Weekend Report: Triumphant return to the Mid-Atlantic Region.

[Hoydie17]

--The photos to go along with this story are featured on my website.     http://www.hoydie17.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=14--

As some are aware, my prospects of getting settled in as a train dispatcher for RailAmerica went South with little warning.  The fact that I was never able to secure a permanent position as a DS is directly related to the buyout of RailAmerica by Fortress Investments of NY.   

In a nutshell it boils down to money issues, they were never able to secure the funds to hire me on to the staff full time, at least not with reasonable assurances that the job would exist for the long term.    The job security just didn't seem to promising, and my fears were justified with the announced sale of R/A last week. 

On the bright side, I did get to learn a great deal about train dispatching and railroad operations, gotta take a positive away from a handful of negatives.

So about two weeks ago, I made the decision to relocate back to the Northern Virginia area, specifically Manassas and seek a job working in the intelligence business.   I have received an offer from Northrop Grumman, but due to the nature of the assignment I cannot discuss the details of the position or it's duties. 
__________________________________________________________________________________

With that said, I spent the last few days doing some hard-core foamin' in the Mid-Atlantic area.   CSX's major North South corridor has suffered a serious setback with the loss of the Anacostia Bridge in DC.  The bridge is of the early 70's design typical of the PENNSY/CONRAIL days, and when coupled up with CSX's ever popular "deferred maintenance" program it was bound to happen eventually.

Trains that would generally find themselves routed along the former RF&P (Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac) Railroad are now being rerouted in very circuitous routes using the former Chesapeake & Ohio, as well as the Western Maryland.  Many trains are also finding their way over NS rails by way of the N&W to Front Royal, VA and then down the NS B-Line to Manassas.   Once in Manassas, they continue South to Lynchburg and make the turn West towards Collier where they return to CSX tracks. 

One particular train that was all the rave on Thursday was the NS 106, a reroute designation for CSX's R416-15.   This train featured a pair of CSX SD80MACs (808 & 800) leading on foreign rails.   Most railfans realize the significance of this as the old CONRAIL 80MACs NEVER leave CSX rails.  Or if they do, it's for a matter of hours before they get turned around to return to home property.   The NS 80MACs are even more restricted as they operate almost exclusively on the South Fork Secondary near Altoona or the Shelocta Branch near Pittsburgh, and rarely make it anywhere else on the NS system. 

After a rather exciting hockey game featuring the Boston Bruins visiting (and beating in a shootout) the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center, I arrived home just in time to catch AFM online who advised me that 800 and 808 had found their way onto R41615 out of North Carolina.  Word on the street was that it would end up coming West on the N&W and probably up the old Southern Mainline into Manassas and beyond.

--The photos to go along with this story are featured on my website.     http://www.hoydie17.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=14--

I resolved to rise early Thursday and see if I could catch up to them as they came into Manassas and chase them until it was light enough to shoot them.  As I awoke to see the alarm clock telling me it was almost 1000, I shouted a few choice words at the always too convenient SNOOZE button.  I made a move downstairs to check e-mail and see if anything had changed in their status, and of course I left my cellphone up in the top level of the house. 

Nothing really jumped out at me regarding the NS 106 (R41615) and I'd assumed that they were either already through Manassas in darkness, therefore well ahead of me, or they had gone a different route altogether.  I decided to IM a friend of mine down South and ask him if he could check the NS confusers for me.  Much to my surprise, the train had not yet arrived in Manassas, but it was approaching quickly, and had OS'd Calverton about 20 minutes before.  As I bid my comrade in the South adieux, I went up to the middle floor to fix a drink.  My assumption was that 106 would be stopping in Bristow for a crew change, so I guessed that I had plenty of time to saddle up.

*beep*  *beep*

The faint beep of my cell phone advising me that I'd missed a phone call in the ten minutes since I'd been downstairs caught my attention.  I went upstairs and it was none other than BGA advising me that the train was approaching Manassas (yep, knew that) and that it had actually changed crews in Culpeper.  (DID NOT know that.)  $&@#**$%&#! train is going to get the jump on me!!!!

So as I stub my toes on every vertical object sticking out of the floor, and hobble around looking for my pants, while trying to pack up the laptop for the GPS and figure out where my memory cards are, while eating my now adhoc continental breakfast, and well you get the picture. 

I stumble out the door locking up and jump in the truck tuning radios and hooking up power to the computer, only to hear a horn at the grade crossing about 1/4 mile from my house.  SHIT!  Morning traffic in Manassas is not traffic to be reckoned with like it was only a few years ago, especially with construction on VA 28 South of Manassas Junction.   

--The photos to go along with this story are featured on my website.     http://www.hoydie17.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=14--

I get out of the community and arrive at the grade crossing to see the gates going up, and the EOT hanging off the back of a old Railbox boxcar.  (That's gotta be him.)  So now the desperate battle to get through all the intersections and residential areas was all that was stopping me from getting ahead of 106.  At one point I got stopped at a red light just long enough to watch 3 lumbering dump trucks pull out in front of me on the road I needed to follow.  DAMN!!!  When engaged in a chase, you're always thinking about how fast the train is probably moving, where the next grade crossing is, is it smarter to get on the near-side of the crossing or is the angle better from the opposing side of the crossing. 

As I rocketed up 234 heading for I66, I look to the West on the B-line and there's that cursed Railbox about a mile ahead, once on I66 I became confident that I was going to overtake the 808.  I finally did and I got my first photo just outside of Gainesville, typical D-squared style grade crossing wedgie.  OH, and did I mention, it's POURING RAIN!  Naturally it's cloudy, wet, and just outright dreary.

At this point I started getting ahead of him a little more consistently, as he started rounding the massive s-curves in this part of the former Manassas Gap Railroad between Marshall and Linden.  This allowed me a little more choice of shots and angles, of course the whole way I'm fighting for a cell phone signal so I can keep BGA informed of the train's whereabouts.  AFM was still in transit from home near Baltimore over to a location to get a shot on the H-line between Riverton and Hagerstown.  Multi-tasking baby!!! Yeah! 

106 met 228 at Allison, and then was planned to meet 211 at Woods/Cody.  This gave me the opportunity after shooting at the S-curve in Delaplane to head up to Boyce and wait him out.  While there, I saw 211 coming South and the Northbound 227 with a nice pair of NS GEVOs leading.  Of course I passed a false alarm to AFM thinking that the train I heard approaching me was actually 106.  I hadn't heard the DS telling 106 the first time to wait for 211 to arrive at Woods.  I didn't find out what was going on until I heard the DS talking to 38Q telling him that he was going ahead of 106 who was waiting at Woods for the 211 he was meeting at Audley.

I decided to catch up to AFM at Berryville, where we waited and saw 38Q head North with an NS Deuce leading.  All the while we kept watching the sun play it's little game of hide and seek thinking, "Right as those damn MACs get here the sun will come out and backlight the hell out of them."  Alas the sun held off, wait, since when is that a good thing?  (See previous quote.)

We arrived in Vardo Yard about 30 minutes before 106, by now the clouds were clearly starting to recede and break up, and we thought briefly that we might get some good lighting at least from a broadside perspective.  Nope, not this time, so after he passed us there, we rolled over to the CSX yard and awaited the train's arrival.  Took a shot or two there and confirmed that the crew to Cumberland was called for 1650.  We then made a trek to the West end of the yard where the off-going crew unknowingly blessed us by parking the train just within our reach.  And Mother Nature finally gave us a little bit of love by letting the sun out for the last 45 minutes of the day basking R41615 in the nice golden glow of the setting sun.  JJ met us at this point and even managed to get a shot or two of his own.

--The photos to go along with this story are featured on my website.     http://www.hoydie17.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=14--

As we departed the CSX Hagerstown Yard, the Hanover Local (D795) was just coming into the yard to tie down.   The conductor waved at us as he rode the steps to a switch and stepped off when the train stopped.  I saw the sun reflecting off the side of the power and decided to take one last shot to cap off the day. 

From there we retired to Pizza Hut to celebrate a successful MAC hunt, make up for a day without eating, and enjoy some general shop talk.  Hell of a trip, hell of a trip, especially considering I hadn't planned on going any farther than Front Royal when I left Manassas.

On Saturday, I met up with a good friend, Jim Johnston (JJ) and Dan Putz (DP), and we took a few varying shots of trains along NS rails.  Of particular interest at this point are all the re-routed CSX trains running along the N&W, B-Line and of course the Southern.  So it's pretty common now to find railfans hanging out near the common photo spots that show tell-tale signs of the N&W, Southern or the B-line.   We were no exception as we chose Riverton Junction to await the arrival of Southbound R171 (NS105).  Riverton Junction is where the B-line and N&W come together.  The B-line was formerly known as the Manassas Gap Railway a small shortline that provided interchange service between the N&W and Southern.

After we shot this train, we booked back to Berryville with the dying sunlight and awaited two Southbound NS freights that were departing Vardo Yard in Hagerstown on each other's heels.   These trains were 11R and 203, the latter being the hottest train on this part of the NS system. 

Right on the 203's heels was 11R advancing on approach signals.  This time with a Pumpkin leading. 

On Sunday, it was a rather gloomy day, and I had planned to meet with a friend in Alexandria and take the day to go to Richmond, VA and explore the area a little bit.  Well as luck would have it, on the way to Alexandria at 0430 or so, I struck a deer on Prince William Parkway.   This is my 2nd deer of the year, but I'd have much rather gotten this gal with my rifle like I did the first one.   Anyways, she did a hell of a number on the front end of my Colorado.   As a result of this we chose to stay relatively local and railfan the N&W once again.  Ultimately we ended up at Shenandoah Junction, WV and watching  a somewhat steady stream of CSX freights pass on the former B&O, now the CSX Cumberland Subdivision.   NS threw a couple of trains in to make it a little busier, came very close to having the "over-under" photo that everyone prizes so much there, but alas it was not to be. 

CSX Q398 featured CSXT 811 and 808 leading East, so for the 2nd time this weekend I managed to catch 80MACs leading something other than a Popes Creek Coal train.  811 is one of the three remaining 80MACs still in CONRAIL paint on the CSX roster, the others are 805 and 807. 

--The photos to go along with this story are featured on my website.     http://www.hoydie17.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=14--

[E.M. Bell]

Excellent set of pics SH, even if it IS CSX power. Whats the story on that bridge that caused these reroutes, and how long should they last?