Tag Archives: #Freight train

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One Wicked Westbound With a Wild Selection of Cars.

We had heard this freight climbing the grade on ascent of Horseshoe Curve as we were walking the steps up from the visitors center.

This Norfolk Southern carload train crawled into view just a few minutes after we reached the plateau where the park is perched.

Two modern GE diesels labored in full-throttle as the heavy train squealed through the curves offering pure entertainment to the host of visitors.

Immediately behind the locomotives was an unusual load riding on a rare 12-axle flatcar. This extremely heavy cylindrical body was described to me as powerplant generator rotor. I photographed a myriad selection of other cars on the train, including a selection of lime green Amtrak balast hoppers. At the back of the train were more multi-axle flats and an very unusual large blue caboose.

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Norfolk Southern Classic

In a gentle curve, under an azure dome and against a backdrop of rusty autumn leaves, an intermodal train races west on Norfolk Southern’s ‘three main track’ —former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline at Cassandra, Pa.

The sun was over my right shoulder at an angle low enough to capture truck detail, but high enough to allow for a full-daylight exposure.

The zoom on my Nikon was set to 46mm, which nearly matches the field of vision of the avarage human eye.

This is nearly a perfect of image of modern freight railroading today. There were no complications caused by wayward clouds, rampaging graffiti artists, or unsightly shadows from random wires.

It was all good and preserved for posterity.

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Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Good Luck! Bad Luck. . . Rockville Bridge

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The famous Pennsylvania Railroad Rockville Bridge across the Susquehanna River is about an hour from our new home.

Saturday afternoon was clear and bright, so Kris and I made the short foray over to Harrisburg and north along the west bank of the river.

Thanks to our smart phones, navigating the turns off Interstate 81 and over to the bridge is now a relatively easy task. Back in the days of paper maps this had been a real challenge, because you have to make something like a double reverse figure eight up and over to get to the bridge.

Anyway, we arrived at the boat launch near the western piers of the great bridge, and within 30 seconds we heard a westbound Norfolk Southern freight coming. ‘Wow what perfect timing!’ I delighted at our good luck. A westbound in perfect light, and no waiting!

I reached for my Nikon Z6 with 70-200mm lens. Unfortunately, I discovered that the switch was already in the ‘on’ position, and found that I’d forgotten to turn the camera off after the previous evening’s photography. The batteries were flat. No electricity, no photos.

‘Oh no . . .but wait!’

As the train got closer, I reached for my Nikon Z7-II with 24-70mm lens.

It always helps to have a back up camera!

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