny to assist from Thornton but in the even doesn't appear to have been required.

Leads 67023 through Wing with a Test Train for Luton. Not the right choice of location for a sunny afternoon.

G535 leads EL60, 4816 and 4836 north out of Milvale with train 3856N (empty AWB grain train from Junee to Parkes), having crossed a southbound PN wheat train bound for Maldon.

There's a story here...

Over the weekend that Todd and I visited Junee, looking to shoot some grain trains on the various branch lines around the Junee/Coota area, there was a complete shut down of the Unanderra to Moss Vale Line. Thus, when we arrived in Cootamundra, we found at least three export rakes parked up, with all of the locos sitting nearby. At Junee, we found one AWB/El Zorro rake stabled in the workshops, while near Stockinbingal, we found the other one, again stabled over the weekend.

The good news was, that the QRN/Glencore grain rake had been loading on the Stockinbingal-Parkes line, and was preparing for a Sunday evening run back to Goulburn (convenient, as we were spending the night in Goulburn). We set up camp at Weedallion to wait for it to arrive. Of course, it naturally got put away one station north of Weedallion, to wait for 3856N, which had departed Stockinbingal. With the light rapidly fading, we packed up and headed south to Milvale, to shoot 3856N coming into "town".

With that accomplished, we went to depart for the chase north, only to notice that the grain train was slowing to a stop (across the level crossing we needed to cross), so we hesitated to see 3856N going into the loop at Milvale. Cursing, we moved north to the Parkes end of the loop to wait for (what we assumed to be) 8958N, the QRN/Glencore train. Imagine our surprise to see 8169 and 8175 blast through on the main with 8234N domestic wheat from Parkes to Allied Mills at Maldon...

After assuming that 3856N would be held for 8958N to run through behind 8234N, we were preparing to depart, given that the sun was now sitting on the horizon - there would be no chance for a silhouette (let alone a "normal" photo) of anything now! Just as we prepared to leave, the crew of the El Zorro train set the points across to depart, and powered up. Moments after the sun had vanished forever, they crawled past us exiting the loop to run north, which is the result you see above. Sure, we missed out on the QRN grain train, but this was a nice second prize!

For those trying to figure out the train numbering, the first number corresponds to where the train has come from (so above, 3 is Junee/Cootamundra, and 8 is Parkes), the second number is where the train is going to (so, 2 is Picton/Moss Vale/Goulburn/Canberra, and 3 and 8 are the same). The third number is allocated to the operator (5 is a bit of a wild card number, hence why it was applied to the El Zorro and the QRN trains). The fourth number is the "train number", to help differentiate trains with the same first three numbers. Clear as mud? You get used to it.

NS 1067 (SD70ACe) leads NS 123 east past the old NKP signals guarding the diamond in Frankfort, Indiana. The diamond was once an NKP-Monon RR diamond. Now the diamond belongs to the NS and CSX. NS runs a few trains over it everyday while CSX runs little traffic over the diamond.

67027 leads 67023 through the ornate 1845 built Stroud station with 3S32 1107 Cheltenham to Swindon RHTT service on 15th October 2024.

The idea was to photograph it at St Mary's Crossing further along, with its ornate crossing box - but that went out the window when there were huge queues on the main road due to roadworks. So Plan B was to park up at Stroud and get it there - a wise choice as it ran 45" early over the valley.

The old bridge in the background is closed for a few months whilst repairs are undertaken and a new temporary one has been erected at the east end of the station.