View allAll Photos Tagged Tier4
After having come into Topeka the previous night on the KCS "Chicken Train," the power got pulled down to the west end of town and parked in UP's Ruby Yard. This was taken just after a brief rain storm, 90 minutes or so after sunset, and the lighting was provided by an adjacent pet food manufacturer. Regardless, these new EMDX 'Nanners are BRIGHT!
Just east of Downtown Houston, there's a small bastion of Houston Belt & Terminal searchlight signals still standing in everyday service. They protect two control points on the West Belt: CP Rusk (former Tower 84) and S GH&H Jct.
Here, a southbound UP manifest splits the searchlights at CP Rusk on the West Belt with a long train of tank cars and plastic pellet hoppers.
MEWFP 18 (Manifest- Englewood Yard [Houston] to Freeport, TX)
UP C45AH #2739
UP C45AH #2767
Houston, TX
March 18th, 2021
Or lens since Long Beach is about 50 miles away, anyway definitely should have taken this with something a bit bigger coupled to the lens mount the 135 wasn't enough to get rid of the big foreground shadow that the buildings cast. Along the 91 Freeway corridor between Corona and Riverside, as BNSF 3738 and 6609 cruise through the crossovers at May as the pair moves 6857 feet as Stacks off of Long Beach Pier E (LBCT Terminal) towards St. Louis in the morning. And yes Searchlights since the San Bernardino signals get no love even though there just about it on the old Santa Fe.
UP 2651 & 5598 lead their train through one of the more scenic canyons on the former Rio Grande as they make their way up the Dotsero Cutoff.
CWEAX 15
Having just left the Houston Sub/Sunset Route at East Settegast Jct, this Houston-bound manifest turns to the north to reach its destination of Settegast Yard. The cars in the background are headed up the hump of UP's Englewood Yard.
MLIHO (Manifest- Livonia, LA to Houston, TX [Settegast Yard])
UP C45AH #2607
UP SD70ACe #8972
Houston, TX
March 31st, 2020
One shot at Atchison wasn't going to be enough for me so I made sure to chase this one up to Lancaster, thank goodness.
CWLBT 21
After the CP leader on the TPKC, Cade and I stuck around to shoot the eastbound that we had heard of, and were pleasantly surprised to see that it had an EMD SD70ACe-T4 on the point! Surprisingly, this unit is already six years old, but given all of the time that these were in storage early on in their lives (this one was back in service by Oct. '09), they've got to be awfully low-mileage for their age, as compared to similar units of their ilk.
This is at MP59 on the UP Kansas Sub, about halfway between Perry and Grantville.
UP 3019, one of only ten SD70ACe-T4s on UP's roster currently out and running the rails, leads a windmill parts train south at the Academy siding on the U.S. Air Force Academy, CO.
I wasn't sure I'd ever get a chance to catch one of these much-maligned things leading, but a timely and greatly appreciated heads up from Wes Greer gave me the opportunity...
It's hideous go back.
Another boxy looking SD70AH comes out of the darkness as it rounds out the final few miles in it's trip form Tucson, Arizona. The train generated quite a stir as just before this showed up a swarm of railfans appeared and then promptly left after the headend went by.
For decades, photographers, railfans, and travelers alike have been drawn to milepost 113 of Canadian Pacific’s Laggan Subdivision. Better known as “Morant’s Curve”, this legendary location in the Canadian Rockies owes its fame to the countless, iconic images captured here by C.P.R. staff photographer Nicholas Morant.
Since moving to Calgary earlier in the year, I’ve had several opportunities to visit this stunning vista, where the railway gracefully follows the Bow River Valley, framed by the majestic Bow Range. After CP’s takeover of KCS, and the subsequent formation of CPKC on April 14, 2023, I’ve been eager to capture a photograph that reflects the essence of the new railway at this esteemed location — a modern homage to the timeless work of Nicholas Morant.
Yesterday, during a family holiday to Banff, some fresh snowfall and a stroke of luck gave me the opportunity I’d been waiting for. Hearing that CP 7433, one of CPKC’s brand-new Tier 4 locomotives, was leading an eastbound intermodal train, I set out to capture the shot I’d been envisioning.
Here, Vancouver-to-Montreal hotshot no. 112 snakes through the pristine, snow-covered landscape, led by CP 7433 less than five weeks after entering service, offering a contemporary glimpse of CPKC at this celebrated location. In the background, the peaks (from left to right) are Mount Aberdeen (10,350 ft.), Saddle Mountain (7,993 ft.), Fairview Mountain (9,011 ft.), Mount Whyte (9,786 ft.), and Mount Niblock (9,764 ft.), towering above the valley of Lake Louise.
Interestingly, this marks the third time I’ve captured CP 7433 leading train 112 over the Laggan Subdivision in just three weeks. However, with 7433 as the sole leader, a clean consist of graffiti-free cars, and bright-red CP containers behind the head end, this train was the perfect subject to bring my vision to life.
As we welcome 2025, I’m eager to see what new photography opportunities lie ahead, especially after such a memorable 2024. Wishing all my friends, followers, and fellow photographers a safe and Happy New Year!
U70491 has the BC Rail heritage unit leading the CN 3271. Even dirty, this is a good looking paint scheme. This is along CN's Freeport sub in Northern Illinois.
Enroute to the other side of the platform to nab an Eastbound BNSF train, Metrolink train 353 with SCAX 909 providing the power depart San Bernardino as the train heads for the flyover on it's way to Los Angeles Union Station.
The conductor of the U AWATNH4 10A gives me a friendly wave as his train curves through the loops approaching Palmer Lake.
Looking for Copper < Finding Gold.
Union Pacific 2656 and 6967 hold up the rear end of the West Colon, California to Ogden, Utah manifest train in the siding at Erie, Nevada, after the ZSCLB blasted by them. As some amount of measurable luck would have it some of the thin clouds that were present at the time the two trains passed each other had broken up just enough to open up this great sunset shot.
This train kinda has a companion video with a few others follow the rabbit hole here: youtu.be/HtYuP8HTrms
After completing it's head-end set out in very impressive time at Oxnard, Union Pacific's Guadalupe Hauler is back on the move as the train gains more and more ground on Amtrak 777. As Union Pacific 2717 and company run between a few milt-million dollar beach front homes as the northbound turns the corner at Santa Claus Beach just north of Carpinteria.
At one of the most disappointing spots....
Union Pacific 3096 threads the needle between Diamond Bar and The City of Industry, as it drops down into the Grand Avenue Crossovers with eighty-nine buckets for Metro Stevedore. This was one of those "could have been a lot better" catches with the sun getting lower and lower on the horizon, a last second decision was made to leave my hiding place at WO Tower and head west to get on the other side of Mount San Antonio. However due to the Sixty being a parking lot my hopes of getting to straight away by the Workman Mill Cemetery was gone which brought me here, the border zone between the warehouses and future housing developments.
A brand new CPKC Tier 4 Gevo, CP 7431 leads CP 230 out of the tunnel. Another one of the use also served as a mid DPU. Ready or not, this CPKC paint scheme will become the new norm, as well as these new units.
A Union Pacific vehicle train climbs the hill between Green River and Peru, Wyoming, on June 22, 2023. The train is led by the latest “Tier 4” EMD and GE (or Progress Rail’s Electro-Motive Diesel and Wabtec) products, SD70ACe-T-4 No. 3031 and ET44AC No. 2621 powering the westbound train on the UP’s Evanston Subdivision
A short eastbound intermodal train is running towards Chicago near the Global IV side tracks West from Rochelle, Il.
The consist made up by UP #4971, a late EMD SD70M, and UP #7828, a Gevo, is led by the Tier 4 compliant UP #2571 a new ET45AH. (6/21/16)
The 12,356' Flat Top Mountain rises majestically over the scene as our intrepid coal load follows the Colorado River at Dell on a beautiful Colorado evening.
CWEAX 15
What turned out to be my personal favorite from my run up the Santa Barbara Subdivision following the LOF66/67 (Guadalupe Hauler). Was Union Pacific 2717 hitting the straight track in the middle of the siding at Devon at the Associated Road grade crossing. The train hit a PTC wall at Narlon (unknown switch position) which played to my advantage since I had begun to head to Surf but turned around due to dense fog. After the crew got PTC functioning again the train was back to working toward the top of the Casmalia Hills.The train is showing off a fairly good profile of what's heading into the Santa Maria Valley from empty reefers to a load of John Deere equipment.
Following the CPKC merger, there's been an influx of KCS power north of the border. Like here, this CPKC grain empty has a KCS Tier 4 GEVO up front as it rolls down the eastern slope of the Canadian Rockies between Canmore and Gap, AB.
In the distance are the peaks of Mt Lawrence Grassi and Ha Ling Peak, part of Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park.
CPKC Empty Grain Train
KCS ET44AC #5015
(Mid-Train DPU) CP AC4400 / DRF-44 #9820
Gap, AB
August 26th, 2025
CSX ST70AH 8904, one of ten examples from EMD's Tier4 series on the roster leads Q541 at Union City, Georgia on the Manchester Sub. June 20, 2020
Bypassing the west throat of Englewood Yard, the Bell Line is a combination of two former SP branch lines through east Houston. Here, at a location once called Tower 5, the two branch lines crossed. Today the lines are abandoned south and west of the former interlocking, with just a connector curving through the northeast quadrant to join the remaining trackage.
On a warm and sunny Houston morning, one of UP's Tier 4 ACe's takes the big curve on the Bell Line as it heads for the south side of Englewood Yard via Baer Jct.
MFWEW 30 (Manifest- Fort Worth, TX to Englewood Yard [Houston)
UP SD70AH #3052
UP SD70M #5066
UP SD70M #4343
Houston, TX
December 1st, 2022
A Cram shot not to be mistaken with a (Counter rocket, artillery, and mortar) repost of a few similar images, as Union Pacific 3063 and 6754 take seventy empty autoracks up through San Timoteo Canyon.
See these photos for other angles on this train: flic.kr/p/2kS4Bo4 flic.kr/p/2kRW7n2
UP coal load CWECM 15 rolls by the busy Winter Park ski resort and over the Fraser River just before plunging into the depths of the 6.2 mile long Moffat Tunnel.
Just seemed like an appropriate pic to do in light of this afternoons tier 4 restriction announcement.
The snow stopped falling by the time Q032 passed, but the powder was still flying. It seems CSX has started applying a circular "DP" logo to the lower front corner of the nose on locomotives equipped for DPU service. There was a distributed power unit midway through the consist on this day.
CSX Q032:
CSXT 3394 ET44AH
BNSF 3878 and a sister Tier 4 unit lead a northbound manifest through Greenland, CO.
This is the first all-Tier 4 lashup I've caught...and I'm guessing it won't be my last.
With wildfire haze filling the valley, BNSF 3977 departs Paradise on Montana Rail Link's 4th Sub. The jointed rail to the right is the western end of MRL's 10th Sub, and in the distance the former NP depot can be seen.
Q SPOALT6 04D (Quality Intermodal- Spokane, WA to Alliance, TX)
BNSF ET44C4 #3977
BNSF ES44C4 #4296
BNSF ES44C4 #8340
Paradise, MT
September 5th, 2021
CSX ST70AH 8904, one of ten examples from EMD's Tier4 series on the roster leads Q541 through Fife, Georgia on the Manchester Sub. June 20, 2020
An oil empty makes a quick stop at the BNSF Northtown yard for a crew change and quickly departs. Leading the train is a neat GE ET44AH Tier 4 locomotive.
Q583 passes the old depot and NS station sign at Stevenson as they enter the home stretch to Chattanooga.
UP coal load CWEAX 15 curves through New Castle as it makes its way east. This train had been sitting in Grand Junction for the last two days while waiting for a MNYGJ to bring the three engines needed for the mid-train helper set in the background, without which the train would be unable to climb up Fraser Hill to the Moffat Tunnel.