Matched KCS SD40-2's bring CPKC train LL60 across the Bonnet Carre' Spillway, and into Norco, LA, on a sunny summers evening. After years of being assigned a pair of KCS SD70macs the New Orleans to Baton Rouge turn drew a pair of SD40-2s, and consecutively numbered ones at that. KCS 3205 and 3206 have 29 inbound New Orleans cars well in hand as they crawl across the massive, wooden, spillway bridge at 10mph. The spillway is usually dry, but in dire circumstances is opened to allow Mississippi River water to flow into Lake Ponchatrain, a few miles to the north. After a stormy afternoon threatened sun it was nice to see it pop out for their appearance. Years after their disappearance it is nice to see the old KCS 40-2's getting out on the road once again.

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Georgia Central L782 is westbound over the Oconee River in Dublin, Georgia, as they slowly head west to tie down for the day on the west end of town. The railroad on this particular day was a total mess after storms brought down several trees that blocked the main over the course of the previous two days. Thankfully the sun played nice after a day of both sun and clouds starting out.

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CSX Eastman Coal Gas coal loads roll compass east, but railroad north, through the fields of Olinger, Virginia. These coal loads are the bread and butter of rail traffic on the far east end of the former Louisville and Nashville Railroad's sprawling Cumberland Valley subdivision and associated branch lines.

The C090 pictured here is shuffling the second half of a 90 car loaded train over to Kingsport for unloading later in the day. This segment of the CV main was hosting well over a dozen moves a day even into the mid 2000s. A precipitable drop soon followed and now the train count averages 2-4 a day, which incredibly, is up from the once a week traffic totals from a few years ago.

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Dawn begins to break in Central Louisiana as the KCS Christmas train races south at 50mph through the small hamlet of Gilgal, Louisiana. The vintage trainset is flying south along the former route of the Southern Belle through the state towards New Orleans looking just like the train would have decades ago. This was the first real look at what would be a fun, but difficult, chase through the state to LaPlace later in the afternoon.

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Wasserfali Arzino in der Nähe von Pozzis

It is a frosty late December night in Gulfport, Ms. There is no such thing as a global pandemic, and Keith Creel of CP has yet to ask Pat Ottensmeyer of Kansas City Southern out to the lunch that would get the merger ball rolling. KCS 3162, a former Seaboard Coast Line SD45 Big Jack, is sitting idle after an all day run to Hattiesburg, MS, and back. The big SD45 is wearing week old paint at the time; and was one of many new "Belle" repaints coming out of Deramus Shops in Shreveport, LA. Stablemate 2957 is a former Milwaukee Road GP40 long since removed from its predecessor owner. The GP40 is idling after an easy day out working around Gulfport and the Dupont Line west of town. When I photographed this scene I knew I was getting a glimpse behind the curtain of the last best place on this, or really any, class one railroad. GP40/38s and SD45's/40-2s were, and for the time being, still are the sole motive power on this island of a KCS mainline. This night the future seemed bright, and all was right in the world. Soon afterword Covid would run amok, and merger talks would begin. 9 months later when I was finally able to return change was afoot. I am incredibly grateful for all I was able to document of this last holdout for the old and outdated on KCS....

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CN Hotshot train Z194 is southbound over the Pass Manchac Drawbridge after a nasty storm passed through the area. The sun is attempting to poke through the clouds, and provided an interesting, filtered, lighting of the very early Z making its way south towards Nola. Getting Z194 this far south in daytime is quite unusual, and it was a nice bonus train to end what was a busy 7 train afternoon out at Manchac Pass.

CSX 8383 leads G933 up the former Atlantic Coast Line Main to Montgomery, Alabama, on a spotless early spring afternoon. This rare SD40 leader was a great surprise coming north. We had followed a train down to the siding in Dillard, Alabama, from Montgomery most of the day, and when this appeared on the other side of the southbound we were ecstatic. This shot is just south of the town of Brundidge, Alabama. With no meets in the way until Scott siding some ways north G933 would make a perfect target all the way thru sunset...

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KCS B-KCLR has just stopped in the small town of Ashdown, Arkansas, to let a few people off, and is now floating along at 60mph leaving town. The combined KCS and CP business train was in the middle of a multi-day run to show chief executives of Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific Railroads the main line from Kansas City, Mo, to the border crossing with KCSM at Laredo, TX. David Perkins and I followed the train from Heavaner, Oklahoma, to Sugar Land, Texas over two days this past week. On the way north we saw this stretch of track and David suggested pacing may be a good idea through here. He was right... We both ended up with some great shots of the business train as they left town, and quickly got back up to track speed. Thanks again to David for taking us up. This was one for the books with the beautiful KCS business train down the line.

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Mangart und Jalovec in den Julischen Alpen

It's not classic U23B's at this location, but it's still pretty nice. Georgia Central L782 west rolls along towards Macon quite quickly at the popular Snows Pond shot with the usual trio of hand-me-down B32-8s leading the way. This days train was absolutely massive and you never worried about hearing the train sneaking up on you. The B32 trio was barking with every small hill trying to keep track speed up towards Macon.

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Just enough light is really all you need sometimes...

Well into a muggy summer night in New Orleans we see outbound Saint Charles streetcar 969 rolling out the final mile of neutral ground running next to South Carrollton Avenue in far western suburban New Orleans. The venerable old Perley Thomas streetcar will soon make the hairpin turn at the busy intersection of Saint Charles and South Carrollton to begin the run into the city within the friendly confines of the Saint Charles Avenue Neutral Ground.

Empty now, this car will be full to the brim of party-goers looking for a quick and cheap ride into the heart of the French Quarter to partake of the revelry within the city that never sleeps on weekends...

This time of night, however, the Carrollton neighborhood feels far removed from the raucous affairs taking place in the old city. Street traffic rolls by at a lessening pace and porch lights flicker off one by one on the stately old southern homes that reside along the oak-lined streets. Restaurants, lunch counters, and grocery stores snuff out their lights and neon signs as the neighborhood drifts slowly off to bed...

One constant throughout the night will be the 24 hour service of the now 101 and 102 year old green streetcars of the Saint Charles line. While service levels drop somewhat during the "Night Owl" service hours the constant back and forth of consistent, on time, service will march right on through the night and into a beautiful Saturday morning in the Big Easy...

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The sun begins to set on a stormy Monday in North Georgia as Norfolk Southern local train P45 flies over Lake Tugaloo, and into the state of South Carolina. The northeast Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains set a grand scene behind P45 as they gently begin to rise towards the north. P45 is screaming up the Piedmont mainline towards Seneca, SC, where they will diverge for a night run down to the Pickens Railroad in Anderson. Consecutively numbered NS GP60s 7139 and 7138 are in control of the local this evening. Once designated the premiere power for the New York to Atlanta pig trains through here, these engines now ply the rails in lowly local service. Local or not this is a fantastic setting for such a train, and was one of my favorite 2022 moments. It was made even better by sharing it with friends.

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Storm Light in Bridge City.

A BNSF HCSXLAL (CSX Gentilly Yard New Orleans-Lafayette, La) mixed freight train is seen stepping down the massive Huey P Long Bridge in Bridge City, LA. This bridge carries 6 lanes of highway traffic, and two mainline railroad tracks, up and over the Mississippi River just west of downtown New Orleans. While the highway takes more of a short and steep approach up and over the river, the railroad does not. To allow for a lesser gradient the railroad stays vaulted high above US 90 well after dry land on both sides of the river. The railroad portion of the superstructure is over 22,000 feet end to end. The Huey P carries a substantial portion of west to east coast railroad traffic over the river year to year. On the west bank western railroads like Union Pacific and BNSF (photographed here) make up and receive trains from eastern railroads like CSX, Canadian National, and Norfolk Southern, across the river on the east bank. The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad actually owns and operates the bridge, although, its intercity trains rarely need to use the structure. New Orleans is a bustling city for railroads, and without this bridge it all goes away. As a final note of interest: one may would be surprised to find out that the bridge supports do not lock down into bedrock. With bedrock being nearly 1000 feet below surface around New Orleans it was decided to sink the bridge piers into a fine layer of sand 170 feet below the surface. It is said that the supports simply rely on their size and mass to stay in place without true anchors.

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Looking at the sun

Your average southern summer frog strangler is drenching the Mississippi Export Railroad's daily southbound freight near Agricola, Mississippi. The freshly painted GP38-2 67 leads GP50 68 on what is a now typical Saturday AM run for this train. The rainy conditions made a shot that is often on the wrong side of the sun attainable this day.

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KCS Manifest Freight CXSH from New Orleans to Shreveport, LA, is seen here at sunrise descending the Huey P Long Bridge superstructure into Lobdell, Louisiana. A lucky pick-up of a track warrant from North Baton Rouge Yard to Simmesport up the road tipped me off to the trains location in Baton Rouge. When I arrived at East Bridge Junction on the East side of the Mississippi River, that this bridge crosses, his lead engines were stepping onto the big climb to the top. I easily overtook the train and settled in on the west bank for a sunrise look. Getting any KCS train on this bridge is a challenge as the SHCX is nocturnal and the CXSH is oftentimes out of town early enough to beat sunrise. For your troubles Union Pacific runs a daily MLILI from Livonia to Baton Rouge that does make it over in daytime. We'll see that train in a few postings from now.

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CSX AC4400 262 rolls Eastman Coal Loads thru Natural Tunnel, VA, as seen from Lovers Leap. The lead YN2 AC4400 is a rescue engine for the C090 train after their lead engine died coming uphill in East Stone Gap up the line from here. They were catching the last bit of useable light in the tunnel portal before the afternoon shadows covered the tracks. The train shortly will roll through Glenita, Speers Ferry, climb the hill into the siding at Watkins, and eventually roll around the ridge into Yuma, VA, before crossing the TN state line into Kingsport. These C090 trains ferry 45 coal loads a few times a week between Eastern Kentucky mines and Eastman Chemical's Coal Gas plant in Kingsport.

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Sunset on the summer solstice taken from New Brighton, Wirral between the turbines of the wind farm.

It is essentially dark in Lobdell, Louisiana, but for me that is a perfect photographic challenge. The northbound KCS Business train is stepping down the Huey P Long bridge in Lobdell towards a crew change at the pass a few miles up. Almost the entire day the shiny passenger train has created a near identical run to the fabled Kansas City Southern's "Southern Belle" passenger train of old. The FP9's and matching trainset ran into and out of New Orleans within about 20 minutes of the original "Belle". Here at Lobdell they were only a few minutes off of the northbound timetable schedule. Getting to recreate the run of KCS' crack passenger train in 2022 was, almost certainly, my favorite chase of the year, and sharing it with my new and old friends was even better! There was a pleasing circularity knowing, that if you placed me 55 years in the past, I would be seeing an on time "Belle" passing this same location, at the same time, and looking almost identical. History repeats itself, for at least one day... Perhaps I am learning something valuable lately. Don't rush yourself to upload photos... I posted a decent, but hastily edited, version of this shot many months ago now. I wish I hadn't pulled the trigger quite so soon on it. This is a slightly wider, color corrected, and, in my opinion, much better edit of the prior photograph. I selected an entirely different frame from the first look, and spent about two and a half hours attempting to get the results I can say I am quite happy with. Especially considering that this may have truly been a once in a lifetime opportunity...

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This is something you've probably seen from me before. I recently went through and combed through some older photos from this year looking for a particular scene, and while doing so I came across my shot of the KCS business train on Rich Mountain in Arkansas last year. In passing I decided to overhaul my edit after noticing several things I didn't like with it. This is my re-edited version that I feel like represents the scene much better than what I had before. To be on Rich Mountain that morning was something not even a few days beforehand I thought possible. For me personally the KCS Business train is the top of the food chain in the railroad world; and Rich Mountain is the scenic highlight of this trains operating territory. Some people would complain about the lack of sun for this morning southbound. I, however, loved the stormy weather we had. There's something to be said about rainy weather and the mountains. With the upcoming CPKC merger this trainset is on extremely borrowed time, and getting out for it is a real treat. Thanks also to David Perkins land clearing services for the tree trimming project the prior day. Your spotter, and everyone who got this shot thanks you...

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In this image we are overlooking the Manchac Pass in Akers, Louisiana. CN 5273, an exceedingly rare widecab SD40-2W in Canadian National Railroad's old "Zebra" paint scheme, is seen leading train O498 southbound. The train is passing over the photogenic Manchac Pass bridge while a storm rages on in the background. Manchac Pass carries the waters of Lake Maurepas into Lake Ponchatrain to the east. There's an entire neighborhood of homes behind the train that are only accessible by boat. The area out around Manchac is wild. The way of life for the locals is unlike anything else. Not many places outside of Louisiana's waterways where you take the boat to get home...

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I recently visited the Pickens Railroad and their famous U18B's for a second time this winter. I neglected to post any photos so far from the July run I had for some reason. Either way be ready to see a ton of orange U18's in the lineup... In this flick we're at Belton Junction, South Carolina, on a HOT and humid summer day. We'd followed the Greenville and Western's smartly dressed GP9/GP30 combo down the former Piedmont and Northern that morning (the GRLW's logo is a play on the fallen flag's logo) , and a surprise early Belton Job was waiting for them at the junction switch. Both conductors were on the ground assisting moves, and it made for one great meet shot with the former P&N Milepost included. Where else can you see 49 year old GE's meeting near 70 year old GP9's? Lots of history roaming around these parts...

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Triple Nickle leads the westbound Georgia Central L782 as they catch the last minute of sun wobbling towards the west side of Dublin, Georgia, to tie the train down for the night. Strong storms from the previous day wreaked havoc on Georgia Central operations, and the daily westbound was nowhere near reaching Macon as intended. The former Macon Dublin and Savannah line was fraught with trees down, late running trains, and slow orders. For the trouble the late afternoon sun made a well-timed appearance for one last look at the train as they closed in on the tie down and the crew truck.

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New Orleans is a city that really has to be experienced to be understood. What else would compel me to be out at 11pm on a Saturday on South Carrollton Avenue near the very end of the Saint Charles Line? History. While time marches on around it the seldom thought about streetcar is plodding through the thick fog of a New Orleans night. Almost a century ago the Perley A. Thomas car works began churning out an order of 35 streetcars for the City of New Orleans to use on the Saint Charles line. This 953 streetcar is mere months from celebrating its centennial anniversary in continuous service. The remarkable survival of the streetcars along this line is only predicated by the line itself. While the streetcars approach a centennial, the Saint Charles line itself is approaching a Bi-Centennial. 187 years ago the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad began steam service between the, at the time, separate cities of New Orleans and Carrollton. Since its 1835 inception the line has seen continuous service. If it sounds impressive it indeed is. The Saint Charles Line has the distinction of being the oldest streetcar line anywhere on earth. So with all of this in mind I raise my camera into the foggy night and make some photos. The thick, humid, atmosphere drips with mood. Magnolia by JJ Cale is on the radio, and all is right in the world as Saint Charles Line 953 slips off into the misty night.... South Carrollton at Spruce... DEC 2022.

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Parc de Champagne

The Best in the Business.

The hogger at the throttle of KCS 1 has the throttle wide open following an unscheduled stop in Ashdown, Arkansas. The ABA set of F Units is in charge of a multi-day inspection trip that is a sign of things to come. The rails they travel over are a conveyor belt of Mexican bound rail traffic that is the nucleolus for the merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern. This trip hosted CP CEO Keith Creel and his senior leadership team all the way down the KCS to the international gateway in Laredo, Texas. Pacing this trainset from a dead stop in Ashdown was pretty sweet. It was one of the few times I've heard them run this train notched all the way out, and the sound was sublime. Getting a pacing shot out of the trip was quite the bonus addition to an already great lineup of photographs taken. This is also quite easily the longest I've ever followed a single train. We started that morning in Heavaner, Oklahoma, and ended the following day in Sugarland, Texas, south and west of Houston. This is, of course, another re-edit from a few months ago where I'm attempting to rectify some of the shortcomings I personally had with the hastily posted prior version.

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Eastbound Norfolk Southern Local U48 brings a lengthy 35 car empty train of cement hoppers over Big Lawson Trestle near Coeburn, VA, on the former Norfolk and Western Railroad's Clinch Valley district. The trestle vaults the railroad way up over Lawson Hollow on the side of Bull Mountain. Directly behind me Little Lawson Trestle will do the same a few seconds after the train passes me. U48's light train made quick work of Bull Mountain this day, and was making light work of the descent towards Saint Paul, Virginia, a few miles in the distance...

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Golden Glow of Fall.

Just about 5 minutes before sunset Norfolk Southern Scrubber Stone train 63V is seen at the classic Virginian Railroad location of Kumis, VA, on the Whitethorne District. The former Virginian Railroad sees a lions share of Norfolk Southern Railroad's eastbound loaded unit train traffic out of West Virginia towards Roanoke. The parallel Norfolk and Western Mainline has steeper grades than the Virginian. 63V was the last in a line of 8 eastbound trains this busy afternoon, and it showed up at the perfect time. 63V crept past to meet a westbound at the other end of this siding, and by the time his rear passed me the sun was gone for the evening. The Christiansburg-Roanoke area is a wonderful place to photograph trains, and this beautiful fall day was no exception. I can't wait for this fast approaching time of year... Hopefully more beautiful scenes await.

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urban reflections

The KCS Holiday Express, lead by KCS 1 blasts south through Montgomery, Louisiana, on the original Louisiana and Arkansas mainline on their way to the days show in Laplace, La. Montgomery is a classic KCS location with control point signage on either ends of a rather short, hand thrown, siding that isn't used for much of anything these days. It's dark territory south of shreveport so these guys are limited to 49mph on their trip south. The old L&A main bisects the state of Louisiana from Shreveport to New Orleans and this version of the KCS Holiday express would travel 85% of that line en route.

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They’re brother and sister, adopted from St. Croix.

www.realcruzancats.org

Southbound CN Coal Buckets slow roll over Manchac Pass, Louisiana, on a calm spring afternoon. This C738 was running headlong into the wake of an Amtrak-fueled mess that saw them, and nine other trains, tangle for time around the 10mph wye at Orleans, Junction. The coal buckets would law out on the main inside the massive Valero Refinery along the Mississippi River a few hours later having covered a mere ten miles as the crow flies. Here, I was just glad that the clouds, which had been pesky all afternoon long, budged enough to allow for some nice light on the train...

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Christmas market, Stuttgart 2022

Ich habe ganz kräftig an den Zoom gedreht...

A little zoom...

KCS 1 south is just a few miles out of the end of the run for the day as they pass through Sugarland, Texas. They are passing in front of the massive Imperial Sugar Complex for which the town was named. The train is running on Union Pacific trackage rights out of the massive Houston metroplex. This was a great place to end what was a great two day follow of this train down the old KCS main stem from Heavener, Oklahoma, and Sugarland, Texas.

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DSC_8438

The oldest surviving Perley Thomas Streetcar roaming New Orleans these days is the class streetcar number 900. 900 was the first car in a massive order for new streetcars by the New Orleans Public Service Inc. all the way back in 1923... One hundred years later 900 is still churning out the miles on the historic Saint Charles Streetcar line. Tonight 900 is inbound at Audubon Park with a quickly filling car bound for Canal Street, and the downtown area. Behind 900 the Holy Name of Jesus Church rises silently into the night. The church is now a part of the Loyola University campus that provides plenty of ridership from this area of town. 900 is the first outbound car of the reduced nightly service that sees streetcar service dropped to a handful of times per hour. These streetcars are fun to shoot in the daytime, but arguably more fun at night...

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Another pesky re-edit from times past. I'll have more photography from my last trip up starting next week, but this re-edit is one of my all time favorites. M780 is a Tullahoma, TN, to Anderson, Tn, local that shuttles Lhoist mineral hoppers to and from their plant in Anderson. This particular train was coming back north with 39 loads, and required a shove from the Cowan helper to get up the steep east face of the mountain. As the train entered Big Hormady Cut here the noise became deafening as the three older EMD products screamed in full power trying to lift the train to the summit. The tight cuts on the former NC&STL are some of the greatest places around to witness real mountain railroading on a mainline without Trip Optimizer and other automations running the show.

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