Tag Archives: #Middle Division

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Heritage Surprise on the Middle Division

Among the trains we photographed on Norfolk Southern’s Pittsburgh Line (the old PRR Middle Division) at Cove, Pennsylvania was this eastward double-stack train.

A few minutes earlier I’d switched on my venerable scanner and heard the train calling signals, which had alerted us to its relative proximity.

Kris and I had just caught a westward train (featured a few days ago on Tracking the Light) and as its last empty container flats were gliding by, the headlights of the eastward train came into view.

The third unit on the train was Norfolk Southern’s SD70ACe 1072 painted for the Illinois Terminal—one of many consituent railroads represented in the NS fleet by ‘heritage’ paint schemes.

It was neat to see it roll by, although after week/months of hard service it seemed that it could benefit a trip through the washer.

Photos exposed using Nikon Z-series mirrorless digital cameras.

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Coal Train in the Rain

Kris, Seamus-the-Dog and I had spent a productive afternoon along the old PRR Middle Division. It was bright and sunny when we arrived, but thunderstorms had blown in from the west. What started as a sprinkle had rapidly turned into a raging Monsoon.

Looming out the deluge at Thomsontown, Pa., was this eastward Norfolk Southern loaded unit coal train.

I set the camera shutter to a 1/8000th of second to freeze the rain drops.

The rain had falling so heavily that we were beginning to worry about the highway flooding.

Although we took a slightly circuitous route we ended up following the train east to the famed Rockville Bridge. Stay tuned for more!

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Freights rolling with backdrop of Tuscarora Ridge

The central Pennsylvanian setting near the village of Mexico offers a classic view looking east toward the Tuscarora Ridge, which can be photographed from a variety of angles.

In my earlier posts, I pictured Norfolk Southern freights from the north side of the Underpass Road grade crossing.

As the light changed and thunderstorms approached from the West, Kris and I took positions on the south side of the grade crossing. It began to rain lightly (but heavier rain was coming!)

A westward empty coal train rolled by. This was exceptionally long and featured a mid-train DPU (radio remote controlled locomotives working as ‘distributed power units’).

Not long after this train had gone, an east ward train could be heard. This was slowing for an ‘approach’ aspect. Its relatively casually speed made it easy to photograph. At the back was a single EMD diesel working as a DPU.

These photos were made with my pair of Nikon Z-series mirror-less digital cameras.

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Norfolk Southern at Mexico, Pennsylvania.

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No, we are not ‘south of the border.’

This is a location along Norfolk Southern’s old Pennsylvania Railroad Middle Division west of Harrisburg between Thompsontown and Mifflin.

A couple of weeks ago, Pat Yough and I were re-exploring this busy route and these images were among my views from that effort.

Here are three photos from a sequence that I made of Norfolk Southern symbol freight 21A as it approached the grade crossing at Mexico.

Image 1: Norfolk Southern 21A roars west at Mexico, Pennsylvania. Exposed using a FujiFilm X-T1 with 90mm f2.0 telephoto lens.

Image 2: A slightly closer view of Norfolk Southern 21A  at Mexico, Pennsylvania. Exposed using a FujiFilm X-T1 with 90mm f2.0 telephoto lens.

Image 3: Closest of three views of Norfolk Southern 21A  at Mexico, Pennsylvania. Exposed using a FujiFilm X-T1 with 90mm f2.0 telephoto lens.

Which of these do you like best?

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