NS F units on the CNO&TP & a unexpected 12 hour trip to TN

[E.M. Bell]

Back at the end of October, NS ran the usual Fall directors special from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Atlanta, Ga.  The plan for the train had been to run from Fort Wayne to Danville, Ky on Thursday and then Danville,KY to Atlanta on Friday,as they have done in years past.  I had a plan to shoot the train as it came into Danville, and then the the next day head down to Nemo, TN and shoot them popping out of the tunnel and crossing the Emory River bridge.....that plan was not to be.. 

The OCS made spectacular time out of Fort Wayne on Thursday the 29th, and arrived in Danville over 2 hours early.  I had gotten a shot of them at Burgin, then headed to Danville to meet up with Casey Thomason and Bryan Pleasant to finish out the day and grab some dinner.  As we stood there talking, the radio came alive...the Central Div Supt. tells the Dispatcher that since the train was SO early they would NOT lay over, but go on South to Chattanooga.  What followed was nothing short of a chaos as the yard master rounded up a fuel truck to get the power topped off (they had less than 250 gallons left in all 4) and the dispatcher (really taken by surprise ) had to part the waters to the South to get the train out of town.  It was all handled quickly and professionally and less than 20 mins later the OCS headed South.

After a quick confab about the change of plans, Casey, Bryan and myself changes our plans, combined vehicles and headed South as well.  We shot them crossing the Cumberland River Bridge at Burnside,then flat out hauled the mail to Nemo to set up Casey's lighting equipment for a shot of them at the tunnel.  Even after leaving Burnside ahead of the train and driving as fast as we could, we only beat the train to Nemo by about 10 mins (a 2 hour drive for us)...and by the time we got the shot, got everything put up and got to Harriman for a late dinner, the OCS was already tied up in Chattanooga.....now thats a good trip!  When I left home, I figured I would be back home in 2 or 3 hours......12 hours later I walked in the door..   

Here are my results from that unexpected trip, the full sized version are at this Link >>  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nsheritageocs2015


10/29/15

The sun came out at the right time as OCS 950 splits downtown Burgin,KY in half, horn tied down and making all of 60mph.


Easing by the signal at DV Tower,the North side of the yard at Danville, KY.  30 seconds after I shot this, our plans (and the rest of the RR for that matter) changed. 


Crossing the Cumberland River Bridge at Burnside, KY