Sunlight steams down from the early morning stormy skies as CSX M513 makes its way through downtown Madisonville, Kentucky southbound on the Henderson Subdivision on October 12th, 2022, with fall color beginning to dot the landscape.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1500, ISO 110.
Norfolk Southern 1160 leads a northbound freight as it crosses over the diamond at the NS East Wayne Yard on the NS Huntington District on September 24th, 2022, at New Haven, Indiana. The train would eventually set out cars at the East Wayne Yard before continuing their trip north toward Detroit, Michigan.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 100.
Indiana Northeastern Railroad 2185 leads the American History Train as it heads south at Montgomery, Michigan on September 23rd, 2022. The Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive 765 is on the end of the train around the curve and pulled the train northbound between Angola and Palmer Lake, Indiana, during the annual American History Days activities on September 24-25th of 2022
The train took guests back to the 1940s for a living history experience at Pleasant Lake from Angola. 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: The Indiana Northeastern Railroad (reporting mark IN) is a Class III short line freight railroad operating on nearly 130 miles (210 km) in southern lower Michigan, northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio.
The Indiana Northeastern Railroad Company began operations in December 1992 and is an independent privately owned company. As of 2017 the railroad hauled more than 7,000 carloads per year. Commodities moved by the railroad include corn, soybeans, wheat, and flour. It also handles plastics, fiberboard, aluminum, copper, coal, perlite, stone, lumber, glass, rendering products, as well as agricultural fertilizers and chemicals.
In the early 1990s the Hillsdale County Railway was heavily in debt. Its trackage was suffering from deferred maintenance and derailments were becoming a common occurrence. Then in 1992, a 50-car eastbound unit train from South Milford hauled by HCRC derailed near Hamilton, Indiana costing the South Milford Grain Company $30,000. The grain elevator company’s owners decided to assume HCRC’s $1 million in debt, and it acquired the railway. The grain company then created the Indiana Northeastern Railroad Company to take over the rail operations of the HCRC and its Pigeon River Railroad on December 22, 1992. It’s now owned by the grain company and farmers in the areas it serves, and major track improvements and upgrades have been done over the years creating a solid and reliable railroad.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 120.
The American History Train, being led by Nickel Plate Road (NKP) steam locomotive 765, works on turning its train on the Indiana Northeastern Railroad line at Hillsdale, Michigan on September 23rd, 2022.
NKP 765 was pulling the American History Train between Pleasant Lake from Angola, Indiana during the annual American History Days Festival on September 24-25th, 2022. 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.
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”.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/3000, ISO 100.
CSX empty grain train G026 passes under the old Louisville and Nashville Railway coaling tower at Sullivan, Indiana as it makes its way north on the first day of autumn along the CSX CE&D Subdivision on September 22, 2022.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/3000, ISO 100.
CSX B207, a combined Phosphate and Ethanol train, heads north down the viaduct from the Ohio River at Henderson, KY to Evansville, IN at dawn as its headlight lights the way on the CSX Henderson Subdivision with its train on September 22, 2022, the first day of autumn!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/6th second, ISO 1190.
Nickel Plate Road (NKP) 765 leads the American History Train as they head through the countryside on the Indiana Northeastern Railroad to Angola, Indiana to pickup 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, 1/640, ISO 100.
Nickel Plate Road (NKP) 765 leads the American History Train as they begin to run through the town of Pleasant Lake, Indiana along the Indiana Northeastern Railroad, as they head back to Angola, Indiana to pickup 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 200.
Chicago, Ft. Wayne and Eastern Railroad locomotives 5597 (ex CP Rail) and 2132 sit in their yard at Ft. Wayne, Indiana as they wait to depart the yard on September 22nd, 2022.
According to Wikipedia: The Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad (reporting mark CFE) is a short line railroad offering service from Tolleston, Indiana to Crestline, Ohio, United States over the former Fort Wayne Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It began operations in 2004 as a division of the Central Railroad of Indianapolis, under the overall corporate ownership of RailAmerica. CFE operates 273 miles of rail leased from CSX.
On July 23, 2012, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. announced that it intended to purchase RailAmerica in a deal valued at $1.39 billion. Approval of the purchase was granted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on December 19, 2012, and ownership of the Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern was transferred to the G&W.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/3000, ISO 100.
CSX Honoring our Law Enforcement locomotive 3194 leads M648 north across Gum Lick Trestle, between Kelly and Crofton, Kentucky, as the first signs of fall begin to show in the trees as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision on September 26th, 2022. Gum Lick is the highest trestle on the Henderson Subdivision, which runs between Nashville, TN and Evansville, IN.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 110.
The conductor of the American History Train, being led by Nickel Plate Road (NKP) steam locomotive 765, heads to his train on September 24th, 2022, at Pleasant Lake, Indiana.
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: Pleasant Lake depot is also known as the New York Central Railroad Depot and is a historic train station located at Pleasant Lake, Steuben Township, Steuben County, Indiana. It was built in 1882 by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, and is a one-story, rectangular, Gothic Revival style frame building. It has a gable roof and is clad in board and batten siding.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 as the Pleasant Lake Depot.
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, 1/1000, ISO 100.
CSX B207, a combined Phosphate and Ethanol train, heads north over the Ohio River from Henderson, KY at dawn as it slowly makes its way north on the CSX Henderson Subdivision with its train on September 22, 2022, the first day of autumn!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/8th second, ISO 690.
Still in green and black paint, BNSF 2749 heads up a string of power as it sits at BNSF Argentine Yard at Kansas City, Kansas, on June 30th, 2022 while waiting for its next assignment.
According to Wikipedia: The Argentine Yard is a BNSF Railway marshalling yard in Kansas City, Kansas. With 60 tracks and an area of about 2miles, it is the largest marshalling yard in the BNSF network. It lies between the Kansas River to the north and the eponymous Argentine borough of Kansas City, Kansas, to the south, about six miles west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
Argentine Yard is one of several major rail yards in the Kansas City metropolitan area operated by the Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and Kansas City Southern, in addition to BNSF. The Kansas City metropolitan area is the largest railroad hub in the United States in terms of freight volume; more than 300 freight trains reach or leave the metropolitan region every day (2016).
The tracks through the junction have been reduced or changed around over the years, but the area remains one of KC’s Busiest locations.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 110.
Torpedo boat Geep” FLSX 71 loads grain cars at Consolidated Grain and Barge, just west of County Road 475, at Lyles Station, Indiana at their elevator on June 16th, 2022. I understand that FLSX is Great Miami, Inc., and the locomotive is ex-CERA/CIND 1751, ex-MKT 120, nee-MKT 1761.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/3000, ISO 140.
CSX Intermodal I028 rolls past a empty coal train at Arklow in Madisonville, Kentucky as it heads north on the CSX Henderson Subdivision on August 30th, 2022.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100.
CSX hot intermodal I025 climbs the viaduct out of Evansville, Indiana on the Henderson Subdivision on a beautiful summer morning as it heads south on July 14th, 2022. The viaduct rises up over the Ohio River flood plane out of Evansville where the trackage crosses over the river into Kentucky at Henderson. During a heavy rainy season, the river can swell to where all the farm fields visible here often get covered by floodwaters.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 100.
Kaw River Railroad lease unit WAMX 6033 slowly moves across the Kansas River into at Santa Fe Junction with a daily mixed freight on June 29th, 2022.
According to Wikipedia: The Kaw River Railroad (reporting mark KAW) is a Kansas City, Missouri railroad, established in June 2004. Twelve miles of original track served the Kansas City Southern Railroad and its customers in Kansas City and Union Station. The original KAW was a Kansas City Southern Railway Company property and was the first shortline Watco began operating for KCS, serving customers in the Greater Kansas City area and interchanges with the BNSF, KCS, and Union Pacific.
The April 2005 expansion was a BNSF property serving customers in Clay County, Missouri and interchanges with the BNSF at Birmingham, Missouri. The KCTL interchanges with the BNSF, ICE, KCS, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific at Kansas City.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 110.
BNSF 7298 heads up 5 units with a manifest train as they pass over the diamonds at Santa Fe Junction on June 30th, 2022.
Santa Fe Junction sees on average over 100 trains a day and it hosts the double decked railroad (ATSF Double Deck Railroad) bridge that crosses the Kansas River into Missouri, a triple crossing. The junction is partly in Missouri and Kansas and sees BNSF, UP, KCT, Amtrak, KCS, NS and CP traffic, from what I saw during my visit.
The tracks through the junction have been reduced or changed around over the years, but the area remains one of KCs Busiest locations.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 120.
UP 5970 leads CSX S988 as it heads south at Anaconda at Robards, Kentucky with two new Brightline Green and Pink commuter train sets, as they head for Florida, on the Henderson Subdivision on July 16th, 2022.
These train sets were built by Siemens in Sacramento, California and are destined for service along Brightline’s routes in Florida.
According to Wikipedia: Brightline is a privately run intercity rail route between Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida that runs on track owned by Florida East Coast Railway. An extension from West Palm Beach to Orlando International Airport is expected to open in 2023.
Brightline is the only privately owned and operated intercity passenger railroad in the United States. Its development started in March 2012 as All Aboard Florida by Florida East Coast Industries; a Florida real estate developer owned by Fortress Investment Group. Construction began in November 2014 and the route opened in January 2018.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000 ISO 100.
Paducah and Louisville Railways’ (PAL) newly painted 35th Anniversary engines 1986 and 2021, lead the daily local from Princeton, KY as they do their interchange work with CSX at Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, KY on July 11th, 2022. Both units were done by Progress Rails shops in Mayfield, KY.
I’m told the two engines have been painted in colors and scheme closely matching the original PAL paint scheme from 1986 and are in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Paducah and Louisville Railway.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600 ISO 110.
CSX loaded military train S850 sits in the siding at the north end of Rankin, Kentucky as they meet a southbound I025 on the Henderson Subdivision on August 4th, 2022. This intermodal has been running with these autoracks loaded with Teslas on their way south. Today’s train had 25 autoracks. The cars range in price from $46,000 – $120,000, depending on the model.
Military Humvees cost around $70,000 each. Upgraded humvee variants, called armored or up-armored Humvees, carry higher price tags that range from $160,000 to $220000. A lot of money being moved here, not even including the intermodal shipments!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000 ISO 100.