Valley Girl

The Norfolk Southern Heritage 8104 Lehigh Valley made a rare daylight appearance on 22A. This was the first time I'd seen this engine on the move - the previous time it was parked at Andover.

Since I had time to spare on the trip to my usual spot in downtown Johnson City, and because it was during the daylight hours, I drove slowly along the route, looking for a different spot to shoot. I stopped about 1/4 mile from downtown, near the old Johnson City Depot - soon to become a Tupelo Honey restaurant. The sun was at my back with downtown JC as the backdrop, and I could use some abandoned rail and old signals to add some interest as the train rounded the corner leaving downtown.

NS8104 Heritage, Lehigh Valley, Johnson City, 1/19/2014

I didn't notice until I started editing the pics just how clearly I could see the guy in the cab. He waved as they went by.

NS8104 Heritage, Lehigh Valley, Johnson City, 1/17/2014

This is not a new Heritage engine for me, still at eight of twenty.

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail 

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley

#4 1073 Penn Central
#5 8100 Nickel Plate Road

#6 8105 Interstate
#7 8101 Central of Georgia

#8 1070 Wabash

The New Cannonball

The latest Norfolk Southern Heritage engine that I've seen come through Jonesborough was the Wabash (1070). I saw on the FaceTube that the Wabash was trailing (2nd of 3) on the 15T from Allentown PA, but this has happened before and the engines were taken off at Roanoke. So when I later saw that it had cleared Roanoke with the power intact it became a "simple" task of working out the timing of when it would get to Jonesborough. 

A network of FaceTube friends and a few sites on the Interwebs and a scanner makes it a manageable task to find westbound trains that have made it to Piney Flats and are waiting on clearance to go through Johnson City and Jonesborough on to Knoxville. I've empirically determined that once a train receives clearance, it takes about 50 minutes to get from Piney Flats to Jonesborough which gives me time to get there with time for a few practice shots.

It was cloudy and getting dark fast, so I got lucky when the 37Q came through about 30 minutes before the 15T. It also had three engines which gave me a good opportunity to work out the best angles to shoot from since the Wabash was not leading, and facing backwards. Below are the two best shots, taken behind the courthouse in downtown Jonesborough.

NS1070 Wabash Heritage - Jonesborough, TN - 12/28/2013

NS1070 Wabash Heritage - Jonesborough, TN - 12/28/2013

This was the 8th of 20 for me ... 12 to go !

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley

#4 1073 Penn Central
#5 8100 Nickel Plate Road

#6 8105 Interstate
#7 8101 Central of Georgia

#8 1070 Wabash

Update:

The Wabash came back through on a frigid Thursday night, this time leading a 15T. It was late leaving Jonesborough, had mechanical trouble in Bristol - the cab heater wasn't working, had to stop for a hot wheel in Jonesborough, and the horn was randomly going off on it's own.

 

More Conrail

The first of the Norfolk Heritage engines that I captured "in the wild" was the NS8098 Conrail. The FaceTube said that it was making a trip back through Bulls Gap to Andover Va. this afternoon. It was raining like heck at the house but I was bored and went on to Weber City to see if there was a good shooting spot to be had. I was also looking forward to shooting something besides black trains, the last few weeks have had only the Nickel Plate Road and the Penn Central coming through the area, so a shot of a blue train was a welcome change.

I was planning on standing under the awning of a business across the road from the tracks but by the time I hit the Va line the rain had stopped. I drove the length of Weber City looking for a good angle to shoot knowing that the 8098 was running as the DPU again. I picked a spot in the parking lot beside Brad's pit BBQ and waited.

The spot i picked was near the top of the rise coming out of Yuma, so the big diesels were really shaking the ground as they came by ... I love that sound. I wasn't aware that there was a double DPU working this train, but that too was a nice change.

NS8100 Heritage, Conrail, Weber City, Va - 12/22/2013

NS8100 Heritage, Conrail, Weber City, Va - 12/22/2013

Another week goes by and no new Heritage engines, but it's always fun to go practice shooting in different places in different conditions. Still at 7 of 20.

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail 

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley

#4 1073 Penn Central
#5 8100 Nickel Plate Road

#6 8105 Interstate
#7 8101 Central of Georgia

Finally ...

I'd struck out twice trying to get a decent picture of the NS8100 Nickel Plate Road engine. Both times it had been leading but both times it was dark and the last time it was raining sideways.

But, thirds times a charm, eh? When the NKP was assigned to 23G I figured that, once again, it would be a missed opportunity as the 23G typically goes through Jonesborough in the wee hours of the morning. But something went pear-shaped east of here and gummed up all the eastbound train traffic Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Now all that had to happen was for the train traffic to break out about daylight and I'd have a good chance. Well that didn't happen before I had to leave for work ... oh bother.

At work I got word via the FaceTube that 23G was just then rolling toward Jonesborough, so off we went to catch it in downtown Johnson City. I had scouted out this location before as a good candidate for a morning train shot. The light was good - a little too good, actually it would have been better with a little cloud cover - but it was nice just to be taking train pictures during daylight hours for once.

It took twice as long as it should have for the train to get to JC as we thought. There was still fallout from the earlier nights gumming up. But when it finally arrived we got the shots we wanted. Some folk don't like to shoot the engines when they are running as DPUs - pushing from the back of the train instead of pulling at the front - but I rather like it because I can practice shooting the train as it rolls by and get the timing down. Shooting a moving train is a developed skill, so practice is always welcome.

NS8100 Nickel Plate Road in Johnson City

Of all the NS Heritage paint schemes, this one is the second worst IMHO - the worst being the lime green with yellow stripes of the Illinois Terminal "glow worm". Its only redeeming feature is the nicely scripted lettering.

Regardless, it's not a new Heritage engine capture but it is a much better picture of a previous catch. Still 7 down and 13 to go.

Update (12/18/2013): the NKP returned on 22A again, leading this time. I snapped the following two pictures in downtown Jonesborough, just after dark ... again ... one more time.

NS8100 NKP nose, Jonesborough, TN 12/18/2013

NS8100 NKP butt, Jonesborough, TN 12/18/2013

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail 

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley

#4 1073 Penn Central
#5 8100 Nickel Plate Road

#6 8105 Interstate
#7 8101 Central of Georgia

Central of Georgia

The latest Norfolk Southern Heritage for me is the Central of Georgia (8101). This time I was really late - almost too late - getting to the designated picture-taking spot, which was behind the courthouse in Jonesborough. As soon as I parked the truck I could heard the horns for the crossing, and then the crossing gates started dropping - I had no more than 30 seconds to tweak the camera settings before it got there.

I knew it had also been cleared all the way through Jonesborough to Bulls Gap, so it wouldn't be slowing down as it came by. I also knew it was the third of three engines, facing rearward so I practiced getting the timing down on the first two engines. 

NS Heritage 8101 - Central of Georgia - Jonesborough, TN

This is the first decent shot I've made with the 35mm f/1.8 lens I got a few weeks ago. I got it because I convinced myself that my normal lens (18-200 f/3.5) wasn't fast enough to get any kind of shot after dark. Maybe I was right. I still dialed the ISO way up and set the shutter to 1/125 at f/1.8, deciding that I had a better chance at brightening a dark picture than getting one bright enough that was in focus.

This makes 7 of 20, only 13 more!

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail 

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley

#4 1073 Penn Central
#5 8100 Nickel Plate Road

#6 8105 Interstate
#7 8101 Central of Georgia

The Santa Train

This year's Santa Train included the CSXT Heritage engine 9998 (it's an F40PH-2, usually seen as AMTRAK engines). I wanted to get a picture of this engine - and a picture of Santa on the last car - but the stops along the route are always too crowded for a clear shot, and the traditional photo locations are full of other picture-takers too.

So, I used Google maps to scout out a location that would be devoid of other folks and provide some background scenery for a train picture. I settled on the south portal of the Clinch Mountain tunnel which is about 1/2 mile from where the train makes a stop in Kermit. I was unsure of the terrain because Google doesn't have a street view of Yuma Road in Kermit - go figure - so earlier this week I took off at lunch and made the 45 minuted drive to the spot I had selected. It was an excellent location; nice long incoming shot, some interesting background, and a going-away shot to get a Santa picture. So now the only worry was whether other folk would be there or not when the train rolled through.

The Santa Train runs on a pretty strict time table, so I felt good about only getting there about 30 minutes early. I scouted out the right angle that would include the ruins of the Kingsport Glass sand towers in the background and a shot of the end of the train where Santa would be. Then I borrowed a piece of firewood to prop up my iPhone for video and waited for the train.

Well, first off, I was disappointed to see the 4043 leading, not the heritage engine 9998.

CSX 4043 (SD40-3)

Since it was trailing the only shot that makes sense is this angle ... stupid CSX, don't they know that folk want to see the cool heritage engines out front, not the plain old average everyday SD40's ?

CSXT Heritage 9998 (F40PH-2)

And then Santa rolled by on the observation deck of the last car ... and he waved at me !

Santa waving at me !

Somebody should tell the folk at CSX to think about the order of the engines when they include them on special runs. I mean seriously, how much effort would it take to make sure the heritage engines are leading on the runs when it counts?

Creamsicle

The Norfolk Heritage engine 8105 (Interstate) - affectionately called 'the creamsicle' (or the orangesicle) because of the cream-over-orange paint scheme - came back through Johnson City that evening on the 22A. It was leading 22A through here last Sunday but it was delayed in Radford and got here over two hours late, which meant it was way after dark. I just don't have the skillz and/or tools to take pictures of fast moving trains in the dark. So I missed it.

It came back as the DPU on 23G on Wednesday morning, but I missed it again, by only 5 minutes. When I heard that it was coming back this evening I figured I had a reasonable shot at it, but then the rains came ...

I heard the call for it to leave Piney Flats and made the trip to downtown JC anyway. It was about 5:45 when I rolled through - I made it with five minutes to spare. I grabbed the umbrella and worked out a way to hold the umbrella with one arm while leaving both hands free to work the camera. It's not great camera work but it's proof that I saw it!

Here's what I ended up with after some serious massaging with LR4.

NS Heritage 8105 - Interstate in Downtown Johnson City

NS Heritage 8105 - Interstate in Downtown Johnson City

6 Down ... 14 to go ... bring it!

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley

#4 1073 Penn Central
#5 8100 Nickel Plate Road

#6 8105 Interstate