View allAll Photos Tagged YN3
Chicago-Grand Rapids freight Q326 is on the last leg of its 175 mile journey as the train rolls into Jenison. A pair of SD40-2s, one in the then newish YN3 scheme and the other in the older YN2 scheme, provide the power on this bright and sunny spring day back in 2007. As of 2021, CSX #8020 is still in service, but I can't find any info on what became of CSX 8442.
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CSX W029 splits the L&N searchlights at Dortha as they approach Corbin Yard. SD40-2 8367 is leading today's train bound for Dothan, Alabama.
A768-20 hauls a cut of cars out of the Rayonier Paper Products plant in Jesup, GA for the return trip back to the yard. CSXT 2756 was one of the last remaining EMDs in YN2. I believe it has since been stored in Waycross. Only a few EMDs in YN2 are currently active on the entire CSX system, CSX 2756, 8247, and 8482.
The last EMDs on the system in YN2 are as follows 2756, 8427, 8247, and 8482.
4419 stored 241 days in Huntington with accident damage. Repainted in YN3 as of 12/05/2025
2756 in active service in Maine#
8427 stored in Waycross
8247 stored in Cumberland
8482 active in Baltimore
As the big clouds loom over, a rare sight rolls through Deshler. Every time I say this could very easily could be the last time but so far I’ve gotten one more. So all I can say is that there days are numbered
Q352-14 (Louisville, KY - Chicago, IL)
CSXT 8619 SD50-3 (YN3)
CSXT 3049 ES44AH (YN3B)
CP 8793 ES44AC (CP Scheme)
CP 8933 ES44AC (CP Scheme)
So this happened...: YN2 B40-8 5956 and YN2 GP38-2 2756 and two YN3 Dash 8 widecabs along with another YN3 Geep lead Q473 across the Trout River bridge at dusk. IN 2015!!! WOOOO :D I was really pushing my 6D to its limits here with 8000 ISO and post brightening, but I can only say that the 6D did very well!
Dusk on a cold winter evening finds a pair of CW40-8’s exiting the Nolichucky Gorge with northbound time freight Q697 in a lite snow.
February 12, 2016.
I'm back, baby! SDfourD 2020!
Thanks to helpful intel from select individuals, I was feeling spring in the air and seeing Clinchfield in my viewfinder.
The "Route of the Clinch" it isn't, historically speaking, but trundling amidst CNW bridge barriers is indeed a veteran from the hollers of Virginia and Tennessee. It's been eight years since I shot the 8350 leading, and the level of urgency is much the same as it was back in Cincinnati during the winter of 2012. It never gets old.
PS: This was way better than the barn.
I haven’t been able to go for any of the recent SD30 leaders, so here’s one from October
286 flies out of Muskego with 5041 leading two CSX GEs, one of which is YN2 and the other YN3
Going back though the archives, I found this nice little surprise from December 18, 2013. I had gone out to catch Amtrak 42, the Salute Our Veterans unit, on the point of the westbound Southwest Chief. Sitting at the holding point on the far west side of Somonauk, IL, on BNSF's Mendota Sub was this manifest train led by CSX 342. Still wearing the "YN2" paint scheme that was the CSX standard for many years. Back in 2002, CSX introduced the much more simplified "YN3" paint scheme. So 10 years hence it was already getting rare to find many YN2 units, much less to find one outside of the usual CSX territory. I didn't know it at the time, but to date this was my last time seeing a CSX YN2 leader of any type out roaming the wilds of BNSF territory.
As the sun falls rapidly, the crew of this is only a few miles from the end of there long day. This unit just happens to be the highest numbered ES40DC you can get.
CSXT 5501 ES40DC (YN3)
CSXT Unknown AC44CW (Unknown)
A pair of YN3 AC44s lead coal train C304 over the copper creek viaduct on its way south into Kingsport, TN.
Still sporting its as delivered YN3 paint from 2002, CW44AH n° 568 leads Hazard Mine Run C842-13 east through Kite, Ky along the C&O’s Elkhorn & Beaver Valley Sub with empties for Blue Diamond’s Leatherwood complex.
CSX Q235 passes through Fort Mudge, ANA621, with a bright blue CEFX SD40-2 in an SD45 carbody. Behind CEFX 3131 is CSX 7493, one of 10 ex-Conrail C40-8s. All ten are still equipped with marker lights next to the numberboards, and 8 of the 10 are in YN3 paint. The remaining two still sport the Bright Future paint scheme, YN2. I'd also like to give gracebeliever077 on Flickr some credit for finding this spot at Ft. Mudge. :-P
There's no place like home.
CSXT 8536, a rare bird of the first Dash 3 testbed, swings around the rather historic alignment which maintains the feel of the former SOO's East Main for a few feet.
A place I first remember shooting from in 2005, despite being a regular amongst the wye/diamond areas. I would ride SD45's across this segment from time to time as well, with a rather vivid memory of engine sway/yaw one morning due to the switch frog with the late Ed Patten at the throttle.
Nowadays the lure of shooting is less, and reason to frequent New Brighton has also decreased, so today was a nice opportunity to go back to home turf to shoot this guy. Thankfully the sun held on just long enough.
CSX K422>CP 687 Lawrenceville, GA- Hankinson, ND
The Hamilton turn heads back to Queensgate with a pair of 80's spartan cabs and a rather hefty train. The NS has its share of grade, so the conversation was brought up by the LA Dispatcher before they departed. "You guy's have enough power to make the NS?" The crew replies "Yeah, we should.. If it works." Even with a handbrake mid train, the ole gals got the job done without a hiccup.
Northbound Q697-20 takes the siding at S.E. Fordtown with CSXT 7784, 7735, and 7695 doing the honors; the rear half of the train being coal empties headed for storage at Holston Ammunition. This is during the time they terminated at Kingsport. 12-21-15.
With loaded coal train T126-11 on the drawbar, CSXT 108 West ducks under the timeless C&O R2 equipped signal bridge at “Bobbs” on the Big Sandy. This train loaded at Bevins Branch on the Coal Run Subdivision the previous day.
August 13, 2017.
An icicle from the portal falls on the trailing unit of I142 as they pop out of Little South Tunnel. I142 featured a consist straight out of '08, a YN2 CW44AC and a YN3 SD70AC.
M541-8 splits the searchlights at Springlake, KY with an older GE duo, a YN3 AC4400CW and a Dash 8-40CW.
Other than when it so fresh that you can taste the paint in the air I have never liked the YN3 scheme and much rather shoot a couple YN2 painted units. However I would be totally okay shooting a pair of SD50-2's flying down the Water Level route or really and CSX main again. Here back in 2012 I was able to capture these two on a westbound rack train crossing Walbridge road in Harbor Creek Pa in the late afternoon.
After racing Q584 up Raccoon Mountain, K442 gets the light at Haletown to enter single track. Q584 hung back just out of sight to wait their turn.
The Fairhope overlook is one of the more famous places to sit and watch trains on the Sand Patch grade, as it hosts a wooden bench to sit down and relax at. CSXT 5325 roars up the hill, gripping as best it can past the overlook, just as the colors have hit their peak. Aside from Mance and Foley, Fairhope is one of my favorite spots on this section of the Keystone Subdivision.
CSXT 8864, an SD40-2 still in YN3 paint, leads an empty coal westbound on the UP Jefferson City Sub. This was literally a last minute catch- got there just in time.
Look Savona, I posted a picture.
The TCW crew is on board and after fixing the lineup, DMM gets them pointed towards the Midway Sub and ultimately Cedar Lake Jct. Once on home rails the train will go as far as Winthrop, MN, where it loads out.
It would have been nice for the CP to keep the three pack together, but this was still quite the sight for sore eyes. And being that the TCW decided to really mix it up at Hopkins, I'll be more than content with the above rendition.
A pair of Shelby assigned CW44's climb the 1% grade through S.E. Trammel as they prepare to enter the north portal of the 7854' long Sandy Ridge Tunnel. This crew ran down to Allen lite and picked up M653’s train from the night before after they were put on Santa Train rescue duty.
A set of four helper locomotives passing west over the iconic stone bridge at the Youghiogheny River and Indian Creek. #293 was a recent repaint at the time. These helpers were based out of Connellsville Yard, but manned helper service has now been phased out on the Keystone Subdivision. CSX now runs mid-train Distributed Power Units or DPUs. Something that western U.S. railroads had already been doing for many decades.
A CSXT YN3 C40-9W is the only unit for BNSF train U-OKCEOC0-01T arriving at BNSF's Argentine Yard on Main Track 4 of the BNSF Emporia Sub past CP 72. This is one of CSX's original 53 early production Dash 9's, built with Dash 8 carbodies and GSC FB-3 trucks. 6/8/25.
Chase of the U738-11 ( Calera, AL - Corbin, KY) with a pair of brand new YN3 CM44s. First run for these bad boys, and I have no complaints!
Vibrant fall color lines the banks of the North Toe River as C304-19 winds through downtown Spruce Pine, Nc with 114 loads for Cross on the drawbar. The evening sun makes the 581’s 23 year old YN3 paint look pretty decent! It was great to see a pair of CW44’s still slugging it out on a coal train.
October 22, 2025.
CW44AH N° 568 leads Hazard Shifter C842-31 through Topmost, Kentucky on the E&BV with empties for Blue Diamond Coal’s complex at Leatherwood.
August 31, 2019.
A former Clinchfield Railroad SD40 (rebuilt as an SD40-2) leads an eastbound past Manville Yard on the Trenton Subdivision. CSXT 8336 was one of 96 units reported to wear the first official "Yellow Nose" CSX paint scheme; it was later repainted into the YN3 scheme.
CSXT 8336 SD40-2 (ex-CRR 3001 SD40)
L738 of December 14th 2025 featured a blast from the past in form of three YN2 Dash 8s leading the way, all facing north elephant style. These are three of four YN2 Dash 8 locomotives currently cycling through the power pool of locals between Brownsand and Waycross, running daily anywhere between those yards as L737, L738, L740, and perhaps other symbols as applicable.
Shooting here reminded me of the last time I'd shot here, nine years ago when we'd followed a grain train off the CSX Brunswick branch. That train had a YN2 SD70MAC leading, at the time the best thing you could catch on CSX it seemed: flic.kr/p/PvrXxD. That November, a pair of YN2 Dash 8s wouldn't have been so special, a trio certainly cool, but comparatively a such lashup in 2025 is unheard of. This sure invokes some though if maybe we should be paying more mind to matched tri-sets of YN3 GEVOs, most cool things were once so common.
A Eastbound CSX auto rack train rolls under the Fort Pitt Bridge on a sunny January morning in 2014.
A pair of CSX Dash 8s rest at the East End of Conrail's Oak Island Yard. This power would have brought the loaded Tropicana Orange Juice Train east earlier in the morning. The units will layover in Oak Island until the westbound OJT empties are ready to depart (typically in the evening). The GE pair is joined by a set of Conrail GP38-2s at the East End. Four-year-old 7543 still wore as-delivered "stealth" paint. It would later receive both YN2 and YN3 CSX paint before being retired after a fairly long career.
CSXT 7543 C40-8
CSXT 7810 C40-8W
CSX 8367 leading RJ Corman MC13 past the South Union Elevator, pulling up to swap loads (left track) for empties.
CSX 4515, CSX 4561 (YN2) and a GP38-2 lead Q353 south towards Cincinnati, OH under the iconic B&O era bracket signal at W.E. Troy in Troy, OH.
The SD70MAC's have been in "captive" service in this part of the CSX system, reportedly filling a role as extra power until PTC upgrades to the main GE fleet are complete. Once those are done, the rest of CSX's SD70MAC's are projected to be retired and sold off later this year. If true, this recent revival of 70MAC's may be the last on CSX.
The YN3 logo on the long hood of OHCR 3185 is visibly apparent as Ohio Central's ZVL job works east to Cambridge at Norwich.
CSX Q582 heads north for Wheland, where the crew will park the train & get on the shuttle to Wauhatchie. In a surprise move to railfans a month earlier in August, CSX decided to go back to the YN3 paint scheme, now sporting the company website name under the logo, to use on their locomotives, with SD70MAC rebuilds 4532 & 4535 being the first 2 to get the revived scheme (without the website, making them a bit more unique) & Wabtec rebuild 7254 being the last to receive the YN3b scheme that had been used since 2013. Here, we see the 4532 leading Q582, with the 4535 acting as a mid-train DPU not far behind. I'll miss the YN3b scheme since I preferred it over the YN3 scheme, but I'll admit that fresh YN3 looks really good. 9-12-21
This is CSX Y102 in Columbia, South Carolina about to go to work after allowing a coal train to pass in front of it first. CSXT 6455 is an EMD GP40-2 built for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1981. CSX initially numbered it CSXT 6339 but renumbered it into the range that denotes it is a mother coupled to the slug behind it. The lighting dictated a head on shot here, so the slug is unseen.
The engine upfront was smoking it up in honor of 4/20.
In a move you'd be more likely to find on a model railway, CSX 12 -The Spirit of Louisville pulls two flatcars loaded with various military trucks and equipment across Dunn Creek in Jacksonville, FL- seen from the I295 overpass. CSX 12 stuck around the ICTF Dames Point facility for several days with occasional runs to Kraft Yard to stage outbound loaded flats for Walthourville, GA. These were generally full cuts, but these two flats were the last remaining loads for a pending S130 the following day, which made for the dinky train with a nice reflection present this evening as well.