CSX E305 with CSXT 989 and 277 leading, pulls around the Alliance Coal Loop at Princeton, Indiana on June 16th, 2022, in preparation for loading its train with coal on the CSX CE&D subdivision.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, Altitude 270ft, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 110.
Torpedo boat Geep FLSX 71 loads grain cars in this top-down view 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, Altitude 270ft, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100.
BNSF 2557 and 2604 work the BNSF yard on the BNSF Marshall Subdivision at Sioux City, Iowa on the morning of June 3rd, 2022, a line of shadows leads back to the city in the distance.
According to the Sioux City History Website: When Sioux City first began to grow, most people arrived by either steamboat or stagecoach. In the eastern United States, railroads were being built to connect all major cities. The first railroad to develop in Iowa was in 1865, along the Mississippi. However, plans were soon developed to expand the system to all major Iowa cities.
Sioux City developers knew that if the town wanted to become a major city, it would need to be one of the first to have railroad access. Not only did railroads move people, but they also moved materials and manufactured goods.
In the fall of 1866, a large crowd of local businessmen, bankers, and speculators met with a gentleman named W.W. Walker. He was a representative of John Blair, a wealthy eastern railroad developer. Mr. Blair was planning on building the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad. This railroad would connect the city with the main line which ran through Missouri Valley. This would give the city connections all the way to Chicago and back east. All the city and county had to do was provide free land for the tracks and for the depot. The county agreed to donate the land in February of 1867. The deal was struck.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1500, ISO 120.
Union Pacific 2116 and 1825 lead a mixed freight southbound across the Floyd River on the Worthington Subdivision amid a maze of bridges at Sioux City, Iowa on June 3rd, 2022, on a beautiful Spring Day.
According to the Sioux City History Website: When Sioux City first began to grow, most people arrived by either steamboat or stagecoach. In the eastern United States, railroads were being built to connect all major cities. The first railroad to develop in Iowa was in 1865, along the Mississippi. However, plans were soon developed to expand the system to all major Iowa cities.
Sioux City developers knew that if the town wanted to become a major city, it would need to be one of the first to have railroad access. Not only did railroads move people, but they also moved materials and manufactured goods.
In the fall of 1866, a large crowd of local businessmen, bankers, and speculators met with a gentleman named W.W. Walker. He was a representative of John Blair, a wealthy eastern railroad developer. Mr. Blair was planning on building the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad. This railroad would connect the city with the main line which ran through Missouri Valley. This would give the city connections all the way to Chicago and back east. All the city and county had to do was provide free land for the tracks and for the depot. The county agreed to donate the land in February of 1867. The deal was struck.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO 120.
The 1880 Train, Black Hills Central Railroad locomotive crew on 108 blows for a crossing 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.
D&I Railroad 3020 (also nicknamed the Dakota and Iowa Railroad) heads across the Floyd River amid a maze of diamonds at Sioux City, Iowa on the Aberdeen Subdivision on June 3rd, 2022, with a loaded train.
According to Wikipedia: The D&I Railroad (DAIR) (also nicknamed the Dakota and Iowa Railroad) is a Class III shortline railroad which is a wholly owned subsidiary of L. G. Everist, Inc. The line hauls ethanol, dried distillers grains (DDG), corn oil, plastic pellets, cement, sand, gravel, and Sioux Quartzite, which is mined from two large quarries in Dell Rapids.
The D&I has a trackage rights agreement with BNSF that allows it to travel on three BNSF subdivisions to deliver and sell products, as they must use BNSFs system to reach their southern half of their trackage. The D&I operates on both former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and Chicago and Northwestern Railroad trackage, which were handed over to the state of South Dakota in 1980-1981 after the Milwaukee Roads bankruptcy and subsequent abandonment of unprofitable lines.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100.
May 11th, 2022 – CSXT 1776, CSX’s Spirit of our Armed Forces unit, leads I026 as it heads north at Mortons Gap, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, Altitude 48ft, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO 100.
CSXT 911 leads a northbound empty coke train on May 15th, 2022, as it passes over highway 61 at Suwanee, Kentucky on the Paducah and Louisville Railway after dropping its load at Calvert City Terminal in Calvert City, KY.
CSXT 911 is one of several specialty painted units that CSX has painted in the last few years and this unit honors First Responders.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, Altitude 123ft, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO 100.
CSXT 911 leads B419 with a loaded coke train as it meets Loram shoulder ballast cleaner SBC-2401 waiting in the siding at the north end of Slaughters, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision on May 15th, 2022. The coke train made its way to Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, KY where it was picked up by the Paducah and Louisville Railway and taken on their line to the Calvert City Terminal at Calvert City, KY.
CSXT 911 is one of several specialty painted units that CSX has painted in the last few years and this unit honors First Responders.
The shoulder ballast cleaner removes ballast at the end of the ties, screens the ballast and discards fines and fouling material and restoring the good ballast to the shoulder. Integrated scarifiers break open end of tie mud pockets, removes fines, and restores ballast voids in the shoulders and under the tie ends and release damaging trapped water.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, Altitude 61ft, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 140.
May 12, 2022 – CSX P001-09 Presidential Office Car passenger train passes the old Louisville and Nashville Passenger depot at Henderson, Kentucky as CSXT 1, 2 and 3 leads the way.
CSX Transportation has repainted 3 of its executive fleet F40PH locomotives in a paint scheme inspired by predecessor Baltimore & Ohio and a fleet of cars to finish out the train set. The city of Baltimore chartered the railroad on Feb. 28, 1827, to build west to a suitable point on the Ohio River. Ground was broken on July 4, 1828, at Carrollton, Md. By 1929 the railroad operated 5,658 miles of track and had 2,364 locomotives. In the 1970s the B&O became part of Chessie System and in the 1980s it became part of CSX.
According to the abandonedonline.net website: This depot, built of brick and granite, was constructed by the local firm Bailey & Koerner opened at the cost of $25,000 on July 1, 1902. The Union Station replaced the separate stations for the L&N and the IC. The former L&N depot was converted into the residence for the local yard foreman while the former IC station was used until it was demolished in November 1942.
By 1922, Union Station was handling 24 passenger trains daily, but the advent of the automobile and the construction of the interstate highway system and parkways in the region decimated passenger trains. The IC ceased passenger operations on February 13, 1941, and the station was closed by the L&N after it ceased passenger trains in 1971.
The depot is currently owned by Railmark Foundation and is under restoration. I’ve not found out what it’s intended use will be.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, Altitude 55ft, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 140.
May 12, 2022 – CSX P001-09 Presidential Office Car passenger train heads north over the Ohio river bridge from Henderson, Ky down the Viaduct into Evansville, Indiana on the Henderson Subdivision with CSXT 1, 2 and 3 leading the way.
CSX Transportation has repainted 3 of its executive fleet F40PH locomotives in a paint scheme inspired by predecessor Baltimore & Ohio and a fleet of cars to finish out the train set. The city of Baltimore chartered the railroad on Feb. 28, 1827, to build west to a suitable point on the Ohio River. Ground was broken on July 4, 1828, at Carrollton, Md. By 1929 the railroad operated 5,658 miles of track and had 2,364 locomotives. In the 1970s the B&O became part of Chessie System and in the 1980s it became part of CSX.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1500, ISO 110.
LoRam shoulder ballast cleaner SBC-2401 makes its way north on the CSX Henderson Cuttoff through the beautiful spring countryside of Mortons Gap, Kentucky on May 10th, 2022, as it moves slowly along cleaning the ballast on both sides of the rails.
Shoulder ballast cleaning consists of removing ballast at the end of the ties, screening the ballast and discarding fines and fouling material and restoring the good ballast to the shoulder. Integrated scarifiers break open end of tie mud pockets, removes fines, and restores ballast voids in the shoulders and under the tie ends and release damaging trapped water.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO 100.
April 9, 2022 – Norfolk Southern 110 meets 125 as they snake along passing each other on the NS East District at East Douglas just outside of Princeton, Indiana.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/200, ISO 200.
April 9, 2022 – Norfolk Southern 167 heads East on the NS East District at Oakland City, Indiana crossing over the Indiana Southern line at the Diamond with NS 7624, 9627 and 9639 leading the way.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 110.
Canadian National 5651 leads a empty grain train out of the CN yard at Centralia, Illinois as it heads north on the Centralia Subdivision on April 27th, 2022, with another CN and BNSF unit trailing, as they pass over the ICG Crossing.
Centralia is named for the Illinois Central Railroad, which was built in 1853. The city was founded at the location where the two original branches of the railroad converged and today the line is owned by the Canadian National, although BNSF and Norfolk Southern also have a presence here now.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 150.
Illinois Central Death Star locomotive 6250 sits dead in tow as the third unit, behind a CN and Norfolk southern unit, as they work on dropping off and picking up cars at the CN yard at Centralia, Illinois on CN A432 on April 27th, 2022.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 200.
CSXT 3343 leads I028 crosses the bridge over the Ohio River at Henderson, Kentucky as it makes its way north on the Henderson Subdivision on a beautiful spring day. It, along with about 7 other trains have been waiting on both sides of the river for a work curfew to expire that ran the length of the bridge and viaduct that runs between Henderson, Ky and Evansville, IN. Track crews have been working through the area all week, causing trains to back up on April 19th, 2022.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 200.
CSXT 3293 leads I025 as it passes a crane just south of downtown Hanson, Kentucky on April 19th, 2022, as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision. Preparations are underway at this spot to replace the bridge that the train is rolling across just south of the south end signals for the siding at Hanson.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 110.
In this going away shot we see the full 8,256 feet of CSX I028 as it heads north across the Ohio River Bridge and viaduct on the CSX Henderson Subdivision from Henderson, Kentucky on April 19th, 2022. Between the viaduct and the bridge the total span above ground is just at 4.5 miles long.
The current viaduct and bridge were built by the L&N railroad and were dedicated on the last day of 1932 at a cost about $4 million. It replaced one erected in 1885, also built by the L&N, which at that time was the longest channel span of that type in the world at 2.3 miles long.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 160
Going Away shot – Looks can be deceiving as in this going away shot that looks like it is coming at us, as I caught Norfolk Southern Heritage Unit 1072, Illinois Terminal, and NS 8090 bringing up the rear of a loaded coal train on April 7th, 2022, as it headed north on the Paducah and Louisville Railway at Central City, Kentucky.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1500, ISO 130.