Clouds, Rain, Snow and mating worms on the Louisville District

[E.M. Bell]

Yall know that old saying about sometimes your the bug, and sometimes your the windshield? When it comes to railroad photography, that old saying is true, and this past Sunday the bug I was.  

After missing the NKP Heritage unit earlier in the week due to work, it looked like I might have a good chance to get it on Sunday (12/15/13) as it would be leading train 23G out of Louisville. The forecast was not all that encouraging, but Tyler and Gage joined Carmon and myself and we headed out anyway.  23G is usually a pretty reliable train, always getting out of Louisville around Noon...usually.

We departed from the Jreb World HQ around 0900 and made our way West, following the Louisville District and shooting a few trains. Along the way, we were treated to some of Tyler's outstanding impersonations, I managed to make my wife blush so many times her face matched her hair, Gage played the straight man...that seemed to ease the pain of to many GE's leading a never ending string of rack trains.  We met up with John Owens near Pope Lick to wait on 23G, and soon after got the word that the train would not be leaving Louisville until dark...not the news we wanted to hear.

With the news that our objective would not be obtained, we decided to call it a day early (not something I am known to do very often) and head for home. Later in the week (Thursday 12/19) we did manage to get the Penn Central 1073 as it lead a (on time) 23G East, and the sun even came out for that one!

Here are a few of those shots as seen from the bugs perspective...the whole set can be found in my Louisville District gallery on Pbase at this link >>  http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/ls13eb

12/15/13

A light mix of rain/snow is falling as Westbound 22A comes flying up the hill at the East end of the Waddy (KY) siding.


Tyler was on the fence for his shot of 22A at Waddy.


After 22A, we made our way back down the hill to get a 284, seen here passing the intermediate signals at Avenstoke KY.


Later in the afternoon, we set up for a shot of Eastbound 223 as it passed through the tight cut under the Gene Snyder Freeway just East of Louisville. I think this may be the first time I had ever shot at this location...and that is saying something!


NS 8115 leads 223 around the curves near Clarks Station, KY as the train climbed towards Veechdale. The train has been in emergency twice by the time I shot this (bad EOT) and while I took the chance the it might just do that again and shot from the wrong side of the tracks anyway, the other guys choose the "chicken" side, closer to the warm truck  Luckily for me, the train zipped right on by and I was able to avoid frostbite and what would have been a endless torrent of "I told you so" comments.  


Thursday 12/19 while at work, I got word that 23G had the PC unit leading. It had been in Louisville for a few days for a 92 day inspection, and no one was really expecting it to be out. Thanks to some great updates that afternoon, I got lucky and made it home from work just in time to pick up Carmon, grab the camera and get to the fence at Vanarsdale KY less than 5 minutes ahead of the train...and the sun even came out!  This was the first time in over a month that I had shot anything in the sun..