Sunday, June 11, 2017

Gotta Catch'em All

The first of the Norfolk Southern heritage fleet that I saw was at the inaugural Railroad Days at Natural Tunnel State park in Duffield Va, way back in July of 2013.


Since then I've been trying to get a picture of all 20 of them, that was accomplished back in May of 2015 when I finally saw the Norfolk & Western.


Since then I've been trying to catch them all leading a train through Jonesborough. That finally happened a few days ago when I finally caught the Erie leading 202 eastbound at 3rd St. It had led through here a few weeks earlier but it was in the wee hours of the morning, and it had worked as a DPU on return legs, but leading-from-behind doesn't count.


During that time I've several of the new specially painted 4000-series engines, there's only one of those - I'm looking at you 4002 -  that I've yet to get a picture of. There's also been several engines with other road names and colorful paint schemes that have passed though on NS rails: the blue and yellow CSX, red and white SOO, bright red of Indiana RR, two with different shades of purple, etc.
__________________________
I've seen all 20 of the Heritage motors leading on a train through Jonesborough!

#13  1065   Savannah and Atlanta
#15  1066   New York Central
#19  1067   Reading
#12  1068   Erie
  #1  1069   Virginian
  #8  1070   Wabash
 #16 1071   Central RR of New Jersey
#11  1072   Illinois Terminal
  #4  1073   Penn Central
 #18 1074   Delaware Lackawanna
 #17 8025   Monongahela
  #2  8098   Conrail
#10  8099k Southern
  #5  8100   Nickel Plate Road
  #7  8101   Central of Georgia
  #9  8102   Pennsylvania
 #14 8103   Norfolk and Western
  #3  8104   Lehigh Valley
  #6  8105   Interstate
 #20 8114   Norfolk Southern
_______________________________________________________________
These are the special interest engines I've seen.

6920    Honoring Our Veterans
6963    GoRail
  630    Southern Railway Steam
  911    Honoring First Responders

3170w Southern
4000   AC to DC Conversion (blue face)
4001   AC to DC Conversion (blue face) *
4003   AC to DC Conversion (red mane) *
4004   AC to DC Conversion (blue mane)
4005   AC to DC Conversion (blue mane)
_______________________________________________________________
These are the engines I've seen that have numbers which are interesting.

1111   The Bar Code Unit
1030  The Forgotten Heritage Engine

Friday, December 23, 2016

Red Mane Blue Mane

Two of the newest special paint schemes made a return trip up the Appalachia district on Thursday dragging a long string of empty hoppers. These are two of the C40-9 to AC44C6M conversions done by the Juniata and Roanoke shops.

Under the signal on the west wend of Yuma yard.

Into Yuma yard.
NS4005 is Juniata's second AC44C6M rebuild and was painted gray with a blue stripe on the horse mane. 

NS4003 is Roanoke's second AC44C6M rebuild and was painted gray with a tuscan red stripe on the horse mane.
__________________________
I've seen all 20 of the Heritage motors on a train through Jonesborough!
(* marks the ones leading a train - to date that leaves only the Erie.)

#13  1065   Savannah and Atlanta *
#15  1066   New York Central *
#19  1067   Reading *
#12  1068   Erie
  #1  1069   Virginian *
  #8  1070   Wabash *
 #16 1071   Central RR of New Jersey *
#11  1072   Illinois Terminal *
  #4  1073   Penn Central *
 #18 1074   Delaware Lackawanna *
 #17 8025   Monongahela *
  #2  8098   Conrail *
#10  8099k Southern *
  #5  8100   Nickel Plate Road *
  #7  8101   Central of Georgia *
  #9  8102   Pennsylvania *
 #14 8103   Norfolk and Western *
  #3  8104   Lehigh Valley *
  #6  8105   Interstate *
 #20 8114   Norfolk Southern *
_______________________________________________________________
These are the special interest engines I've seen.

6920    Honoring Our Veterans *
6963    GoRail *
  630    Southern Railway Steam *
  911    Honoring First Responders *

3170w Southern
4000   AC to DC Conversion
4001   AC to DC Conversion
4003   AC to DC Conversion
4005   AC to DC Conversion *
_______________________________________________________________
These are the engines I've seen that have numbers which are interesting.

1111   The Bar Code Unit *
1030  The Forgotten Heritage Engine *

Monday, November 28, 2016

Interstate

NS Heritage #8105 Interstate led 201 westbound earlier in the week - in the middle of the night - but I figured it would lead back through on 202 on Sunday, and probably during the daylight, which is a rarity during the winter months.



__________________________________________
I've seen all 20 of the Heritage motors on a train through Jonesborough!
(* marks the ones leading a train - to date that leaves only the Erie.)

#13  1065   Savannah and Atlanta *
#15  1066   New York Central *
#19  1067   Reading *
#12  1068   Erie
  #1  1069   Virginian *
  #8  1070   Wabash *
 #16 1071   Central RR of New Jersey *
#11  1072   Illinois Terminal *
  #4  1073   Penn Central *
 #18 1074   Delaware Lackawanna *
 #17 8025   Monongahela *
  #2  8098   Conrail *
#10  8099k Southern *
  #5  8100   Nickel Plate Road *
  #7  8101   Central of Georgia *
  #9  8102   Pennsylvania *
 #14 8103   Norfolk and Western *
  #3  8104   Lehigh Valley *
  #6  8105   Interstate *
 #20 8114   Norfolk Southern *
_______________________________________________________________
These are the special interest engines I've seen.

6920    Honoring Our Veterans *
6963    GoRail *
  630    Southern Railway Steam *
  911    Honoring First Responders *

3170w Southern
4000   AC to DC Conversion
4001   AC to DC Conversion
_______________________________________________________________
These are the engines I've seen that have numbers which are interesting.

1111   The Bar Code Unit *
1030  The Forgotten Heritage Engine *

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Bar Code Unit

Another of the Norfolk Southern with an interesting number is the 1111, which looks like a bar code on the number boards. It was leading east on 202.





__________________________________________
I've seen all 20 of the Heritage motors on a train through Jonesborough!
(* marks the ones leading a train - to date that leaves only the Erie.)

#13  1065   Savannah and Atlanta *
#15  1066   New York Central *
#19  1067   Reading *
#12  1068   Erie
  #1  1069   Virginian *
  #8  1070   Wabash *
 #16 1071   Central RR of New Jersey *
#11  1072   Illinois Terminal *
  #4  1073   Penn Central *
 #18 1074   Delaware Lackawanna *
 #17 8025   Monongahela *
  #2  8098   Conrail *
#10  8099k Southern *
  #5  8100   Nickel Plate Road *
  #7  8101   Central of Georgia *
  #9  8102   Pennsylvania *
 #14 8103   Norfolk and Western *
  #3  8104   Lehigh Valley *
  #6  8105   Interstate *
 #20 8114   Norfolk Southern *
_______________________________________________________________
These are the special interest engines I've seen.

6920    Honoring Our Veterans *
6963    GoRail *
  630    Southern Railway Steam *
  911    Honoring First Responders *

3170w Southern
4000   AC to DC Conversion
4001   AC to DC Conversion
_______________________________________________________________
These are the engines I've seen that have numbers which are interesting.

1111   The Bar Code Unit *
1030  The Forgotten Heritage Engine *

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Boston 2016

What started as a trip to see NYCFCvsNER soccer game at Gillette Stadium ended as a week-long sight-seeing trip to Boston. Big fun was had by all.

Salem Harbor

Park Street Church

Ben Franklin's tomb with Park Street Church in background

A cold Sam Adams

Da girls on the Brass Donkey in the courtyard of the Old City Hall

Old South Meeting House

Old State House

Old South Meeting House

Old Corner Bookstore - now a Chipotle

Bunker Hill

Old North Church

Paul Revere with Old North Church in background

Trinity Episcopal Church
Sam Adams in front of Faneuil Hall

The School Bus

The Heritage engine that got me started when I saw it at the inaugural Railroad Days at Natural Tunnel in Duffield was the last one for me to catch working through Jonesborough. This is it, parked in the north tunnel, taken with my old D90, back in 2013.


It's taken over three years for the 1069 Virginian to finally get on a train that's moving down the Bristol line. On the Facing Book I saw a mention of it being in position to lead 27V from Walkertown NC but that train has a history of swapping or adding power in Roanoke, or being so low in the pecking order that it rolls through SWVa in the middle of the night. So I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was leading from Roanoke, during daylight hours. Now if it will just leave Bristol before dark ...

Once again it all worked out, and 27V left Bristol in tme for a lunch-time run through Jonesborough. I took these shots from the old loading ramp between 2nd and 3rd street, looking east toward the soon-to-be-rebuilt SR depot. The only thing that could've made it better would have been some cloud cover, blue-bird skies makes for lots of high contrast areas which is tough shooting







__________________________________________
I've seen all 20 of the Heritage motors on a train through Jonesborough!
(* marks the ones leading a train - to date that leaves only the Erie.)

#13  1065   Savannah and Atlanta *
#15  1066   New York Central *
#19  1067   Reading *
#12  1068   Erie
  #1  1069   Virginian *
  #8  1070   Wabash *
 #16 1071   Central RR of New Jersey *
#11  1072   Illinois Terminal *
  #4  1073   Penn Central *
 #18 1074   Delaware Lackawanna *
 #17 8025   Monongahela *
  #2  8098   Conrail *
#10  8099k Southern *
  #5  8100   Nickel Plate Road *
  #7  8101   Central of Georgia *
  #9  8102   Pennsylvania *
 #14 8103   Norfolk and Western *
  #3  8104   Lehigh Valley *
  #6  8105   Interstate *
 #20 8114   Norfolk Southern *
_______________________________________________________________
These are the special interest engines I've seen.

6920    Honoring Our Veterans *
6963    GoRail *
  630    Southern Railway Steam *
  911    Honoring First Responders *
1030    The Forgotten Heritage Engine *
3170w Southern
4000   AC to DC Conversion
4001   AC to DC Conversion

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Prince Willam Parish Church

On the way from our latest trip to Hilton Head we took a short detour by the Prince William Parish church on Old Sheldon Church Road in Yemassee. After seeing the pictures of this place I recognized from several pictures, videos, and movies that reference Sherman's burning of the South on his march to the sea. The following is some information I've gleaned from the interwebs about this church. It's a neat old place that is worth a stop if you happen to be in the area.

The Old Sheldon Church, formerly known as the Prince William Parish Church was built between 1745-1753 by William Bull whose plantation bordered the church grounds. The church was named Sheldon in honor of the family's ancestral home in England. The church was burned in 1779 by British troops during the Revolutionary War, and in 11826 was rebuilt. It's thought that in January of 1865, as part of Sherman's March to the Sea near the end of  the Civil War that the church was burned a second time. Because of a letter dated 2/3/1866 by Milton Leverett , others think that the church was not burned but dismantled by the locals looking for materials to rebuild their homes that were burned by Sherman's army.

Sheldon Church is said to be the first conscious attempt in America to imitate a Greek temple. The original three-and-one-half foot thick colonnaded walls of Flemish bond and the four all-header bond portico columns remain, attesting to the solid construction and master craftsmanship which enabled it to withstand two conflagrations and over two hundred fifty years of existence. The church was built along a row of seven Tuscan columns - six engaged and one outstanding. The western facade had an elegant portico, crowned by a triangular pediment with bulls-eye window and cornice with dentils. The large front doorway had a fanlight above and two round-headed windows, symmetrically spaced, on either side. On the north, five bays between the engaged columns were filled with a single tier of tall, round-headed windows; the other bay was left open for a portico. At the eastern end, above the alter, was a Palladian window, with a round-headed window to each side. Marble sarcophagi in the churchyard bear the names of South Carolina leaders.