An outbound Saint Charles Car disappears into the fog along Carrolton Avenue at Midnight in New Orleans. I was needing to get home at this point, but the foggy conditions were too good to pass up. Using nothing but available light we are able to capture the feel of the city at night. It's a great time.

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In a scene repeatable for over a century now, Saint Charles Car 969 rolls into the setting sun. The outbound car is just another in the line of 100 year old Perely Thomas built streetcars making countless numbers of roundtrips into New Orleans. Some real history is found along the neutral ground of Saint Charles Avenue.

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The photo is a composite created by stacking 35 individual shots.

It’s a Cinco de Mayo rose, seen in my most-viewed flower photo!

Strelitzie

A horrendously late CSX M526 is seen closing in on the eastern shore of Saint Louis Bay. The daily thunderstorms are building with hurrying intensity. M526 and M606 will just outrun the horrific thunderstorms. Only an hour after shooting this photo the skies would unleash rain at a rate of 4 inches an hour, and cause flood/severe thunderstorm warnings to be posted. By sunset it was all gone. Another typical day on the old Louisville and Nashville New Orleans and Mobile subdivision.

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NS train S0N from Andover Yard near Appalachia, Virginia, to Williamson, West Virginia, is seen crossing Amonate Trestle in remote Southwest Virginia. This shot has The train of empty coal hoppers is traversing the Dry Fork branch of the former Norfolk and Western Railroad. The Dry Fork branch runs between the town of Cedar Bluff, Virginia, along the N&W Clinch Valley district to Iager, West Virginia, along the N&W Pocahontas Division mainline from Roanoke-Kenova. This branch serves as a cut-through route for trains headed to and from West Virginia to the Southeast, and for trains headed northwest out of the Clinch Valley coalfields. This line was once bustling with 7-10 daily moves from mine runs and over the road coal trains. After the bottom fell out on the coal market this branch was lucky to see that many in a month. Traffic has been on a slight rebound as of late, and this day we were lucky to get two moves across the Dry Fork in daytime. Amonate Trestle has long been a bucket list shot, and I have missed it on previous trips. Not so this time. We managed to get this guy here and an empty man later in the day as well. That shot will come soon...

Thanks again to Ryan Markham for the intel on these moves. I wouldn't have got this otherwise.

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Grinding up Cumberland Mountain.

CSX "Local" freight M780 is seen here deep in Big Hormady Cut as they grind up Cumberalnd Mountain in full throat with 39 loads of limestone from Lhoist Minerals in Anderson, Alabama. The three GP's are deafening as they roar through the tight walls of the cut that was blasted out by the Nashville Chattanooga, and Saint Louis railroad years prior. On the rear of the train is the Cowan pusher. Cumberland Mountain grade is so severe that CSX keeps a pusher crew in Cowan, Tn, to shove trains up both sides of the mountain. They stayed on the rear of the Q647 over the mountain to assist this M780 up and over the top. This is one of the best shows on mountain railroading around...

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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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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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Sixties at Sunset.

Norfolk Southern local freight train P45 is just on to the Z line in Seneca, South Carolina, as a gorgeous sunset takes place behind. Leading the train is a great duo of GP60s, both consecutively numbered. The 7139 up front is sporting the older "non-horsehead" Norfolk Southern paint. The trailing 7138 is a more recent repaint. Getting a duo of GP60s anywhere these days is quite a rarity on class one rail lines. NS seems to keep their fleet employed on locals up and down the Peidmont between Atlanta and Washington DC. This was a great way to cap off an excellent day of photographing in the area. More to come soon.

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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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The Arctic Ocean at the edge of ice north of Svalbard (80 degrees north)

Kochelsee Lake, Bavaria

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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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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.

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!

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.

Thanks for looking! More to come soon!

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.

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!

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

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Woman with umbrella walking past a branch of the ubiquitous convenience store chain (the best one in my opinion).

www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/119527005

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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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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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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