View allAll Photos Tagged Z6II
A decidedly New Orleans scene takes place at the corner of Henry Clay, and Saint Charles Avenues. The vibrant greens of summer leaves on the gorgeous Live oaks dominate the scene, and leave no doubt to the season we're in. Overhead, thunderstorms build, and in mere moments flooding rains will begin. It's a typical summer scene that will take place again, and again, throughout the summer. Saint Charles Line Car number 934 continues down the neutral ground of Saint Charles avenue just as it has for a full century. The green Perely Thomas cars are quietly historical anomalies in the transportation world. Thanks to a culture conscious city like New Orleans these century old streetcars will continue serving the city for years to come.
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After an 0545 departure from Shreveport the KCS Belle Southbound to Laredo was finally photographed in the small town of Zwolle, Louisiana, not long after sunrise as the fog from nearby Toledo Bend Reservoir lifts off. This was the beginning of the second day on an all week long excursion for the KCS Business train. The KCS Beaumont Subdivision this train is running on seems to be about the busiest on the railroad. Out of Shreveport the Biz train had to stop for a meet at Frierson siding, and met 6 more trains before getting onto the UP in Beaumont . The slower running on the Beaumont side made for some great photo opportunities along the way, and this day we finished shooting all the way west of Houston in Sugarland.
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Early Morning on Saint Louis Bay.
CSX W089 rolls slowly across Saint Louis Bay, and into Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, at restricted speed. The W089 is a fully loaded Herzog ballast train that will dump ballast along the New Orleans and Mobile Subdivision between here and the Pearl River drawbridge 15 miles to the south. South of Bay Saint Louis this portion of the former Louisville and Nashville railroad runs at, or below, sea level into the major terminal in New Orleans, Louisiana. This line was destroyed by hurricane Katrina in 2005. Katrina made landfall right where I stood for this shot... No Katrina anywhere this day, and CSX was running quite a few trains on this fine morning.
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*Best Viewed Large*
Split Rock Lighthouse is the single most photographed object in the state of Minnesota. Easy access and instant recognizability help put the iconic Lake Superior lighthouse at the top of photographic charts year after year. This particular day I had no photographic company, and that was ok with me. After a mostly cloudy day golden hour sun was a wonderful award to a patient photographer. The last days of peak fall colors on the lakeshore were holding on just a little while longer until the first storm of the season would strip them bare in the latter half of the week. The sun shone brightly and split rock made a great, if not tiny, subject jutting out over the frigid waters of Lake Superior.
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More soon where this came from!
Storms roll in along Escambia Bay as the Florida Gulf and Atlantic Railroad's Pensacola Shuttle leaves town. The train is running the bayshore for the next few miles before crossing at Lora Point and switching the industrial area south of Pace.
The 8143 is leading an RJ Corman motor that is painted for future lines in Tennessee.
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Georgia Southern train GS1 is midway between Fort Valley and Perry, Georgia. Patriot Rail maintenance has not quite caught up to this former Pioneer Railcorp line just yet. GS1 is restricted to 10mph for their run down to Perry due to track conditions like you see here. Old jointed rail has been suffering from a lack of maintenance for years. I'm not complaining though. This former Central of Georgia branch has all the appeal that a southern shortline should have, including old power, like this GP20.
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A dear friend of ours had these all over her farm so we transplanted them on our property and they are thriving! Lorraine has since passed away so these are a reminder of her generous spirit.
The Greenville and Western Railroad is a 12.5 mile long short line railroad that runs between a CSX interchange in Pelzer, SC, to Belton, SC, where they interchange with the Pickens railroad. The railroad's locomotive roster consists of 4 elderly EMD motors. Two GP9's and two GP30 type locomotives are employed as power for the shortline. This day we were quite fortunate to catch their short hood forward GP9 High-hood on the point of the southbound CSX Interchange-Belton/Pickens Interchange train. GRLW 3752 is a GP9 that was originally built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in July of 1957. This locomotive is one of the rare examples of a first generation diesel engine out running in revenue freight service. The 65 year career (and counting) of this locomotive is a testament to the build quality of early electro motive diesel locomotive. The trailing GP30 was a 1962 build for the Santa Fe Railroad. The GP30 is arguably more scarce than the GP9, and both engines together in the great Greenville and Western paint make for a great photograph. The sun was even out to boot!
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Every year on the first Thursday of May America hosts the National Day of Prayer. Concerned citizens gather in many cities to pray for 14 categories of need in our culture. The timing this year is perfect as anyone watching the news can see a matter of grave concern is developing
224b 5 - Z62_0492 - lr-ps
A nice, mostly YN2, consist on CSX Train Q521 presented a great opportunity for some golden hour pacing shots near Atmore, Alabama, a few days ago. The yellow nose 2 paint scheme of corporate CSX continues to become more slim as CSX charges ahead with the rebuilding program on these older General Electric AC traction motors.
Good friend and engineer Larry Smoak brings his empty G889 north over the IC Manchac Pass drawbridge late one warm spring evening. The lead BNSF AC4400 catches the very last of the golden rays of sunset. This was a great last train of an impromptu trip last week! More to come shortly from the trip over!
Randomly walking in the garden during vacation, this is one of my first try at macro photography. Since I don't have a macro lens, I used my 85mm f/1.8 lens and a bit of cropping. Quite happy with the result! Tell me what you think!
CN empty unit coke train U701 is seen cruising out over the Bonnet Carre Spillway just moments after sunset. A run through combination of a UP SD70Ace and a CSX ES44AH make up the power for this empty man headed north. We're about midway through the spillway here. This scene is somewhat rare due to the unusually dry conditions of the road that takes you out through the spillway itself. In recent times the water level here would have been over my head. The U701 was graced by a majestic sunset that capped off a great day shooting in Southern Louisiana. More to come soon! Thanks for looking and enjoy!
KCS Job 16 is headed up by a trio of the roads few remaining SD40-2's in Brooklyn, MS, on a late early fall afternoon. Snoot nose 6083 has the charge of a heavy southbound train that is running against the law to make it back to Gulfport in time. The shadows are getting long, and the light is getting good on this chase. The Gullfport line is now the only US Line KCS consistently runs SD40s on outside of industrial local jobs. It's a fun chase, and this day was no exception.
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A dramatic sunrise scene takes place on Black Beach in Silver Bay, Mn, on a beautiful October morning. The black beach in Silver Bay is a unique attraction along Lake Superior's north shore. This beach was formed by years of excess taconite and sand mixing together and washing up along the shoreline in Silver Bay. It is unique to this spot and a wild thing to see in person.
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You see them rolling down the neutral ground of Saint Charles Avenue. You ride on them into the city and back out again. They are utilitarian, yet classic. Their olive green paint with red trim blends in with the numerous canopies of Live Oaks that line the streets of the New Orleans Garden District. Many tourists find them "neat" and many residents may find them necessary, but the little green streetcars of the Saint Charles line are quietly rolling across a major historical milestone. The Perley Thomas Streetcars of the Saint Charles line are reaching the century mark in active service for the city. Spared by hurricane Katrina, the Perley Thomas cars have stuck around to see their centenary anniversary. It's not likely that they'll be going anywhere soon either. No plans currently exist to replace the fleet of historic streetcars.
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Away From the World
Past the towers of Portofino Resort on Pensacola Beach you enter a wonderful no mans land of sand dunes and wide open vistas in the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It's certainly a wonderful place to take in the sunset over home. It's a beautiful place to live, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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KCS 5016 and a Canadian Pacific GE vault across the massive Boone's Creek Trestle on the northwestern edge of Johnson City, Tn, on a beautiful summer afternoon. The two lead GE locomotives are in full throat trying to lift the heavy ethanol load southbound. Shortly afterwards the rear Norfolk Southern distributed power motor would crap out and the train would tie down at Erwin yard for a little over 36 hours. Thankfully this allowed a great daytime run two mornings later down the mostly east facing Blue Ridge Subdivision. The trestle in question here is one of the many big bridges that vault the former Clinchfield Railroad over water crossings. I'll have another one of those water crossings soon.
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It's mere minutes after 7am on a chilly Friday morning, and we are in the middle of Madison Street in Gretna, Louisiana. The New Orleans and Gulf Coast Railroad's Belle Chasse turn job is seen here departing back for Belle Chasse, Louisiana, from Gretna. Gretna, La, is a suburb of the New Orleans metro located across from downtown on the south bank of the Mississippi River. No you aren't seeing things, this train is indeed rolling down the middle of Madison Street. With the dense road network of the Nola area to navigate through the railroad had to build their main line right down the middle of residential neighborhoods in eastern Gretna. Madison street is your average city neighborhood with old southern style homes lining the streets, but shared with the New Orleans and Gulf Coast Railroad. When the train comes down the street it is best to just get out of the way! Of note on this run was the rare usage of the railroad's two SW1500 switch locomotives. These former Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad motors rarely ever leave the southern end of the railroad down in Belle Chasse, but were in use today hauling the road train south. Gretna is a cool place to shoot trains in the street, and boasts another streetrunning segment that I'll post about soon.
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