Paducah and Louisville Railway 4516 and 4503 pull their empty coal train under the coaling temple at the Warrior Coal Mine loop, outside of Nebo, Kentucky as they prepare to load another train bound for the Louisville Gas & Electric power plant, outside of Louisville, Ky on January 12th, 2023.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/60, ISO 100, -.7 stop.
The 1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad locomotive crew on 108 rounds a curve as they head through the Black Hills on the way to Keystone, SD on May 30th, 2022, under stormy skies.
According to their website: Locomotive #108 joined its nearly identical twin, #110, at the beginning of the 2020 season following a four-year restoration. It is a 2-6-6-2T articulated tank engine that was built by the Baldwin Locomotives Works in 1926 for the Potlatch Lumber Company. It later made its way to Weyerhaeuser Timber Company and eventually to the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington.
The acquisition and subsequent restoration of locomotive #108 completed a more than 20-year goal of increasing passenger capacity which began with the restoration of #110 and the restoration of multiple passenger cars. Both large Mallet locomotives (pronounced “Malley”) can pull a full train of seven authentically restored passenger cars, up from the four cars utilized prior to their addition to the roster.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 110.
Nickel Plate Road (NKP) 765 leads the American History Train as they begin to run out of Pleasant Lake, Indiana along the Indiana Northeastern Railroad, as they head back to Angola, Indiana to pick up another load of passengers on September 24th, 2022.
NKP 765 was pulling the American History Train between Pleasant Lake from Angola, Indiana during the annual American History Days Festival. It took guests back to the 1940s for a living history experience. The passengers then got a 45-minute layover at Pleasant Lake where they visited with WWII reenactors, listened to live music and much more.
According to Wikipedia: Nickel Plate Road 765 is a class “S-2” 2-8-4 “Berkshire” type steam locomotive built for the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, commonly referred to as the “Nickel Plate Road”.
No. 765 continues to operate in mainline excursion service and is owned and maintained by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society and was also added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 12, 1996.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/3000, ISO 130.
Saturday, October 29th, 2022, the Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL) ran their Office Car Special (OCS) between Calvert City, Kentucky to just north of Barkley Dam to the railroad location known as Eureka, about 10 miles round trip. This event was in conjunction with their company picnic at Calvert City and the passengers were employees and their families. Here we catch them as they cross Barkley Dam at Grand Rivers, Kentucky.
The consist was led by their 35th anniversary units PAL 2021 and 1986, followed by PAL 10, a generator car, built from an ex-L&N Milk Car that was manufactured in January 1958. Next was PAL II – lounge car or diner car from what I can find online, then PAL 1 “Bluegrass State I” business or lounge car, (ex-ICG 2, exx-IC 6, exxx-16). If anyone has more information on these cars, Id apricate your comments. The trailing engine is PAL 2127, Salute to our Troops locomotive, which led the train heading southbound to Calvert City, KY.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 120.
Meadow River Lumber Company steam locomotive, Heisler No. 6, leads a freight train past a wetlands area at Hosterman, West Virginia during the Mountain Rail WV, Rail Heritage Photography Weekend. The event was held at the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad, Durbin, WV, and Cass Scenic Railroad, Cass, WV, from November 4-6th, 2022.
According to Wikipedia: The Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad (reporting mark DGVR) is a heritage and freight railroad in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia. It operates the West Virginia State Rail Authority-owned Durbin Railroad and West Virginia Central Railroad (reporting mark WVC), as well as the Shenandoah Valley Railroad in Virginia.
Beginning in 2015, DGVR began operating the historic geared steam-powered Cass Scenic Railroad, which was previously operated by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources as part of Cass Scenic Railroad State Park.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100.
CSXT 993 leads hot intermodal I028 across the Ohio River from Henderson, Kentucky as it heads north on the CSX Henderson Subdivision at Rahm, Indiana on January 4th, 2022. From here it heads down the long viaduct over the flood plain into Evansville, IN as it makes its run from Duval Yard at Jacksonville, FL to Bedford Park, IL (Chicago).
The CSX Henderson Subdivision is part of the Nashville Division, and it runs between Nashville, Tennessee, and Evansville Indiana for a length of about 145.3 miles of mainline track. On average it sees around 20-30 trains a day, with four of them being hot intermodals.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 120.
CSXT 866 leads a short I026 intermodal (Duval Yard – Jacksonville, FL to Bedford Park, IL) under the North Main Street overpass on January 3rd, 2023, as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision at Madisonville, Kentucky.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100.
CSXT 783 and 3229 pass through the south end of the siding at Hanson, Kentucky on January 2nd, 2022, as they lead M648 north on the CSX Henderson Subdivision on a dreary overcast winter day.
The CSX Henderson Subdivision is part of the Nashville Division, and it runs between Nashville, Tennessee, and Evansville Indiana for a length of about 145.3 miles of mainline track. On average it sees around 20-30 trains a day, with four of them being hot intermodals.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO 120.
![Indiana Southern railroad locomotive 3387 leads the morning local pulls into the Algers, Winslow and Western Railway (AWW) yard (now belongs to Norfolk Southern Railway) at Oakland City, Indiana to do its interchange work on October 20th, 2022.
According to Wikipedia: The Indiana Southern Railroad (reporting mark ISRR) is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property,[1] and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.
The Algers, Winslow and Western Railway (reporting mark AWW) was a Class III short-line railroad that served the surface mining operations in Pike County, Indiana. It operated approximately 19 miles of track which reached from the coal mines west of Cato south to those at Enos Corner and ran close to the Norfolk Southern Railway and Indiana Southern Railroad. It was acquired in March 2007 by Norfolk Southern, but still operating under the original company's name.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1500, ISO 130.
#trainphotography #railroadphotography #trains #railways #dronephotography #trainphotographer #railroadphotographer #jimpearsonphotography #indianasouthernrailroad #indianarailroads #trainsfromtheair](https://www.jimpearsonphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/WEB-10.20.22-CSX-ISRR-local-at-AWW-Yard-at-Oakland-City-IN-1170x658.jpg)
Indiana Southern railroad locomotive 3387 leads the morning local pulls into the Algers, Winslow and Western Railway (AWW) yard (now belongs to Norfolk Southern Railway) at Oakland City, Indiana to do its interchange work on October 20th, 2022.
According to Wikipedia: The Indiana Southern Railroad (reporting mark ISRR) is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property,[1] and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.
The Algers, Winslow and Western Railway (reporting mark AWW) was a Class III short-line railroad that served the surface mining operations in Pike County, Indiana. It operated approximately 19 miles of track which reached from the coal mines west of Cato south to those at Enos Corner and ran close to the Norfolk Southern Railway and Indiana Southern Railroad. It was acquired in March 2007 by Norfolk Southern, but still operating under the original company’s name.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1500, ISO 130.
January 7th, 2023 – Episode 1 – In this week’s edited video we catch rail action between Rahm, Indiana and Mortons Gap, Kentucky along the CSX Henderson Subdivision, mostly from the air! This week we spend a lot of time in the air, where we catch southbound M503 at Mortons Gap, Ky, B207 northbound at Mortons Gap, M648 northbound at Hanson, I026 northbound at Madisonville and I025 southbound up the viaduct at Rahm, Indiana! Enjoy!
For this week I worked on my skills of shooting footage from the ground and the air on most of my trains. If you weren’t aware, drones don’t shoot audio, because all you’d hear is the sound of the motors on the drone. You have to either lay a music track in post editing, go with no audio, record with an external digital recorder or shoot with a second camera on the ground for audio.
I go with the latter, using my iPhone 14 Pro, on a tripod, and then using Adobe Premiere Pro I edit the two together, syncing the audio on the ground video with the footage from the air. In case you aren’t aware, I fly a DJI Air 2S and I match the frame rates between the two to 4K at 24fps.
Most of my Saturday videos are about 17-22 minutes long and so when I export the video I do so in full HD and not 4K. The 4k file comes out to be around 10-12 TB in size and the HD file is about 3-4 TB, which is much more manageable. If you have any questions about the process I use, just leave them in the comments here or on the video in question! – Jim
The Indiana Railroad (INRD), “Honoring First Responders” locomotive 4002, leads the railroads Santa Train on December 3rd, 2022, as they pass over the Indiana Southern diamond at Switz City, Indiana. The Saturday run of the train made stops between Bloomington and Jasonville, IN to allow the kids in various towns along the way to come on board and have a brief visit with Santa Claus.
The Indiana Railroad (reporting mark INRD) is a United States Class II railroad, originally operating over former Illinois Central Railroad trackage from Newton, Illinois, to Indianapolis, Indiana, a distance of 155 miles (249 km). This line, now known as the Indiana Rail Road’s Indianapolis Subdivision, comprises most of the former IC/ICG line from Indianapolis to Effingham, Illinois; Illinois Central successor Canadian National Railway retains the portion from Newton to Effingham.
INRD also owns a former Milwaukee Road line from Terre Haute, Indiana, to Burns City, Indiana (site of the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center), with trackage rights extending to Chicago, Illinois. INRD no longer serves Louisville, Kentucky, and the Port of Indiana on the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana, through a haulage agreement with the Louisville & Indiana Railroad (LIRC).
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/725, ISO 110.
Indiana Southern Railroad locomotive 3382 leads an empty coal train down the Bear Run Mine lead as it heads to the loop to pickup another load of coal on December 3rd, 2022 as it passes under a farm overpass at Dugger, Indiana.
According to Wikipedia: The Indiana Southern Railroad (reporting mark ISRR) is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO 100.
Norfolk Southern 1156 leads a loaded eastbound coal train out of Sciotoville, Ohio, on the NS Kenova District as it passes over the Little Scioto River on November 7th, 2022.
Sciotoville is a neighborhood in the city of Portsmouth in Scioto County, Ohio. It is located at the intersection of U.S. 52 and State Route 335 between the village of New Boston and Wheelersburg in Scioto County along the northern bank of the Ohio River.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/350, ISO 100.
CSXT 6402 heads up the power at Atkinson Yard at Madisonville, Kentucky as they work the yard job in the early morning fog on New Year’s Day on January 1st, 2023, on the Henderson Subdivision.
The old saying is what you do on the first day of the new year determines what youll do all year long and so I made sure to get trackside today where I caught this action and a couple of videos that will be in next Saturdays edited video post!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/730, ISO 120.
CSXT 5274 leads M501 (Barr Yard – Chicago, IL to Radnor Yard – Nashville, TN) heads south on the Earlington Cutoff, that runs around downtown Earlington and Madisonville, KY on a cold winters evening, as it heads for Nashville, TN on the Henderson Subdivision, December 27th, 2022.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/640, ISO 120.
![A southbound Norfolk Southern intermodal heads across High Bridge on November 8th, 2022, as it heads north across the Kentucky River on the NS CNO&TP First District at Highbridge, Kentucky.
According to Wikipedia: The High Bridge is a railroad bridge crossing the Kentucky River Palisades, that rises approximately 275 feet from the river below and connects Jessamine and Mercer counties in Kentucky. Formally dedicated in 1879, it is the first cantilever bridge constructed in the United States. It has a three-span continuous under-deck truss used by Norfolk Southern Railway to carry trains between Lexington and Danville. It has been designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
In 1851, the Lexington & Danville Railroad, with Julius Adams as chief engineer, retained John A. Roebling to build a railroad suspension bridge across the Kentucky River for a line connecting Lexington and Danville, Kentucky west of the intersection of the Dix and Kentucky rivers. In 1855, the company ran out of money and the project was resumed by Cincinnati Southern Railroad in 1873 following a proposal by C. Shaler Smith for a cantilever design using stone towers designed by John A. Roebling (who designed the Brooklyn Bridge).
The bridge was erected using a cantilever design with a three-span continuous under-deck truss and was opened in 1877 on the Cincinnati Southern Railway. It was 275 feet (84 m) tall and 1,125 feet (343 m) long: the tallest bridge above a navigable waterway in North America and the tallest railroad bridge in the world until the early 20th century. Construction was completed using 3,654,280 pounds of iron at a total cost of $404,373.31. In 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes and Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman attended the dedication.
After years of heavy railroad use, the bridge was rebuilt by Gustav Lindenthal in 1911. Lindenthal reinforced the foundations and rebuilt the bridge around the original structure. To keep railroad traffic flowing, the track deck was raised by 30 feet during construction and a temporary trestle was constructed.[6] In 1929, an additional set of tracks was built to accommodate increased railroad traffic and the original limestone towers were removed.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 120.
#trainphotography #railroadphotography #trains #railways #dronephotography #trainphotographer #railroadphotographer #jimpearsonphotography #trainsfromtheair](https://www.jimpearsonphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/WEB-11.08.22-NS-Intermodal-SB-at-High-Bridge-KY-1170x658.jpg)
A southbound Norfolk Southern intermodal heads across High Bridge on November 8th, 2022, as it heads north across the Kentucky River on the NS CNO&TP First District at Highbridge, Kentucky.
According to Wikipedia: The High Bridge is a railroad bridge crossing the Kentucky River Palisades, that rises approximately 275 feet from the river below and connects Jessamine and Mercer counties in Kentucky. Formally dedicated in 1879, it is the first cantilever bridge constructed in the United States. It has a three-span continuous under-deck truss used by Norfolk Southern Railway to carry trains between Lexington and Danville. It has been designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
In 1851, the Lexington & Danville Railroad, with Julius Adams as chief engineer, retained John A. Roebling to build a railroad suspension bridge across the Kentucky River for a line connecting Lexington and Danville, Kentucky west of the intersection of the Dix and Kentucky rivers. In 1855, the company ran out of money and the project was resumed by Cincinnati Southern Railroad in 1873 following a proposal by C. Shaler Smith for a cantilever design using stone towers designed by John A. Roebling (who designed the Brooklyn Bridge).
The bridge was erected using a cantilever design with a three-span continuous under-deck truss and was opened in 1877 on the Cincinnati Southern Railway. It was 275 feet (84 m) tall and 1,125 feet (343 m) long: the tallest bridge above a navigable waterway in North America and the tallest railroad bridge in the world until the early 20th century. Construction was completed using 3,654,280 pounds of iron at a total cost of $404,373.31. In 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes and Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman attended the dedication.
After years of heavy railroad use, the bridge was rebuilt by Gustav Lindenthal in 1911. Lindenthal reinforced the foundations and rebuilt the bridge around the original structure. To keep railroad traffic flowing, the track deck was raised by 30 feet during construction and a temporary trestle was constructed.[6] In 1929, an additional set of tracks was built to accommodate increased railroad traffic and the original limestone towers were removed.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 120.
CSXT 352 heads up CSX G421, a loaded grain train, as passes through Mortons Junction through the freshly fallen snow and extremely frigid weather at Mortons Gap, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision, in the 5-degree weather on December 23rd, 2022.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/8000, ISO 110.
On this Christmas Day I’m posting one of my favorite snow scenes from this year of CSX Intermodal I026 (Duval Yard – Jacksonville, FL to Bedford Park, IL) as it heads upgrade out of Mortons Junction on the Henderson Subdivision at Mortons Gap, Kentucky on January 7th, 2022. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 410mm, f/8, 1/1600, ISO 2500.
The fireman stands on the tender of Cass Scenic Railway Shay locomotive number 11, (C-90-3) as they take on water during the Rail Heritage Photography Weekend photo shoot at Cass, West Virginia on November 5th, 2022.
According to Wikipedia: Cass Scenic Railroad, is an 11-mile (18 km) long heritage railway owned by the West Virginia State Rail Authority and operated by the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad. The park also includes the former company town of Cass and a portion of the summit of Bald Knob, the highest point on Back Allegheny Mountain.
Founded in 1901 by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company (now WestRock), Cass was built as a company town to serve the needs of the men who worked in the nearby mountains cutting spruce and hemlock for the West Virginia Spruce Lumber Company, a subsidiary of WVP&P. At one time, the sawmill at Cass was the largest double-band sawmill in the world. It processed an estimated 1.25 billion board feet (104,000,000 cu ft; 2,950,000 m3) of lumber during its lifetime. In 1901 work started on the 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge railroad, which climbs Back Allegheny Mountain.
The railroad eventually reached a meadow area, now known as Whittaker Station, where a logging camp was established for the immigrants who were building the railroad. The railroad soon reached the top of Gobblers Knob, and then a location on top of the mountain known as ‘Spruce’. The railroad built a small town at that location, complete with a company store, houses, a hotel, and a doctor’s office. Work soon commenced on logging the red spruce trees, which grew in the higher elevations.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/350, ISO 200.
A variety of Kanawha River Terminal Railroad locomotives sit just outside the engine house in the yards at the Kanawha River Terminal (Ceredo Dock) at Ceredo, West Virginia, on November 2nd, 2022. From what I can tell, from the left is #698, 455 (high nose green) 894 & 994. Can’t read numbers on the back units behind them.
According to their website: The Kanawha River Terminal Railroad is a switching operation serving the Kanawha River Terminal (Ceredo Dock) facility, situated along the Ohio River west of Huntington, West Virginia. The railroad operation handles interchange with Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation.
The terminal has an annual throughput capacity of nearly 20 million tons and is equipped with a rotary dumper and a barge loader, the latter of which provides volume coal loading to barges. The facility and the switching railroad are owned by SunCoke Energy. A variety of first and second-generation motive power is maintained at an engine house in Ceredo, West Virginia, adjacent to the terminal.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 150.