View allAll Photos Tagged YN2
A pair of EMD SD40-2s trim the east end of tbe giant Selkirk Yard southwest of Albany that was long a hub for predecessors Conrail, Penn Central and New York Central.
CSXT 8483 was rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen from a straight SD40 originally blt. Feb. 1969 as MP 751. CSXT 8246 was blt. Jan. 1977 as BO 7604. The former wears the first true standardized mass applied scheme commonly known as YN2 or 'Bright Future' that was the official locomotive livery from 1990 to 2002. The latter wears the scheme that has now reigned for two decades and is known by fans as YN3 or 'Dark Future.'
I presume most folks here will prefer the older image, but I've never hated the current one with its Chessapeake and Ohio like simplicity.
Selkirk Yard
Town of Bethlehem, New York
Monday September 19, 2011
Loyall Mine Run C821 ducks under the foot bridge at Creech as they flood load their second cut of TN Eastman bound coal. Mary Helen, Kentucky, August 2019.
Negotiating the tight 14° curve through Clinchfield’s 309’ long “Brush Creek Tunnel”, W361-05 makes another trip north with the loaded Herzog “Automated Conveyor Train”; this time with 30 loads of rock headed for Poplar, Nc.
Built between 1918-1920, Brush Creek Tunnel (# 37) holds the prize for having the tighest curvature of all 56 Clinchfield tunnels. Believe it or not it was built to ease this curve along the bank of the North Toe River.
September 5, 2025.
A duo of CSXT YN2 AC44s lead UP train UEXCPM under the signal bridge at CPY103 "NQ" at Nelson Illinois. On June 1st 2022 UP discontinued use of the old CNW Automatic Train Control cab signals on the double main between Chicago and Council Bluffs/Fremont and the CCS cab signals between Fremont and Wyoming, thus allowing foreign leaders for the first time outside of the 2019 Flood Detours. The train is also passing new signal installations at Nelson. Only time will tell when these CNW relics will see their last train as the modernization of the railroad looms.
CSX Q237 throttles it up out of Baldwin yard after a quick crew change, now with another 12 hours available, CSX 8726, one of three SD60I's in the YN2 paint scheme, was in charge of the rack train.
A pair of YN2 AC4400s and the Family Lines heritage unit lead B773 under the ex-Western Maryland Railway at Salisbury Viaduct.
Grinding up the famed Clinchfield loops with roughly 8700 tons of ballast for Poplar, W361-27’s pair of veteran CW44’s split the US&S intermediates at ‘Avery’ on a beautiful summer morning. This Bostic crew sure put on a heck of a show clawing their way to the Eastern Continental Divide at Altapass!
It sure is good for the soul to see CSX’s massive effort to rebuild the northern end of the Blue Ridge Sub after Hurricane Helene devestated the region nearly a year ago.
In what simply felt like stepping back in time, L422 departs Mitchell, IN with one of the few YN2 GP-40's left on the roster leading the way for North Vernon.
Southbound Worthville turn leaves Cincinnati in the morning hours heading to the Shortline with an aging YN2 GE leading the way.
Q217, after dropping off UP 6072 and CSX 128, pulls a cut of MT racks out of Jessup bound for Louisville.
Just after sunrise some 30 + years ago, You would find Mr. Moore and crew in Lambert’s Loader at Wakneva listening to various 8 track country tapes and starting their day of loading “clean” Dickenson County coal into CSX mtys.
They’d drop them north from above the tipple in pairs, eventually loading a daily max of 22 cars for the Greenbrier or Elkhorn Turn to pick up on their evening trip south back to Dante.
Fast foward to the dreary morning of February 22, 2019, this veteran staple of coal country sets the scene for southbound Q693 clawing their way up the wet 1.0% grade to Sandy Ridge.
As of today, this iconic Clinchfield tipple has been torn down for over 5 years; shortly after this photo was taken. CSX’s recent appetite for ripping tracks out hasn’t been kind to this area so far; Trammel siding was removed last year, as well as the tipple track here. The Fremont Branch is also being torn up as we speak.
I sure am thankful I got to enjoy these historical Clinchfield relics growing up.
Shelby Shifter power idles in track 6 as morning fog from the Levisa Fork River looms over the west end of Shelby Yard. The R240 is sitting over on track 7 with a cut of storage empties pulled from Esco the week prior, re-entering service.
November 21, 2025.
An Old picture which has now been reworked & reposted.
A West bound CSX Train led by a GE C40-8 Power crossing the Potomac River on a rainy day at Harpers Ferry, WV.
CSXT 8774 leads a southbound hopper train through the s-curve just south of Monument, CO.
It wasn't often one could catch a Bright Future/YN2 schemed unit leading a train on the Joint Line, but the bonus here is two-fold: 1) This was Conrail's very first SD60I and 2) The red marker lights were illuminated. The ditch lights were off, so I wonder if the crew mistakenly flipped on the marker lights thinking they were the ditch lights?
Either way, I always thought the widecab EMDs of this era looked really good in CSX's Bright Future paint scheme. Glad I was able to catch this rare sight on the Joint Line...
A trio of CSX SD50s wearing the "classic" Yellow Nose 2 paint pass underneath the doomed classic B&O signal bridge at Ridgely Street in Baltimore in 2008.
In the background looms Ravens Stadium, home of the (so far) two time Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.
Generic Safetrans signals now stand at this spot and the chances of the Ravens winning another Lombardi Trophy are about as equal as the reappearance of a trio of YN2 SD50s.
Grinding out of Hickory Creek Tunnel # 2, CSXT 450 South makes it’s assault on Duff Mountain with loaded company grain train G161-15. Today in the form of CSXT 446, the Morley pusher was added on the rear in Corbin and is definitely needed here as the grade reaches up to 1.31%.
On a beautiful Dickenson County afternoon, empty Haile, FL - Typo, Ky unit train E444-08 rolls by the US&S P-5 signals at S.E. Allen with the CSXT 410 north in the lead.
Rerouted across the Cumberland Valley earlier in the day due to the south end of the CRR being closed, this train of 103 KGLX autoflood II hoppers came up from the Argos Cement Plant near Newberry, Florida; word on the street is this is the last complete set left in the eastern US.
The unique “S” lens on the dwarf here gives a “Stop and Check” indication and is for a move to the Allen Extension track; recently removed but was used by the various Dante Mine Runs for decades.
August 10, 2025
Early on a frosty March morning a southbound CSX auto rack train, crosses US-23 and passes under the soon to be replaced C&O signals, with a soon to be replaced C40-8 CSXT 7527, as the frost and morning fog burns off.
Theres no denying what pays the bills in these parts…
As a pair of coal trucks pass on Anjean rd, Rainelle Shifter R202-08 gets their 75 loads from Clearco started down the mountain at Duo, Wv. An experienced crew and retainers will help keep them under control down the steep 3.15% descent toward Anjean.
At the time of this posting nearly a year later, this part of the Rupert Subdivision is silent once again with late summer closure of Clearco. For now, the venerable NF&G is still hanging on with Anjean back in the game.
October 8, 2024.
Framed by rugged rock outcroppings characteristic of Dickenson County, CSXT 63 South pops into daylight out of Clinchfield’s 448’ Russell Tunnel with traffic for Kingsport.
I detailed the other night the saga leading up to this moment, a photo which I badly wanted. After building their train, CSX L245 throttled up to head to Hopewell, Virginia in gorgeous late evening light. The 2 vintage EMDs put on an unbelievable show, prime movers thundering getting the heavy train rolling out of Collier Yard. I was not around to photograph the Glory Days when this power ruled the rails, so I do my best to seek it out and shoot it whenever I can, because I appreciate that it will not be around forever. Both of these engines in this photo are pretty rare for a class-1, a former Reading GP39-2, and a former Penn Central Geep in YN2.
Flying by at track speed, CSXT 5007 North knocks down an approach medium indication on the US&S R2’s at Quarry, Z124.7. Their Q697-04 would take the siding at S.E. Johnson City where they’d meet the CSXT 548 south leading G609-02.
As far as CRR intermediates go, this indication is a rare one with the 16,983’ Johnson City siding being just one of a handful original bonded sidings.
August 5, 2015.
D743 heads south through Desher on the B&O with probably the only YN2 GP30 I've ever shot in my life leading. Craptacular.
Just another take at this photogenic spot that I'd shamefully never shot at before. The wide angle take shows how close the neighborhood is to the tracks here in downtown. Pan Am train POAY (the daily Rigby to Ayer manifest) is setting out a half dozen cars for the NHN into the south end of the yard here at CPF 243. The massive truss bridge carrying the mainline over Broadway was clearly once double tracked but now the old searchlight signal visible in the background at CPF 243 marks the south end of a 2.2 mile stretch of double main. MEC 7609 (GE C40-8 blt. Jul. 1990) still wears its patched over CSXT YN2 paint despite having been on Pan Am property for more that five years.
Dover, New Hampshire
Friday February 18, 2021
Led by CSXT 454, the ‘Spirit of Magnolia’, U090-17’s 90 system empties from Eastman cross onto the home rails of CSX’s Cumberland Valley Subdivision as they take the connection at Big Stone Gap, Va, headed back to Kentucky for loading.
Utlizing trackage rights, the Loyall crew has been running on Norfolk Southern’s Appalachia District since leaving the Kingsport Sub at Frisco. Look closely and You can see conductor Lee Freyer throwing a wave!
June 17, 2016.
UP Train MASPB 28 pulls away from its crew change at North Dexter on the UP Jonesboro Sub. with a nicely mixed locomotive consist. I still think those Ex-CR Dash-8s became the best looking YN2 painted units on the CSX roster, and that old BCOL unit back there wasn't something to bat an eye about back in '06 either. BC Rail paint sure wasn't common on the former Cotton Belt.
Locomotives: CSXT 7336, HLCX 6210, UP 9586
4-28-06
Dexter, MO
A YN2 AC4400 leads a mixed freight through the remains of Buffalo Central Terminal on the former NYC Belt Line.
The bridge connecting the terminal with the concourse was removed in 1981 to allow higher clearance on the Belt Line. The wooded lot in the background right was the site of the terminal's generating station, demolished in the 1980s.
Hazard Mine Run C842 works north across the thru truss bridge in Jeff, Kentucky with a loaded train from Blue Diamond’s Leatherwood tipple in beautiful glint light.
After speedily working the intermodal ramp in Cincinnati, Q209 leaves the Queen city behind with a pair of engines still wearing the 90s era YN2 scheme.
A cold steady rain falls as 110 loads of black diamonds from Hutchison pop out of C&O’s Wasp Rock Tunnel with a pair of YN2 CW44’s on the point.