The reports of rail traffic taking a huge jump up in the past months have been good news, and this past Saturday (03/12/11) we got a little taste of that surge. For the past Two or Three years, traffic has been way down due to the economy and several other factors, and as a result, NS (and most other carriers) have been storing power and rolling stock, and laying off T&E employees. Now that traffic is back up in a serious way, there just doesn't seem to be enough engines, or people to run them to move all the trains that need to run.
Carmon and myself left out early Saturday morning and headed South, mostly to shoot a Southbound 792 coal train with DPU's that was rolling past the house as we got out of bed. Those trains seem to be mostly nocturnal, and it was a good chance to get a few shots (We just don't see that much coal in these parts). The 792 had a pair of new GE ES44AC's on the head, plus two more on the bottom, and seemed to run like a scalded dog across the 2nd district We shot them at Bowen, and JUST beat them to Kings Mountain, and then it was off to the races to beat them South of Somerset.
After letting the coal train go at Keno, we started to head back North, and spent all afternoon shooting train after train after train between Tateville and Danville Ky. Besides what was running, we saw 3 or 4 trains tied down at Burnside and up near Danville, just sitting on the mainline with no crews to run them. The hotter stuff was running, and the not so hot stuff just had to sit and wait. By the time we made it back up North close to Danville, there where 4 more Southbounds ready to go, and we spent the end of the day camped out at Bowen for those to run.
In total, we shot 12 trains, and missed 4 or 5 more. It was great to be that busy again shooting, almost like it used to be!
I have uploaded 21 new images from the day to Pbase. Check this link for all the keepers.. http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nscs2eb11 (http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nscs2eb11)
Northbound NS 216 at Moreland KY..
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Falbum50%2Fns216_moreland_031211.sized.jpg&hash=0676ccce5bce5ae5322095f0d8521c830d2fd002)
Southbound NS 792 at Kings Mountain, KY
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Falbum50%2Fns792_kingsmnt_1_031211.sized.jpg&hash=711441c056fb493bcf76ed1e1c68c5d41645fa19)
792 again, near Keno KY
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Falbum50%2Fns792_keno_2_031211.sized.jpg&hash=915e61f5a6932c5bfd3601cbf4b68d76f3210231)
Northbound 224 at Southfork, late in the afternoon.
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Falbum50%2Fns224_southfork_1_031211.sized.jpg&hash=4e63873c2c570b37e90f97089511cd989765b9a9)
Carmon gets her shot of NS 295, as he passes the new signals at Milidgeville KY
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2Falbum50%2Fcarm_ns295_moreland_031211.sized.jpg&hash=d78b991f5f21c9589281c7891207679cbbea7bac)
Nice Shots!
Say. There's few people in the background of the King's Mountain shot down in the cut. Any ideas what's up there out of curiosity?
There was a group of atleast a dozen people down in there, filling bags and buckets with rock that had fell of the side of the cut. Looked like a bunch of city slickers with nothing else better to do than ruin my shot :)
The cut at King's Mountain looks like it could have been a two track ROW once upon a time. Has it always been single track?
Where as, the cut at Keno (3rd pic from the top) used to be single track until 2000 or so, when NS double tracked between Tateville and KD tower.
Quote from: NS O SCALER on March 14, 2011, 08:23:02 PM
Matt...the cut at Kings Mountain has always been single track. The Southern always made their cuts really wide, especially during the 61-64' relocation work. At one time, the SRR had given serious though to electrifying this line, so the reasons behind the generous cuts, and the overheight tunnels that remain on this line.
Aaah... thanks for the explanation. The Erie fan in me likes wide clearances.