Last Saturday morning ( 03/30/13 ) John Owens, Jacob Gwinn, Caleb Herndon and myself headed out early, and in a different direction than normal. John and Jacob had not spent much time on the 1st District of the CNO&TP North of Danville KY, so we headed that way with plans of shooting signals between High Bridge and Georgetown. I rarely go up that way myself, but this trip made the 2nd time in as many weeks that I would be on the 1st District.
The morning dawned with thick fog everywhere, and the further North we went, the thicker it got. By the time we reached the area between Wilmore and High Bridge the fog was so thick it was hard to see to even drive. I heard a few grumbles about the fact it was supposed to be a sunny day, but I was happy with the murky mess we found ourselves in!
We spent a couple of hours shooting trains in the fog at Wilmore and then down at the bridge before the sun finally started to burn the "ground clouds" off. We made our way as far North as Georgetown before we headed back South again, and would spend the afternoon shooting a bunch of trains on the 2nd District before ending the day with a few night shots of the signals at Junction City and North Wye.
Below are a few samples of the mornings catches, and I will share more of our day on the 2nd District later on. Be sure to check out the whole set of pictures at this link >> http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nscs113eb (http://www.pbase.com/kd4jsl/nscs113eb)
A Northbound manifest appears out of the fog, framed by the signal bridge at Wilmore KY
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2FBellpost13%2Fns116_wilmoreky_033013_1.sized.jpg&hash=20008e2d4963561b9f756b8286ebea7945edec0c)
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2FBellpost13%2Fns116_wilmoreky_033013_2.sized.jpg&hash=b77bfa5c82fde7f93d3cea3d57c8e853a701d2c8)
Northbound 216 rolls across the Kentucky River valley at High Bridge, almost invisible in the fog. Its amazing how fog can muffle the sound of a train, even rumbling across the 300 foot High bridge.
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2FBellpost13%2Fns216_highbridge_033013.sized.jpg&hash=8c31c300e53f173634a7a981ae6751eb4e700aba)
Less than 15 minutes after we had shot the 216, the fog was all but gone..just that quick. Train 142 follows 216 North across the bridge..
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2FBellpost13%2Fns142_highbridge_033013.sized.jpg&hash=81cbb70bc1d7680e0637208db8c1f13444928762)
After laying back for the pair of Northbounds seen above, train 117 gets on the move at CP High bridge with a solid set of EMD's for power.
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2FBellpost13%2Fns117_highbridge_033013.sized.jpg&hash=401c96207a7016807a98075fbbeb81b174b7f23b)
Our EMD luck continued later in the morning, as Southbound 295 rolled under the searchlights at Georgetown KY with a SD70M on the point.
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2FBellpost13%2Fns295_Gtown_033013_1.sized.jpg&hash=0766f45b36324bb88bf46ef1c318abb8cda6cb55)
A Trio of CN motors (with a SD75I leading) brings 75 loads of chicken feed South under the Buster Pike bridge at CP North Wye, just North of Danville KY.
(https://www.jreb.org/ns/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjreb.org%2Fv-web%2Fgallery%2Falbums%2FBellpost13%2FNS52D_northwye_033013.sized.jpg&hash=4c9d31297c8d2e3ef682bc692bb4f81bab957151)