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 *

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 *

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 *

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

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Then There Was One

One of the more elusive NS Heritage engines finally made an appearance on the Bristol line. The Norfolk & Western 8103 is one of the only two in the Heritage fleet that I have yet to see in Jonesborough - I'm looking at you Virginian. And even better it was leading, the first time it's done that through Jonesborough, and it was during daylight ... winning!

It had spent the previous 6 months working helper duty in the WV coal fields, so when it finally got out of Bluefield and started working mixed freight through Knoxville I thought there might finally be a chance to see it. It was a bit of an anomaly in that it came into Knoxville as a 132 which would take it east through Asheville, but it got changed to an m32 and routed through Bristol because of track work ... Score!

I started tracking it through the fine folk on the Facing Book. The sky was cloudless which makes for tough picture taking, but you gotta shoot'em when they show up. It took the train nearly 8 hours to get from Knoxville to Jonesborough, which brought it into town in the late afternoon. The sun is rather low and the shadows are harsh so I needed to shoot from the north or west side so it wouldn't be backlit. At that time of day you get glare or shadows or both, pick your poison. A few clouds started forming throughout the day, but not enough to cut much of the glare.

The first picture is the 8103 having just crossed 3rd street west of Jonesborough. Whatever it's carrying (maybe zinc) is leaving an interesting fog.

The next three are the 8103 crossing 2nd street just east of the newly reconstructed SR Depot. A polarizer might have helped the glare but I couldn't afford to lose the one full stop of light.

 

  

The next one is the 8103 leaving downtown Johnson City. I intended to shoot closer to downtown to get the train in the shade and cut the glare but I couldn't get parked in the spot I wanted so I kept moving east and pulled over at Elm street where the passenger excursions pick up in JC. The glare was much worse than downtown but there was good light. That fog of material was blowing pretty good through town.

 

The last one shows 8103 dragging m32 across the Boone Lake (just a creek these days) bridge east of Bluff City. This one is particularly washed out because of the glare. A polarizer would have helped but I didn't get there with enough spare time to try it.

 

Now if the fine folk at Norfolk Southern would send the VGN through Jonesborough, leading of course, and the Erie and IT leading too ... that would be great.
__________________________________________

I've seen all 20 of the Heritage motors. (* leading)

#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   AD to DC Conversion