Birds of South Texas
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I spent some time today witnessing one of the most remarkable waterfowl sights in the whole world. Somewhere between 10,000 - 15,000 tundra swans are staging right here in the Upper Mississippi River before heading east to Chesapeake Bay for the winter. I took video footage on my smartphone to add some sound, which is sensational, but then I wasn't smart enough to get it on Flickr. Sorry.
The tundra swans stage here in the Upper Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Refuge which protects 240,000 acres of habitat for fish and wildlife along the Mississippi River. You can get really close looks at the swans and other waterfowl just south of Brownsville where public access is closed off in the fall so the swans can rest and feed without being bothered.
MGA coal loads trundle up Main St in West Brownsville, PA on a typically gloomy western Pennsylvania winter day. My perch for the photo was the roof of my s**t brown 1983 Ford Mustang, and that's Amy, my girlfriend at the time doing her railfan's bae duties of waving at the train for the photo.
A quartet of MGA Super 7s have successfully delivered a coal train to Conrail at West Brownsville, and now run light down the east side of the Monongahela River to the company's yard and shop complex at Brownsville, PA.
Texas
Most of the year the facial skin around the eye is a dull yellow-orange, but in breeding season it turns bright green.
The rear-end brakeman prepares to drop off of the caboose of a loaded Monongahela coal train that has just entered the yard in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, a yard crew uncouples another caboose from one of the last GP38’s on the MGA roster.
Engineer's view of the street running in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania. October 1993. Riding in the cab of a Conrail SD60M on a loaded coal train, courtesy of the local trainmaster! This is the former Monongahela Railroad.
A hot, hazy summer day is nearing to a close while the sky comes alive in a dazzling array of vibrant colors, fireflies have began their nightly dance across the darkening sky, while bullfrogs endless chanting take over the evening noise. One of Norfolk Southern’s heritage paint schemes to honor predecessor railroads that created the modern Norfolk Southern, The Interstate Railroad, is leading an empty southbound coal train slowing to a stop at the once booming coal terminus of West Brownsville, PA.
You wouldn’t know it today, yet 20 years ago there wasn’t an empty track to be had in this scene of the mostly barren yard. King coal has had a long, and arduous decline here, a similar story throughout much of the coalfields in the eastern United States. Most trains staged here today are just overflow due to Shire Oaks yard, 27 miles to the north, being too full to handle the trains. It wasn’t always that way. Both yards would often struggle to find places to stage trains in the better days of past. Despite the steep decline in coal usage across the country, there’s still some coal moving on the former Monongahela Railway, at only a whisper to what it once was. Meets at every siding were not uncommon, if not the standard, now scarce in occasion. Mine names that once were an everyday mention: Clyde, Emerald, Blacksville No.1, Blacksville No.2, Federal No.2, gone. The West Division that once boasted 6 different coal mines is now down to one: Core Resource's (formerly Consol Energy) Bailey Mine Complex, a gargantuan facility producing a jaw dropping 12.7 million short tons of coal annually.
This empty export train from Baltimore is waiting for a meet with another, Baltimore bound export train to come northbound from further south on the former Monongahela, fresh from being loaded at the massive Bailey Mine complex outside of Waynesburg, PA. The West Brownsville yard office sits empty and derelict, occasionally used by MofW employees. Norfolk Southern spent a fortune building the modern yard office before the PSR era cuts made its use redundant and expendable by combining jobs to increase workloads on fewer employees.
Before long the northbound loudly makes its presence known, its blaring horn sounding as it commandeers itself through the half mile stretch of trackage running down the middle of Main Street in town. After the northbound clears, the process repeats itself. It's now well after dark and the stillness of the night is only briefly interrupted by the occasional passing train. By dawn this train will be loaded and returning north for its journey to Baltimore. Export coal is big business these days, its coals last, strong hold out, where the quality is good enough, the quantity large enough and cheap enough to efficiently mine for market. Soon to be loaded onto another ocean going ship across the Atlantic, bound for somewhere else in the world. Perhaps Eastern Europe, or India, for usage in power generation where pollution standards are not as stringent, and beneficial for their coal fired power stations.
A loaded Detroit Edison coal train makes its way through West Brownsville, PA on the Monongahela Railway.
With the rest of the control point being replaced today and soon, who knows how much longer this one has.
I introduced my son to Brownsville Station Park yesterday. He had never been and we were both pleased to catch a sunset :)
seen yesterday evening as we approached Brownsville Station Park where we sat on the banks of the Fraser River and watched the sun go down behind New Westminster, magical ...
Opuntia, AKA Prickly pear cactus needles in some sunlight. Cactus seem to be the South Texas mascot along with Mockingbirds.
An empty Norfolk Southern coal train bound for Bailey Mine makes its way south through the street running in West Brownsville, PA as it passes under the tall PA Route 40 overpass.
An empty NS coal train steps down Main Street at West Brownsville, PA on its way to Bailey Mine along the ex Monongahela Railway.
North-bound coal loads running as N72 negotiate the street trackage through West Brownsville. Running for several blocks, this is one of the longest stretches of active street running in the US anymore.
Interested in purchasing a high-quality digital download of this photo, suitable for printing and framing? Let me know and I will add it to my Etsy Shop, MittenRailandMarine! Follow this link to see what images are currently listed for sale: www.etsy.com/shop/MittenRailandMarine
If you are interested in specific locomotives, trains, or freighters, please contact me. I have been photographing trains and ships for over 15 years and have accumulated an extensive library!
Another round of street running shots from West Brownsville, PA. The options are plenty and a long telephoto gives you many opportunities for a variety of different shots such as this empty passing this patriotic house.
A trio of 1950's built SRY units shove the shops job thru industrial Surrey before running around their train to work Brownsville. Because they have to reverse into Brownsville this is one of the very few modern day operations that still use a caboose.
The marshy areas by Brownsville are filled with arrowhead, wild celery and sago pondweed - plants with small potato-like tubers for roots that the swans can reach from the bottom mud with their long necks. Those nutritious tubers will power their trip to Chesapeake Bay.
Structure Fire reported about 1045 Saturday in Brownsville - Fayette County, PA. The house was reported abandoned.
On a wee bit of a cemetery kick lately. Graveyards offer a history-rich source of bokeh and DOF subjects. Plus, the stone work, moss, and lichen are a nice match for toy photography.
This toy thing is still a work in progress. I haven't nailed down how to give toys an unassuming, but relevant space in my images.
I am all about telling stories, and toys are good storytelling props.
Copyright © Daniela Duncan 2011 All Rights Reserved.
- Columbus, Indiana.
"When I think of why I make pictures, the reason that I can come up with just seems that I've been making my way here. It seems right now that all I've ever done in my life is making my way here to you." ~ Quote from The Bridges of Madison County.
The Monongahela Railway has just dropped a loaded coal train at West Brownsville, Pennsylvania. As the power pulls away from the train, waiting Conrail power can be seen, ready to take trains north.
Brownsville's charming flatiron building has a lovely museum, art gallery, and gift shop inside, I highly recommend you visit.