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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Enjoy!

New Year's fireworks, 1st January 2023

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Nice view of the sunset from Shallotte Riverwalk.

Norfolk Southern drag freight 183 is seen here passing by the Sloss Furnaces in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. The train is also passing the site of the former Southern Railroad 27th street interlocking tower. This interlocking tower once controlled movements of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, the Southern Railroad, and the L&N, across the busy web of trackage here. Even today it is a maze of tracks where the NS Birmingham to Meridian, MS, line, the NS West end district to Memphis, and the CSX Nashville to Jacksonville mainline all intersect. Now all of this trackage is controlled by mouse clicks from a computer in Atlanta that will line the routes for trains. A bonus on this day was the Nickle Plate Road Heritage motor on point of this 183. This engine was one of 20 that Norfolk Southern commissioned to memorialize the image of 20 predecessor railroads. All of those 20 merged over time to eventually create the modern day Norfolk Southern System.

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The KCS Saltillo Turn is just minutes out of a sizeable pickup in Tupelo, MS, as they cruise south for Artesia on a frigid late fall morning. The three matched belles and 67 trailing cars made for a great chase of a late running Saltillo Turn back to West Point. When this train arrived at West Point they would go on the law due to an Aberdeen turn having engine issues in downtown West Point. This may be the final hours of KCS, but they've never looked better than they do here. Not many class one railroads left pulling tonnage out along the mainline with four axle motors. Get it while you can.

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By far the best sunset we had in Acadia took place at the best vantage point for it. The summit of Beech Mountain has decent views, but nothing compares to the descent back to the trailhead. When you throw in a spectacular sunset you have an epic combination. I only edited, uploaded, and deleted a million other edits from up here, but I feel like this edit nails the true way it looked up on Beech Mountain.

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It was almost too warm for crystals - the patterns are completely different to what you get at -5 or less.

"Light at Sen-so-rio", is an immer-sive walk-through out-door exhib-it in Paso Robles. We were there on a beautiful July evening with great weather from sunset to moonrise (a full moon rise shown here was a total bonus)

The attraction does not allow tripods and so this particular picture pushed the limits of the high ISO capabilities of my Nikon Z6ii, Topaz DeNoise AI and CaptureOne capabilities

Cleared for Flight

Cumberland Valley Classic

CSX loaded coal train T090 is seen passing through the pastoral scene at Olinger, Virginia, on a beautiful fall morning. The 45 car loaded coal train was moving right along until Big Stone Gap, a few miles up the road, where the lead engine ran out of lube oil. The scene here at Olinger is beautiful, and somewhat tough to photograph due to the mostly nocturnal nature of the T090 through here. This is a classic location on the old Louisville and Nashville Railroad Cumberland Valley Subdivision. Sadly, seeing more than one train in a trip is a rarity through here. I got lucky with two daylight runs of the T090, but only one shot here. I'll take it.

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A shot I didn't think would be possible a few months ago became reality Wednesday morning as the CPKC Christmas train rolled off the east end of the Huey P Long Bridge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The spotless Kansas City Southern FP9's lead the Christmas train south out of Shreveport at 0500 Wednesday morning for an all day sprint to Laplace, Louisiana, for the public Christmas event CPKC was putting on. The F's and the Christmas train are midway through a multi-week tour of the KCS System for what will likely be the last Christmas train in the current configuration. All the elements had to come together perfectly to chase this train in the conditions we had Wednesday. Sun was not in the forecast, but somehow our group managed sunny conditions at every shot... More coming soon..

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Vue du balcon

The KCS Macon Local is arriving in Meridian, Mississippi, on the former Gulf Mobile and Ohio Mainline. The local is an all timber products affair today, and sports just 8 cars. Three belle GP variants lead the train south to Meridian all afternoon, and made for a wonderful chase through the hilly woodlands of east Mississippi. Fortunately for us the Southern held Amtrak 19 at the diamonds for the local to scoot across, and into the yard. It was a well timed event as soon after stack trains would begin showing up, and the light would disappear.

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Another great night spent out camping with friends always means more night sky photography. This was the last frame of the night. Pleasant temperatures and low humidity made for a great night. 15 minutes of captured movement here. One of the few cloud-free moments of the day.

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CSX haulage rights train T090 is seen exiting the southern portal of Natural Tunnel. The train is keeping to the 15mph speed restriction through the tight confines of Natural Tunnel. 45 loads of Eastman coal is at the drawbars. This is a bucket list location, and I'm priveledged to have shot it quite a few times this trip.

The stars of a cold winters night are reflected off the surface of Bear Lake in Northwest Florida. Calm conditions and clear skies allowed for beautiful night sky conditions, and this shot was able to capitalize on it well.

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Fall in the Woodland

The vibrant oranges and yellows of Acadia's woodlands are shining brightly on a beautiful autumn's afternoon. This deciduous New England hardwood forest sits just below the boreal forest of Gorham mountain in the beautiful Wild Gardens of Acadia. The small stream running through the vibrant woodlands adds a beautiful touch to the scene. This was, by far, the most vibrant color I saw in the park, and it was wonderful to capture it here!

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CSX train Q52103 slowly makes its way into Bay Saint Louis, MS, after encountering a stop signal on the drawbridge. The 2 mile long bridge stretches the length of Saint Louis Bay at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico. Yesterday afternoon was pristine along the Gulf in Bay Saint Louis with pleasant temps and calm seas... A great day to be out!

A telephoto lens allows us to peer through the fog of a moody Vermont morning, and view the farms clinging to the ridgelines of Bartlett's Ridge. The last gasps of color have been getting blown away by massive windstorms for the past few days, and winter will soon set in.

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It's a picture perfect afternoon in Green Mountain, North Carolina. We are standing on the edge of Whitson's Branch Road as CSX time freight Q694 works its way up the beautiful, former Clinchfield Railroad main. Whitson's Branch is an iconic shot for northbound trains along the Clinchfield. Fall Colors were at their beginning, much later than normal, but conditions were sublime. If you've ever been you know that the Clinchfield through the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina is a special place. The railroad follows the Toe and Nolichucky Rivers well away from any tourist population centers, and the shots that can be had are wonderful. Case in point here. Thanks especially to Noah Johnson for showing me around this day. It was one for the record books.

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Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. 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!

Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. 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!

Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. 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!

She’s a good kitty, and I hope to see more of her!

Sunrise over Einsiedel and the Swabian hills

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