Spent a day with Billy Worsham Saturday before last. We travelled from Knoxville over to Harriman on the first leg of a triangle. The 2nd leg was following the CNO&TP south to Debutts Yard in Chattanooga. The third leg chasing back up the A Line to Boyd near Knoxville. From before dawn until after dark.
Five trains at Oakdale, four of which were southbounds, gave up hope for a good day. Our first accomplishment was just missing a Triple Crown between Rockwood and Harriman. My first time ever seeing one but didn't get any shots. We caught a northbound intermodal at Spring City and a southbound manifest and just missed one other northbound as we shifted locations. Amazing how you can miss a train even with a scanner, defect detectors, track charts and signals. Takes skill !
Things really became a blur as we approached Chattanooga. I had spent the very early morning listening to dispatch in Knoxville talk to several trains on Sevier yard. Between that and the traffic we heard on the CNO&TP, I could've easily jotted down 25 different train symbols. I had never seen anything like it in my 13 months of train chasing.....haha
My first time along the 3rd district and my first time really spending any time on the CNO&TP at all. Found a few decent spots but it seems most of the bridges worth shooting weren't accessible. Ran into Scott Coffee at his cliff by Debutts yard -- very nice guy and a great location. Great views of the yard there even if I did miss a great shot of a southbound train passing the cantilever signal there.
We then followed back up along the A line toward Knoxville. Should've just taken more time in Chattanooga because we only found one train, westbound 135 with a BNSF loco in the lead.
It was a fun trip. I drove and Billy navigated based on some pages he'd put together the night before. Worked quite well even if we didn't really know the good spots to shoot from. Kudos to Mr. Worsham. Anyone who can put up with me for 12 hours straight is a good man.
Still working on some captions but here's the better half of the pics from the day:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ssmith1627/Nov2009TrainChase#
Steve
8) Great pics Steve! I'm glad you got back to your old stomping grounds.
Also, thanks for the titles.
It was perfect weather and we had tons of trains. Lots of fun. I sure do miss being away from main line traffic !
Steve
8) ...I do too...
Not to put all the work on others, but I can be content with online-railfanning.
Videos, pics, my Auran TrainzRailroad Simulator, TrainDispatcher, ATCSMon, online radio scanning, webcams, personal book collections, videos, rail excursions, plus occasional trips off this plateau limits the danger of getting in the way ::)
I lived beside the CSX A-Line in Carters(K-Ville), Florida for several years with a scanner antenna 20ft tall that could hear everything for 50 miles, plus a darned good model-railroad. Things have changed over time, but I have found new adventures to add to old memories.
Stay active!
I have added comments for captions for Steve's pictures, for those of you who wish to see what some of the locations are...Thank you Steve for the great storyline about our day. I am looking forward to our next chase on the second district from Oakdale, TN to Somerset, KY next year.
Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing.
Dennis