NS Heritage 8100 (Nickel Plate Road)

I struck out badly Sunday night trying to snap a picture of the NS 6920 (Honoring our Veterans) in Jonesborough. It rolled through about 8:00. I just don't have the skill-set and the equipment necessary to take a picture of an object moving that fast in that low an amount of light. I can learn skills, but I don't see that grade of hardware in my future. 

So, I woke up Monday morning to hear that the Norfolk Souther Heritage #8100 (Nickel Plate Road) was on its way through Johnson City to Jonesborough. The 8100 is my favorite of the mostly black heritage paint schemes. The yellow stripes and the scripted  Nickel Plate Road  look really sharp.

It was going to get there about 7:00 AM and it would still be dark, and I knew that Jonesborough was a bad bet. So on a whim I drove to downtown Johnson City hoping there would be enough street lights to get a reasonable picture.

Once again I got there with less than 2 minutes to spare. As soon as I opened got parked and opened the truck door I heard the train horn ... crap ... I hastily setup my iPhone on the tailgate and quickly looked around for the most light and metered a couple of possibilities. It was going to be too dark again, but what the heck, give it a go.

Did I mention it started misting and blowing right into the camera? This is the only picture I got that wasn't a blurry blob or covered with water spots. A grainy train with yellowish stripes. Yeah, not so good. If you didn't know it was the 8100 you couldn't figure it out from the picture.

Heritage NS8100 Nickel Plate Road

Not a complete fail, but far from what I want. I tried to grab a single frame from the video but no joy as they were blurry too. Maybe next time ......

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail 

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley

#4 1073 Penn Central
#5 8100 Nickel Plate Road

NS Heritage Penn Central

At lunch today a friend of a friend saw a Facebook post that said the Norfolk Southern Heritage engine #1073, the Penn Central - with the 'worms' logo - was on train 202 which would bring it through Jonesborough this afternoon. That's not an opportunity that often arises, so we decided to do a late/long lunch in the Parson's Table parking lot and wait.

We knew it wasn't the lead engine, so we scouted out locations to give us the best angle for a shot at an engine in the middle of a consist. We also knew it would be making good time coming through town so the window to get a shot would be small.

I picked a spot up high, my accomplice picked a spot down low with a wider view and the result was "I chose poorly". I'm not sure why, but I had not anticipated the 1073 being the third of three engines in the line, facing backwards. So my short window of time only allowed me to get one shot of the engine's butt while it rolled by ... backwards.

NS1073 Penn Central Heritage

The Penn Central is the least different in paint scheme from a normal Norfolk Southern black and white. But at least it was shiny and clean, and it was captured while doing its job.

That makes it number 4 of 20, only 16 to go!

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail 

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley

#4 1073 Penn Central

NS Heritage Lehigh Valley

I got confirmation that the Norfolk Southern Heritage engine 8104 (Lehigh Valley) was stopped in SWVa, but no information on when it would leave or where it would go next.  So it was decided that we'd take a ride over through the mountains looking for some good fall color and try to catch it before it got gone.

Well, the search for good color was a bust - it's just as green with a hint of mustard yellow over there as it is here at home. But I did get to see the "Valley Girl" parked at the far end of the yard, still hooked to the black and white #8149. Still dusty from the long trip up from Georgia, the burgundy and gold looked pretty washed out under the bright sky.

NS8104 Lehigh Valley

I've related to others that catching it stopped in a yard is kinda like taking a picture of a lion at the zoo, it's a legit lion but it's not a legit location for a lion; it's not "in the wild". I'd much rather catch the engines doing work. Regardless, that's number 3 of 20, 17 to go.

#1 1069 Virginian
#2 8098 Conrail 

#3 8104 Lehigh Valley