View allAll Photos Tagged Z6II
CN A420 is perched up next to a small lake in McComb, Mississippi, as the crew awaits the arrival of an on time Amtrak 58 out of New Orleans. After 58 clears they will knock the brakes off and fly down the near arrow straight, former, Illinois Central mainline to Hammond for more train meets. It's a busy afternoon on the McComb Subdivision, and the Illinois Central SD70s leading this train are the cherry on top of a great day shooting.
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In western South Carolina a unique interchange between two shortline railroads, running on historic trackage, takes place most weekdays. The Greenville and Western Railroad interchanges railcars with the Pickens Railroad outside of the small town of Belton, SC. The railroads run on a collection of former Southern Railroad and Seaboard Coast Line (Former Piedmont and Northern) railroad tracks. The Pickens, running from Anderson to Belton and Honea Path, operates with a fleet of historic General Electric U18B locomotives most days. The Greenville and Western railroad running from Williamston to Belton, operates with a fleet of GP9 and GP30 locomotives built by EMD between the 1950's and 60's. The railroads interchange at a small yard on the eastern edge of Belton, SC, and carload traffic interchanged has been increasing steadily. This particular day the two railroads finished their work at the same time and departed simultaneously back for their home bases of Williamston and Anderson. The Greenville and Western, on the left, heads north on their former Piedmont and Northern trackage, just a few mph faster than Pickens did on the right. There are not many places where half century old EMD and General Electric locomotives can be put in the same image....
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Limestone loads from dockside down in Duluth hammer up the final mile of Proctor Hill at spirit mountain. Minnesota's north country is iron ore country, and the Canadian National railroad hauls it all to Duluth for export. The former Duluth Missabe and Iron Range rails are still busy with taconite pellets going to the Great Lakes fleet for shipment down to the steel mills on the lower Great Lakes. Fall colors held on pretty decent way into October along the lake. The 3 pack of forties screaming up the hill was a great end to a good day.
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Lights on and Ready to Roll
Signaling it's almost time to go...
The engineer on this northbound empty grain train is impatient to get going after a meet with a Florida-bound slop freight. 60mph of moving steel is gliding past in a blur of color on the mainline to his right. In about 30 seconds the signal will flip medium clear for the empty man and the engineer will scream out of town. It's a humid evening for December and the clouds overhead indicate rain incoming soon. After all it is the south, and we've had days well into the 70s on Chirstmas. Staving off winter for just a bit more down here...
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KCS 1 and company haul the CPKC Holiday Express southbound over the massive Morganza spillway bridge just north of Morganza, Louisiana. Road foreman Smith and engineer Lendermon have the train well in hand as they head for the 1600 display at Montegut siding in Laplace, Louisiana. Morganza was one of the must haves on the sprint from Shreveport to Laplace on a clear December morning. The Morganza spillway is a giant flood control project that can divert the Mississippi River away from the populous of Baton Rouge, and eventually New Orleans, by diverting water towards the Atchafalaya basin when the Mississippi floods bad enough to warrant the opening of the massive floodgates located here. The KCS New Orleans subdivision and Louisiana highway one fly over the top of the spillway as seen here.
Hopefully this year we can have a repeat performance of this train before it's all said and done.
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Tied to a fence outside the Cancer Clinic at Richmond Hospital, Richmond BC.
Another one flic.kr/p/2oq2pk2
With about 2 minutes of useable light left KCS I180 flies through Dequincy, Louisiana, towards their next crew change at Beaumont, Texas, just down the road. The I180 was on duty at noon in Shreveport, and outside of flagging one crossing, didn't stop for anything until they crew swapped in Beaumont... A dead KCS main did allow for this excellent shot at the immaculately restored KCS Station in Dequincy. The clean KCS 4603 was great to have as opposed to their other power these days...
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Pickens Railroad U18B's 9502 and 9508 have a healthy train from the Greenville and Western Railway in tow as they enter Anderson, SC. The longer train was giving the old 1800 HP U18B's a run for their money as they gave everything they had to lift the train into town. The Pickens Railroad is the last holdout for operating U18B locomotives in the country. U18B's were one of General Electric's less successful models with only 150 engines ordered. The engines here are former Seaboard Coast Line, and then CSX motors. It's nice to see Pickens still using their old U18's even after picking up newer B40's from CSX...
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Norfolk Southern through freight train 154 is rolling downgrade into Toccoa, Georgia, on a moody summer evening. Storms from the day are starting to die down with the sunset. We are looking across the valley at the famous Wells Viaduct on the Atlanta, GA, to Washington, DC, mainline. On this moody evening the UP motors up front were a welcome relief from the black and white NS paint that wouldn't have stood out very well against the mountains. Wells is a sweet view at the edge of the Blue Ridge mountains along the Piedmont.
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We've had a Wafer Ash in the garden for almost 20 years, specifically for this butterfly and this is the first time we've ever seen one.
Kadunce River Cascades
Way north of Duluth, Minnesota, along MN Highway 61 is the Kadunce River State Wayside. This little highway pull-off offers a great view of Lake Superior which has paralleled the road for 119 miles out of Duluth. Less known, and much more spectacular, is the little trail that leads off into the woods across the highway. Along the steep trail the Kadunce River cascades down a series of waterfalls, and through a legitimate slot canyon to reach Lake Superior in a little under a mile. These cascades are the beginning of a highly scenic stretch of the river that begins at this point along the trail. I'll have a few more angles posted at some point soon from our October trip to the north country.
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The Falls of Caney Creek.
We are deep in the woods away from any civilization at Caney Creek Falls in northwest Alabama's Bankhead National Forest. Caney Creek Falls sits in an amphitheater of rock deep in the woodland. The amphitheater style waterfall is plentiful in Bankhead National Forest, and as such creates a wonderful setting for landscape photography. Caney Creek is perhaps the most noted falls in an area known as "land of a thousand waterfalls". The large cascade here puts out a high volume of water in what is one of the most peaceful settings in the state. This is a late afternoon view taken last week. We hiked three of the many falls in the area, and I'm sure we will return again soon for more.
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Sunset over Silver Bay.
A beautiful sunset takes place over Silver Bay, Minnesota, on a beautiful fall evening. Here we are on the western face of Palisade Head looking back along the lake. The pastel colors of the sunset fade to the west with the lake they call "Gitchee Gumme". Lake Superior's shores stretch to the horizon ablaze with the beautiful yellow hues of fall along the cliffs of the lakeside. The vibrant colors dotting the lakeshore have a few days left before they fall, and they provide a wonderful spark of vibrant color to the scene.
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If anyone needs pictures of Venetian side canals with bridges and parked boats (and washing hanging out to dry) I now have dozens of them... :-)
There are two wetlands at the bottom of my hill, and the turtles often cross a quiet road between them. I gently coaxed him or her off the pavement.
Due north at Midnight in the Blackwater River State Forest. 15 minute exposure among the pines along the lake.
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KCS 1 and company are a little more than halfway down the old Louisiana and Arkansas from Shreveport to Laplace as they hammer south through Hamburg, La. They have met the daily northbound M269 out of New Orleans behind at Latanier Yard and now have clear track ahead to their event in Laplace that evening. The sprint to Laplace across the state left us with many good images... More to come soon!
Engineer and Manger of the UP Steam Program, Ed dickens, is at the helm of the 4014, and bringing them downgrade on the Huey P Long bridge. This is the link from west to east over the Mississippi River near Metairie, LA, and Nola. It has the distinction of being the longest railroad bridge in the world, and when Big Boy went over it was hosting the largest operating steam engine in the world. It's been since 1984 that Union Pacific steam visited the Big Easy, and most likely it will be a similar timeframe before it does again. Glad I was able to capture it with some friends!
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