Yesterday, 11/8/14, TVRM ran their last "mainline" steam trip of the year. It was a rare doubleheader ran from TVRM in Chattanooga to Summerville, Georgia. Knowing I had a long journey ahead of me, my roommate and I left our dorm at 0230, ran over to Lexington Yard for a few quick pics of the Alaskan GP49s and off we went toward Chattanooga. We arrived in Sunbright, TN at 0530 to meet up with a couple friends and we convoyed down to Chatt where we met up with our "convoy leader" Peyton Gupton. At 0930, already having been up 24 hours, we caught our first glimpse of 4501 and 630.
From there, the chase was on... sort of. In Chattanooga and all the way through Rossville, chases and pacers ruled the 4 lane highway. Pacers were even pacing in the fast lane! Once out of Rossville, everybody went down the single lane road through Chickamauga, and we stuck to the highway, avoiding that mess they call foaming. After our overhead shot in Chickamauga, we headed over to Rock Springs where we waited for over an hour with 70 of our closest friends... and 1 who everybody agreed to hate for the rest of the day, but that's a story for another time.
After Rock Springs, we hit the obligatory shots at Lafayette, Oakton and Trion before settling on lunch in Summerville. On the northbound trip and with 630 leading, the shots were few and far between with little sunlight left in the day. After our shot at Trion and Lafayette, we headed toward Chickamauga. We should've known it was going to happen by standing on the other side of the road, but as 630 and 4501 came through the battlefield, so did the pacers. Needless to say they either didn't see us or didn't care. But, after 500+ miles, seeing friends new and old and having one hell of a day, the sky went dark and the steam disappeared in the sky to end our day.
Below are a few pictures from Saturday, you can see the rest of them plus more on my Flickr page >>http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=505704&nseq=0
Southern 4501 and Southern 630 pass the old factory in Rossville as they head for the beautiful countryside on the old C&C.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7511/15560257528_3f816c3696_c.jpg)
The doubleheader passes the abandoned house in Rock Springs on a beautiful fall day
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7520/15745673635_7bfc948395_c.jpg)
The doubleheader gets back underway as it crosses the Trion Trestle
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3942/15125724834_c49cc3dfbe_c.jpg)
Southern 630 leads 4501 and its load of passengers between Lafayette and Rock Springs
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3952/15560828230_2d6ff1bb39_c.jpg)
Gage... The shot at the old house in Rock Springs should be a calendar cover... It is my favorite... Thanks for takin the time to post these great shots...
leroy
Off subject, but I wish JREB had a like button for post and photos. Those are some very great shots !