Tag Archives: #Coal train

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Snaking Through the Canisteo

April 16, 1989, was a busy day on the former Erie Railroad.

It was another of my epic trips photographing the Erie that began before dawn.

Among the trains I photographed that day was an eastbound Delaware & Hudson PLMT (Pittsburgh & Lake Erie–Mount Tom, Massachusetts) unit coal train running via trackage rights on the line then owned by Conrail.

At the time, D&H was being operated by the New York, Susquehanna & Western and was short on motive power. This coal train was underpowered and moving at less than track speed. Leading the consist was former Reading Company GP39-2 No. 7410, still wearing Reading paint. Other locomotives in the consist had been borrowed from Bangor & Aroostook and leased GATX unit (in Chessie System paint). Fifth in line was a NYS&W SD45, still in the Cascade green and white of its former owner, Burlington Northern.

I had been following this train for miles through New York’s Canisteo Valley in my Toyota Corolla. Near West Cameron, I hastily parked and ran through a farmer’s field to capture a series of photos as the train passed from across the river.

On my way back to the car, the farmer stopped to chat. “I don’t mind you walking through my field, but I thought you ought to know that I killed six rattlesnakes there the other day.”

At the time, I wasn’t sure whether he was joking, trying to rattle me, or serious. A couple of weeks later, however, I was walking the line about a mile to the west when I spotted a rattlesnake lying near the rail. As I passed, the “snake” slithered off in three different directions—each with its own distinct rattle.

That’s the old Erie for you!

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Success at Safe Harbor

Persistence. Patience. Planning. (And an understanding wife!)

For more than two years, I’ve been trying to photograph an eastward train on the Port Road Secondary from the Enola Low Grade Trail at Safe Harbor.

I’ve made at least 30 visits to Safe Harbor. I’ve climbed the steps to the trail no less than a dozen times.

While I’ve caught a westward train from a perch on the old Low Grade; and I’ve made a nocturnal sequence of a coal train from below the Low Grade trestle, my vision of catching a eastward train had from the bridge had thus far remained elusive.

My friend Dan Cupper had shown me his version of a Norfolk Southern train here, and in scouring the archives at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania I found Kodachrome views of PRR electrics by the late James P. Schuman, which inspired my persistence.

My-wife-Kris, Seamus-the-Dog, and I live just 15 minutes from the bridge.

The other evening, Kris and I were on our evening drive. My thoughts of exploring Marietta were foiled by a serious automobile accident at the intersection of PA Routes 772 and 441 that detoured us eastward. So instead we drove to Columbia, and continued on toward Washington Boro, as we have done countless times in darkness.

At Washington Boro the signals displayed ‘clear’ for an eastward movement. There was still an hour’s daylight in the sky.

“This is my best shot at Safe Harbor.”

Patience paid off.

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Coal Train at Hatzenport

September 5, 2015.

We were driving around Germany’s Mosel Valley looking for vistas with the railroad.

In a vineyard above the village of Hatzenport, we paused to take in this view. About every two hours a pair of Class 151 electrics would come along leading a loaded coal train.

Our timing was good and I made this view of the heavy train snaking through the village using my FujiFilm XT1.

Below are three variations of the same file.

Fuji RAF file converted to Jpg without cosmetic change.
Greatly enlarged portion of the above image (RAF without conversion).
Fuji RAF file converted to DNG using PureRaw to correct for lens defects and demosiac the file, then imported to Lightroom and scaled as a Jpg without cosmetic changes.
Same DNG with changes to color, contrast ,and sharpness implemented in Lightroom and then scaled as a Jpg .
Greatly enlarged portion of the above conversion.

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Washington Boro, Again

Kris suggested we make a foray to look for a freight train. So, we were driving around in the darkness near Columbia. During our last few visits to the Port Road Branch we’ve found Norfolk Southern trains on the move between 9:30 and 10:30pm.

I investigated a few places to make night photos near Marietta. Not one to my liking. And then I thought I heard a distant whistle.

Sometimes its best to go with what you know. So we drove back to the intermediate signals at Washington Boro, Pa. These offer a sense of place, provide added railroad interest, and give us a clear signal (literally and metaphorically) that a train is coming.

“Yellow-over-Green”—Approach Medium. Our train was lined.

I set up my 3Pod tripod and made a few test photos. Off in the distance I could hear the roar of heavy freight cars rolling along the Susquehanna.

For almost 20 minutes we listened to the train gradually getting closer. Sometimes there was a whistle for a crossing, but mostly just the clattering of heavy freight cars. I knew this was going to be a huge train.

Finally, the headlights came into view. The headend roared by the signals at about 20mph. It was a symbol 594 (of the 25th), a Natural Resources (former Consol Energy) Bailey Mine to Baltimore unit coal train. I counted more than 100 cars, and then a two unit DPU, which included the Virginian heritage unit in the tradtional navy and yellow paint. By the time the last coal car cleared, I’d counted a total of 212 cars!

These photos were made with my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm Nikkor Z-series zoom. Iso set to 25000. NEF RAW files were processed using PureRaw to demosiac and correct for lens defect and finally create a DNG file. I then processed this file using Lightroom to lighten shadows, correct color balance, and a variety of other small adjustments.

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Photo: RWE 564 reversing w tree branches

Sometimes a descriptive file name isn’t very helpful.

I made this photo on a visit to the coal fields west of Köln, Germany on September 2, 2013.

The metadata reads: Canon EOS7D, EF28-135mm, 75mm, f7.1 1/500 ISO 200.

The branches make the picture.

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Conrail Heritage Unit on the Move!

We were at the right place at the right time.

As Norfolk Southern’s unit coal train 632 rolled through Sunbury, Pa., on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Northern Central route, Kris and I chased along on the parallel Rt 147.

On the way north we’d spotted several open locations right off the road. By the time we reached the south side of Sunbury, we were already a couple of minutes ahead of the train, so we pulled off the road near mile post 260.

While I was surprised to catch a coal train on the move, and delighted to have stumbled into NS’s one-of-a-kind Conrail heritage unit No. 8098, I didn’t realise how infrequently Clearfield-originated coal trains are these days.

At milepost 260, I aimed to make some representative photos of the locomotive in nice light. At our next location about 17 miles further down the line, I hoped to make the most of the sweeping curve that Kris and I spotted on our drive northward earlier in the day.

We timed the exercise well and had time to make nice sequences at both locations. Special thanks to Dan Cupper for operational details on the coal train!

Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Classic 3/4 view. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Classic 3/4 view. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Classic 3/4 view. Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens near milepost 260, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens near Dalmatia, Pennsylvania, February 2024. This is an old school coal train. Check out the steel hoppers with uneven loads. It was like stepping back a quarter century!
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens near Dalmatia, Pennsylvania, February 2024. This is an old school coal train. Check out the steel hoppers with uneven loads. It was like stepping back a quarter century!
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens near Dalmatia, Pennsylvania, February 2024. This is an old school coal train. Check out the steel hoppers with uneven loads. It was like stepping back a quarter century!
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens, NS 632 crossing Mahantango Creek near Dalmatia, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens, NS 632 crossing Mahantango Creek near Dalmatia, Pennsylvania, February 2024.
Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens, NS 632 crossing Mahantango Creek near Dalmatia, Pennsylvania, February 2024.

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Norfolk Southern’s Royalton Branch

This is a follow up to Thursday’s post. After photographing coal empties on the Port Road at Washington Boro, PA, I followed the train by traveling compass northwest on highway 441.

Norfolk Southern’s Royalton Branch is a former Pennsylvania Railroad line, once electrified, that allows an alternated routing through the Harrisburg area for freights using the Port Road.

Beyond Marietta railroad routes divide, with one line crossing the Susquehanna River via the Shocks Mills bridge to reach Enola Yard. The Royalton Branch runs toward Harrisburg on the east bank of the river.

I’m just learning this territory, so as of now, I’m not completely fluent as the modern names for the junctions and timetable directions of the tracks. However, I know that trains have a choice of routings, so last week I took a chance that the coal empties would run via the Royalton Branch. Previously, I’d scoped out a location near Middletown not far from the famous Three Mile Island.

Fortune favored me, and I arrived with ample time to set up and change lenses. Instead of my 70-200mm Z-series zoom, I was traveling with my 1980s-era Nikkor f2.8 180mm ED fixed focal length manual focus telephoto, which attaches to my Z-series mirrorless cameras using an adaptor.

This is a traditional piece of glass and offers a classic quality, especially when used wide open (f2.8). However, its tricky to set the focus while trying to expose manually.

I made a series of photos with my Nikon Z6 and 180mm and a frame with my Lumix LX7.

NS coal empties at Royalton, PA. Exposed with a Nikon Z6 with Nikkor f2.8 180mm ED fixed telephoto.
NS coal empties at Royalton, PA. Exposed with a Nikon Z6 with Nikkor f2.8 180mm ED fixed telephoto.
Lumix LX7 photo at milepost 11 in Royalton, PA.

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NS Coal Empties on the Port Road Branch

Over the course of recent weeks, Kris and I have explored locations on the Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch. This is a portion of former Pennsylvania Railroad that follows the Susquehanna River between the Harrisburg area and a connection with the Northeast Corridor at Perryville, Maryland.

PRR electrified the route in the 1930s, and it handled electrically powered freights until the Conrail era. The old electric catenary supports are evidence of this by-gone era. It has been more than 40 years since electric operations ended on this portion of the former Conrail system.

Daylight freight moves on the Port Road seem to be relatively rare, owing to an Amtrak daytime curfew on the Northeast Corridor route.

Last week, I left Lancaster very early and made my way to Columbia, PA where I picked up the Norfolk Southern Port Road line. In the morning glow, I found that home signal was lit ‘clear’ for a train movement toward Harrisburg. Expecting a train, I proceeded against it on the parallel highway to Washington Boro, PA, where I scoped a suitable location near a local park.

I waited for a few minutes, and soon heard the approaching freight.

I set up with my Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens and exposed this sequence of an NS empty coal train rolling up river.

Since the train wasn’t moving more than about 25 mph, I followed it along the adjacent highway. Stay tuned for more!

Former Pennsylvania Railroad electrified line at Columbia, PA. A high dew point made it difficult to keep the front element of my lens from misting over.
In many places the road, the railroad and the Susquehanna River run adjacent to one another. The classic catenary supports visually identify the line as the former Pennsylvania Railroad.
After just a short wait, this Norfolk Southern empty coal train came into view at Washington Boro, PA.
Soft morning light on the coal train made for a classic view.
This wideangle photo is at the same location in Washington Boro.
Trailing view at Washington Boro, PA.
View of the hoppers from Washington Boro Park rolling along from the opposite side of Highway 441.

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Strawberry Ridge Coal Train at Tyrone

Twenty two years ago, photographer Mike Gardner and I made a project of photographing Norfolk Southern coal trains that served the Strawberry Ridge power plant in central Pennsylvania.

On this day, we followed a loaded train from Gallitzin toward Northumberland. It was misty and heavily overcast.

At Tyrone, the train diverged from the Main Line onto the former Pennsylvania Railroad Bald Eagle Branch, a line maintained in part by short line Nitany and Bald Eagle.

Mike and I set up on Washington Street in Tyrone, where the Bald Eagle branch came right up the middle of the street.

I made this photograph on Ilford HP using a Nikon N90S with Tokina 400mm lens. My goal was to accentuate the unusual trackage with a big train.

This would be a neat place to feature on a model railroad.

Bald Eagle Branch at Tyrone, PA, March 2001. Ilford HP5 with Nikon N90S and 400mm lens.

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Coal Hoppers at Horseshoe Curve

In this November 2021 view at the World Famous Horse Shoe Curve west of Altoona, Pennsylvania, I pictured in classic fashion, a westward hopper train (empty coal train) climbing the Main Line toward Gallitzin.

Eighty-one years ago, we might have seen an equivalent scene with a pair of PRR L1s Mikados. Where Norfolk Southern has hundreds of GE Dash 9s, PRR had more than 500 2-8-2s.

I wonder what will be leading freights on the Curve in 2102?

Exposed digitally using a Nikon Z6 with 24-70mm lens.

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Coal Train at Cassandra

Standing at the Railfan’s Overlook at Cassandra, Pennsylvania we could hear a heavy eastward train climbing the West Slope on Norfolk Southern’s former Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line.

Kris and I had arrived at this famous photo location on our drive east from Illinois last month. It was Kris’s first time at Cassandra, and my first visit here in more than a decade.

Finally after several minutes a headlight appeared on the long tangent looking west toward Johnstown. A slow-moving loaded unit coal train was clawing up grade towards us.

As the train approached and passed us, I made this series of photos using my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera fitted with a Z-series f2.8 70-200mm zoom lens. A pair of NS SD70ACUs were working at the back of the train.

Looking east at Cassandra as the helpers shove at the back of the eastward loaded coal train.

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Drama on Donner!

In March 1991, I exposed this view of a Southern Pacific coal train ascending Donner Pass.

Working with my Nikon F3T and Nikkor f4.0 200mm lens, I focused on the loaded hoppers of the coal train as diesel exhaust poured forth from tunnel 8 on Donner Pass.

SP’s SNTA-C (Skyline Mine to Trona-coal) had been routed over Donner Pass via Track 1. This was the historic 1860s alignment that involved a difficult sinuous climb around the north face of Mount Judah.

Backlighting aided capturing this contrasty scene, that I preserved on Kodachrome 25 color slide film.

In 1993, SP lifted Track 1 over Donner Pass (between Shed 47 and Norden), opting to route all traffic on its newer alignment on Track 2 via Tunnel 41.

I’ll be featuring SP and Donner Pass in my September 2021 Trains Magazine column that looks back at Southern Pacific 25 years after its merger with Union Pacific.

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Classic Chrome Color COrrection—Coal Train at Galena, Illinois.

On August 13, 1994, I traveled with Mike Danneman to the Mississippi River. At East Dubuque, Illinois we caught up with a Chicago Central & Pacific coal train working eastbound on the old Illinois Central.

Mike was familiar with the territory and after making a few photos on the joint Burlington Northern-CC&P line, we drove to Galena to catch the train working up grade out of the Mississippi Valley.

The weather was less than ideal; a ‘heavy’ summer’ afternoon—hot humid and overcast.

Working with my Nikon F3T and f4 200mm lens, I made this view of the train crawling by the old Illinois Central station.

As previously described on Tracking the Light, Kodachrome 25 slide film had a cyan to red color bias (cyan when fresh, red when aged).

To correct for the cyan tint and adjust contrast, I imported the scan into Adobe Lightroom for a few nominal corrections. Below are scaled Jpgs from both the uncorrected and corrected files.

Unadjusted scan, scaled for internet.
Scan after modification with Adobe Lightroom and scaled for internet.
Lightroom work window showing adjustment sliders at right.

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