Whose railroad is this anyway? Color in the snow on the CNO&TP

[E.M. Bell]

Saturday, Feb 8th, Carmon and myself decided to head out for a few hours just to get out of the house, and headed South in the direction of the snow. We knew the Conrail 8098 was leading a 891 empty coal train, and that became the target for the day (and I really have no excuse for that other than I needed an excuse to get out, and that seemed good enough)..   The area South of Danville, Ky has not gotten near the amount of snow that Central Ky has, so it seemed like a good idea. In the grand scheme of things, there was not much snow on the ground, but it was really flying, covering the roads and the tree's.  

Traffic on the CNO&TP that morning had been a bit light, but by the time we got down around Bowen several Southbounds where on the move.  It soon became clear that it was going to be a busy afternoon, and at One point it was hard to tell whose RR we were on.  My rather late  decision to head out caused us to miss that 891 at Bowen by less than a minute, but the CR was leading, so I wasnt to upset, and the next few trains more than made up for that!

You can check all of these images in original size, plus a lot more that you are not seeing here at this link>>>  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/2014rail_emb

The first train of the day was probably the best..  Southbound 167 has a great mix of power, with a KCS GE leading CN, UP and NS.  Here he is heading out onto single track at Bowen, Ky


"Everything but CSX, BNSF and the Kitchen sink" Southbound NS 167 grinds up the hill at Moreland KY with power from the KCS, CN, UP and NS...over half of the Class 1 railroads in a single shot. After a few years of not seeing much other than NS on NS, foreign power is on the increase again and scenes like this are more common than you might think...and for what its worth, the train behind this one had a CSX leader


Next up was NS 197...It takes guts to turn a train out of Danville with a single CSX GE toting a few Thousand tons of mixed freight on a wet, snowy day with a crew that had a little over 2 hours left to work.  NS 197 comes dragging up Moreland Hill at 7 or 8 mph with the wheels on the GE just a singing as they slipped on the sloppy rail.


"Ice and EMD's at Milidgeville" Train 275 with NS 2612 slogs up Moreland hill  with 10,000 + feet of loaded Autoracks wrapping around the curve. There was not a lot of snow on the ground South of Danville, but the ice in the tree's was thick in most places. The new signals here replaced a classic set of searchlights a few years ago, and I noticed that there are new foundations and other signs that even these fairly new Tri-lights are going to be replaced themselves in the near future.


Later than afternoon, we wandered back towards Danville, figuring on following that 891 coal train back towards home..that was the plan anyway. That train seems to have the worst luck of anything that regularly runs around here, and this version was no different. They had limped into Danville with engine problems, and would spend the rest of the day in the yard. After fueling and getting a 1000 mile brake test, they had to set out 5 bad orders from various places in the train. After that was done, they lost the DP link and had to fix that...and then they had to add lube oil to the 8098 and then water to One of the DP's.  By the time that was all done, the crew was short on time and it would sit there until almost dark...oh well.  Here is the fairly clean 8098 sitting next to a SD60 (with a droopy horse) on train 276 at Danville, Ky.


The TD-03 yard job works the West side at Danville with a SD40-2 / GP38-2 combo.


On the way back home, we ran out by the wye to shoot Northbound Triplecrown 264. Here he is rolling under the signals at SJ Tower (just North of Danville) as the propane trucks heads back the service road  to refill the tanks for the switch heaters.


"The best of both worlds" In the big picture of things, both the Railroads and the trucking companies each have the own niche markets, where one is better suited to serve than the other. NS & Triplecrown seems to be the only companies to have combined that into One, and made the best of both. A lot of others tried to compete with roadrailer service over the years, but now seeing the rear end of a truck trailer (complete with a TN plate) perched on a set of rail wheels is uniquely Norfolk Southern. NS 264 crosses over at North Wye, near Danville KY


And a bonus shot from Thursday the 13th. It always pays to keep your camera with you..most days I tote that 50lb bag to work and back for no good reason, and then some days it is worth the effort. I bagged this shot on the way home from work that afternoon... The sun is out, the ice on the pond is getting thin and the snow melting as train 111 rolls along the tangent between Vanarsdale and Talmage, KY. A pair of spartan cab SD70's dragging a bunch of dead GE's is always a good way to end a long day.

[blacksheep]

An owner/operator needed sign on back of a train!  Thought about gettin a ole SW1 and callin them but then I figured the EPA would shut me down. I'd have to get something with EGR coolers and a million dollars worth of computers.

[NSMoWandS]

All in all some nice pics! Like the one with 4 different units! DE Dan

[dschlegel]

That shot of the 70's dragging the GE's is my favorite, but all are fantastic!
PA Dan