YN2 locomotives
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CSX local F752 led by CSXT 454, the 'Spirit of Magnolia' on the Andrews sub at N. Charleston on its way from Nucor Steel to Bennet Yard.
Dusk sets in on the Breaks Interstate Park as Shelby Shifter C675-18’s pair of YN2 CW44’s grind up the 1% grade across Clinchfield’s famed Pool Point Trestle. Their 100 empties are headed for Alpha Met’s McClure No.1 mine and processsing plant for loading.
November 18, 2021.
I've done a few half-hearted trips to the Hanover Subdivision over the years, but today was the first time I made a serious effort to devote a day chasing D795. This job traverses the most scenic portion of the line west of Hanover to Hagerstown and operates on Saturdays, so it's a common attraction for local railfans. We had hoped for one of the solid trios of SD40s that this run has attracted, but the leader today wound up being Dash 9 #9041. As far as GEs go, these are becoming a rarity and with it still in YN2 I can't say I was that upset about it! Here they are at one of the classic Hanover Sub vistas in Smithsburg, MD.
A YN2 CSX GP40-2 heads west on the Magnolia Cut-Off a couple hundred yards east of Stuart Tunnel. My father Jeremy Plant and good friend Stanley Short are closer to the bracket mast CPL signals. Camping with friends down here was one of the coolest things, and I spent much of the 2000s on this portion of the Baltimore and Ohio before things were ruined.
L106 shakes up the quiet coastal atmosphere of eastern Dundalk with it’s large train bound for Tradepoint Atlantic’s Greys Yard. This angle on the northeast side of the bridge has remained undocumented, but motivations to get the right side of the sun got me down to the water here. A nice low-numbered YN2 AC44 to compliment as well.
Train: CSXT L106 with CSXT 32 (CW44AH), CSXT 7038 (CM44AH)
CSXT Sparrows Point Industrial Track
Dundalk, Maryland
A 193 car Q399 is seen heading south past the searchlight signal at John Hix, MP 87.1 on the Saginaw Subdivision.
McClure Turn C875-19 disturbs the tranquility of the Breaks Interstate Park as Mr. Elswick and his pair of YN2 CW44ACs hold back 100 loads of metalurgical coal from Alpha Met Resources’ McClure No. 1 facility, seen here crossing Clinchfield’s Pool Point Bridge. It was good to see a busy morning again on the north end, as this crew met a G691, Q693, Q694, and G811 at McClure Jct.
Amidst a light drizzle and descending clouds, the calm of evening in eastern Tennessee is abruptly ended by the sounds of distant traction motors and piercing flange squeal. Peering out of the fog is a pair of YN2 CW44s, and a train of company hoppers filled with Eastern Kentucky black diamonds, as they wind south past the steam era coaling tower at Chaska. No helpers being assigned lead these motors to create a sight for the senses crawling up the grade, and eventually stall just past Habersham. We truly could not have asked for a better train to run this stretch of railroad, and seeing such a classic sight (and sound!) was like being caught in a 90s time warp. This was the Coal Country I came to see.
The sound of chugging GEs echos off the trees as the engineer of M427 pulls through a set coming into Danville Junction. The lead AC44 still has a fairly decent YN2 paintjob, and looked pretty nice in the low morning sun.
The CSX AC6000CWs were often fan favorites with their slightly altered YN2 paint scheme and enlarged radiator.
Everyone assumed that when cab signals were discontinued, the Nelson searchlights would also fall that same day. Seeing as how they weren’t even wired up (as told by open conduit here) at the time, there would be a window of opportunity for foreign leaders at the various searchlights. I would’ve been content with any lame GEVO, but hey, I’ll take a YN2 duo here as my first, no question.
CSX local F752 hauling coils from Nucor Steel crossing a wooded trestle at N. Charleston on its way to Bennett yard. The lead unit, CSXT 498 is on YN2 livery.
O759 crosses McGirts Creek Bridge with CSXT 4566, one of the last, if not the last, YN2 SD70MACs in charge. The train orginated in Taft and is bound for Baldwin, it's one of the several weird O, M, and A trains that now run the A-line to make up for Q455/456. Jacksonville, FL
On a suprisingly warm November afternoon, a pair of YN2 CW44AC’s bring eastbound 110 car empty U912 through WD Cabin headed for Scott’s Branch.
I137 is beginning to pull it’s first cut of cars out of Seagirt to double up on the second cut seen on the right. In the background is Baltimore’s Marine Terminals headquarters, one of the last original standing structures here in East Baltimore. Structures like this are becoming increasingly uncommon with the development of warehouses and trucking depots in this area.
Train: CSXT I137 with CSXT 38 (CW44AH), CSXT (CM44AH)
CSX Seagirt Marine Terminal
Baltimore, Maryland
This would be the first shot of the first train to a start of an insane weekend on the Toledo sub. Two MAC’s, a low numbered YN2 AC44, and an SD40-2.
As the sun breaks through the morning fog off the McClure River, a pair of veteran YN2 CW44AC’s work southbound down the old Clinchfield at Clinchco, Virginia with 99 mtys on Shelby Shifter C875-02 for Alpha Met Resources’ McClure No. 1 Mine & Preparation Plant.
CSXT 524 South curves through beautiful Olinger, Virginia the second half of a C090; 45 NRG loads off the Poor Fork Branch, bound for Tennessee Eastman in Kingsport.
It's that time of the year here in Central Illinois, a time where there is an abundance of grain trains. This one in particular is a 90 car unit train, coming from ADM in Tuscola and is bound for a customer in North Carolina. The Charleston-based crew was called for 4:00 PM and was on the train and departing Tuscola by 5:30. After a little catch-up, I was able to come across them just on the other side of Murdock, as slow orders held them up. This shot was taken a mile east of Newman, where the engineer has the two YN2-painted AC4400CW locomotives notched up out of town.
With a the DP trains it's nice to see a couple units on the head end these days, even if the AC44s were heading to storage. Q409 crosses the Appomattox River in Petersburg just outside Collier Yard.
Clinchfield’s 1.0% Sandy Ridge grade has time freight Q653-06 down to walking speed as they grind through N.E. Trammel under dreary conditions. The 3,691 ft siding here has since been removed.
April 7, 2022.
A long string of gutted and stored YN2 EMD's and Dash 7's await their fate in Huntington, WV. Most of the SD40's and GP's will be rebuilt as -3's, while other engines will meet the torch after being stripped of all usable parts.
The fall colors are at their peak at the east end of the horseshoe curve at Mance. A bright future adorned SD40-2 is in command of eastbound pig train Q130 on this morning, while not out of the ordinary for 2007 standards, it still would've been more likely to have something of the widecab variety running the show then. This was one of four eastbounds that descended the east slope of Sand Patch in rapid succession that morning, with a pair of westbounds mixed in for good measure. It's unlikely any of these things would happen these days!
CSX L614 pulls a boxcar from the Arauco fiberboard plant in Moncure. Located on the Phoenix lead just off the Aberdeen Subdivision, Arauco produces medium-density fiberboard at this location. Of all the industries on the lead, it is the most photogenic but also the most elusive as carloads are relatively infrequent. As neat as the YN2 leader was this evening, I was more excited to have a chance to get them on this spur - probably not something I will ever luck into again!
A rainy afternoon in October 2016 finds Q241 accelerating past the B&O CPLs at South Deshler after clearing the southeast wye in town. A spiritual duo of YN2 motors lead the way; CSXT 4685 "The Spirit of Mulberry" and CSXT 391 "The Spirit of Dante." At the time, 4685 was the only SD70M remaining in YN2 paint. I'm not even sure if any of the DC 70s are still in service, but I doubt it.
CSX sucks.
The redbud atop Afton Mountain is starting to leaf out green. An empty train pops out of the short Little Rock Tunnel lead by a YN2.
Seeing as we started our day in North Vernon for L422, the Toledo sub was the last place we expected to end up. That changed when we got word of UP 2002 leading 4 other standard cab EMDs on M351. Seen cresting the hill in Botkins, the all EMD lineup sounded amazing as they crawled over the grade. As much as I would have loved to shoot YN2 4419 on the Indiana sub, I think we made the right call. Special thanks goes out to AJ who let me borrow his old camera and lens after an "incident" in North Vernon.
Led by a pair of reasonably clean YN2 AC44s and one of Pan Am's C40 blobs, M427 is starting downgrade into Portland at Deering Junction. Right now this location is milepost 194, as measured from Mattawamkeag, but pretty soon it will become milepost nine of the Portland Subdivision, as part of CSX's intergration of the former Pan Am system.
Built in the mid 1990s, a pair of CSX GE AC4400CWs #64 and #73 still wearing their 'as delivered' YN2 paint scheme blast through the small town of Polkton, NC passing the old Seaboard Depot. It is becoming more and more uncommon to see sets of these motors especially on a hot intermodal train in 2023.
Spring color has started to pop in Dickeson County as Shelby Shifter R240-14’s pair of GE’s dig in shoving 100 empties up the McClure Spur’s 0.5% grade toward AlphaMet’s McClure Preparation Plant. After supplying their empties, they’d run the 100 loads of Met coal they just pulled back to Shelby.
April 14, 2022.
On the most torrential, wet, and unlucky of days, L422 splits the CPLs at New Elizabethtown, Indiana, with YN2 4419 in the lead. Downpour conditions (and my own inability to frame any shot decently) made this my only decent shot of the day. A little salty about this one, but you take what you have.
From the same overpass as the last shot in my feed, two YN2 CSX GE's have just departed Willard with mixed freight Q568 on Oct. 31, 2021.
One of the last YN2 EMDs on the CSX Roster, SD40-2 8484, leads maintenance of way tie train A038 south on the Jesup Subdivision at Fort Mudge, GA.
The train would begin dropping ties just north of the Racepond siding and continue to do so south of there. This made for quite the surprise at the time and it's easily one of my top catches from 2020. The only other mainline appearance this unit made before becoming a full time Waycross Trim Unit was on A794 on January 4th, 2020.
L&N Searchlights stand guard as a pair of YN2 CW44’s lead Hazard Mine Run C840-24 into daylight out of Hazard Tunnel. They'll run down the main through Hazard Yard, south toward the siding at Edjouet to tie down for the morning. The track in the foreground is the L&N Lotts Creek Branch.
I've been in Ohio for almost 6 years, but soon the Air Force will be sending me to the Arctic. In between moving my stuff and taking care of paperwork, I've been squeezing in some railfanning here and there. May 1 was my last full day of railfanning here in Ohio, and CSX, once again, delivered with one hell of a consist.
Sprinting east towards Crestline on the Mount Victory Subdivision, CP 7023, CP 9832, and CSX 8482 (YN2) lead Q560-01 through the namesake town on a gorgeous Saturday morning. Obviously, railroads don't make up consists to please railfans. But still, sometimes I'd like to think so, and I couldn't ask for a better consist to photograph one last time.