Norfolk Southern 1800 the Yellow Sonic Bonnets trails behind the black 4004 version, as they lead NS empty autorack train 124 west as they slowly pull into the siding at Taswell, Indiana to meet eastbound NS 168, on the NS Southern-East District on January 28th, 2021 at dusk.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 200.
It’s not everyday we get Kansas City Southern leading any kind of train on the CSX Henderson Subdivision, so when I got reports from friends up the line to the north that CSX K443 was southbound with two coming I had to get trackside!
It was a gray, overcast, drizzling rain kind of day that keeps folks inside normally, but when word got out about it’s move then there were railfans waiting its arrival between here where I caught it a the south end of Slaughters, Kentucky, all the way to Nashville, Tennessee and I’m sure points south on January 30th, 2021.
The hardest thing really about shooting pictures in bad weather is really just getting out the door!! I personally keep a couple large golf umbrellas just for this occasion!
However on this occasion I really wanted to put my Air 2 drone up for a shot that would show the tank train disappearing off into the distance and fortunately the rain slacked off enough where I could do so and this is the resulting photograph shot in the 48mp mode on the drone. The weather resulted in a slower shutterspeed that I wanted and I didn’t want to boost the ISO so I settled for just a tad of blur on the locomotive, which gives the feeling of the speed of the train!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 100.
The southbound daily local from Casky yard in Hopkinsville, KY, CSX J732-13, slides into the siding at the north end of Crofton, KY to meet northbound Q512 on January 13th, 2021 after completing it’s work at Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, KY on the Henderson Subdivision with three SD40’s leading the way.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 100.
CSX K870-12 with CP 9364 and CEFX 1002 leading, lead a 8,500ft loaded potash “Test” train south on the Henderson Subdivision through Nortonville, Kentucky on January 13, 2021.
CN has been running these potash trains for awhile and I’m told this is a test train from CP to look at the feasibility of doing the same on a regular basis on CSX. The train also had CP 8135 and 9739 as mid-train DPU units.
According to Wikipedia: Potash includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes or wood ash soaked in water in a pot, which was the primary means of manufacturing the product before the Industrial Era. The word “potassium” is derived from “potash”.
Potash is produced worldwide in amounts exceeding 90 million tons per year, mostly for use in fertilizer. Various kinds of fertilizer-potash constitute the single greatest industrial use of the element potassium in the world. Potassium was first derived in 1807 by electrolysis of caustic potash (potassium hydroxide).
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 100.
CSX hot intermodal Q025-13 (Bedford Park, IL – Jacksonville, FL Daily) rounds the curve coming into Romney at Nortonville, Kentucky as CSXT 3114 leads the train south on the Henderson Subdivision on a beautiful winter’s morning on track 1.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 100.
CSXT 5204 leads the daily intermodal Q028 through the crossing in downtown Sebree, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/640, ISO 100.
The Crew on CSX loaded tank train K423-05 does a roll-by inspection at the south end of the siding at Slaughters, Kentucky on January 6th, 2021 as CSX Q500 passes them headed north on the Henderson Subdivision at dusk.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/200, ISO 400.
A digital photographic Art piece by Jim Pearson Photography
A loaded Paducah and Louisville coal train pulls south out of Warrior Coal Mine at Nebo, Kentucky, as it starts its run to Calvert City Terminal in Calvert City, Kentucky on a cold December 11th, 2020.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100.
CSX loaded tank train K423-05 leads it’s snake like train as it makes it’s way through Anaconda between Robards and Sebree, Kentucky on January 6th, 2021 as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/640, ISO 100.
On January 2nd, 2020 a empty BNSF grain train sits in the siding at Reevesville, Illinois as a empty CN coal train heads north, on CNs Bluford Subdivision, under the old Illinois Central Steam Train coaling tower.
According to Wikipedia: A coaling tower, coal stage or coaling station was a facility used to load coal as fuel into railway steam locomotives. Coaling towers were often sited at motive power depots or locomotive maintenance shops.
Coaling towers were constructed of wood, steel-reinforced concrete, or steel. In almost all cases coaling stations used a gravity fed method, with one or more large storage bunkers for the coal elevated on columns above the railway tracks, from which the coal could be released to slide down a chute into the waiting locomotives coal storage area. The method of lifting the bulk coal into the storage bin varied. The coal usually was dropped from a hopper car into a pit below tracks adjacent to the tower. From the pit a conveyor-type system used a chain of motor-driven buckets to raise the coal to the top of the tower where it would be dumped into the storage bin; a skip-hoist system lifted a single large bin for the same purpose. Some facilities lifted entire railway coal trucks or wagons. Sanding pipes were often mounted on coaling towers to allow simultaneous replenishment of a locomotives sand box.
As railroads transitioned from the use of steam locomotives to the use of diesel locomotives in the 1950s the need for coaling towers ended. Many reinforced concrete towers remain in place if they do not interfere with operations due to the high cost of demolition incurred with these massive structures.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/120, ISO 400.
They say what you do on the first day of the New Year you’ll continue to do till the next New Year and so of course I spent the day chasing trains around the Evansville, Indiana area.
Here we find the crew on CSX Q512 as they pull to a stop at the north end of CSX Howell Yard in Evansville as they prepare to conduct a crew change before heading on north, as dusk falls over the yard on New Years day, January 1st, 2021.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/120, ISO 400.
CN Illinois Central Heritage Unit meets KCS at Dexter, MO
Canadian National (CN) Illinois Central Heritage Unit 3008 passes a crew change on a SB crew change on a KCS unit, as it leads empty oil train; ONUCS-01 north on Union Pacific’s Chester Subdivision, after making its own crew change at the Union Pacific Terminal at Dexter, Missouri on December 2nd, 2020.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Mini Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100.
A Norfolk Southern mixed freight passes the Consolidation Grain and Barge Company complex at Lyles Station, as it heads east toward Princeton, Indiana.
According to Wikipedia: “Lyles Station is an unincorporated community in Patoka Township, Gibson County, Indiana. The community dates from 1849, although its early settlers first arrived in the 1830s, and it was formally named Lyles Station in 1886 to honor Joshua Lyles, a free African American who migrated with his family from Tennessee to Indiana around 1837.
Lyles Station is one of Indiana’s early black rural settlements and the only one remaining. The rural settlement reached its peak in the years between 1880 and 1912, when major structures in the community included the railroad depot, a post office, a lumber mill, two general stores, two churches, and a school. By the turn of the twentieth century, Lyles Station had fifty-five homes, with a population of more than 800 people.
The farming community never fully recovered from the Great Flood of 1913, which destroyed much of the town. Most of its residents left for economic reasons, seeking opportunities for higher paying jobs and additional education in larger cities. By 1997 approximately fifteen families remained at Lyles Station, nearly all of them descended from the original settlers.”
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/320, ISO 100.
CSX N302 (Evansville, IN (EVWR) – Stilesboro, GA) passes under the highway 62 overpass at Nortonville, Kentucky as CSXT 3196 leads a loaded coal train along track two as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision on a beautiful winter afternoon.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 100.
The late afternoon light plays across the marshland as Paducah and Louisville 4504 and 4501 begin to pull their freshly loaded coal train away from the Warrior Coal Mine loop from Nebo, Kentucky on December 5th, 2020 as they head south to Calvert City Terminal at Calvert City, Ky.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/640, ISO 100.
Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad 907 heads up the CN Fulton to Paducah local as it passes Canadian Pacific 7015 as it moves north through the Paducah and Louisville Railway yard at Paducah, Kentucky. It was on its way to pickup its train for the return trip to Fulton during its interchange work on the first day of winter, December 21, 2020.
Not sure what the Canadian Pacific 7015 Maroon and Gray Heritage Unit was doing at Paducah, but it made for a nice shot with the CN local
According to Wikipedia: “The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad (reporting mark BLE) is a class II railroad that operates in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.
The railroad’s main route runs from the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio to the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, a distance of 139 miles (224 km). The original rail ancestor of the B&LE, the Shenango and Allegheny Railroad, began operation in October 1869.
Rail operations were maintained continuously by various corporate descendants on the growing system that ultimately became the B&LE in 1900. In 2004 B&LE came under the ownership of the Canadian National Railway (CN) as part of CN’s larger purchase of holding company Great Lakes Transportation. B&LE is operated by CN as their Bessemer Subdivision.
As a subsidiary of CN, B&LE has been largely unchanged (though repainting of B&LE locomotives into CN paint with “BLE” sub-lettering began in April 2015[2]) and still does business as B&LE. B&LE locomotives, especially the former Southern Pacific SD40T-3 “Tunnel Motors”, have been scattered across the CN system; many are being used in the line that feeds most of B&LE’s traffic, the former Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range lines in Minnesota. The iron ore that originates on these lines is transloaded to ships at Two Harbors, Minnesota, then sent by ship to Conneaut, Ohio, where it is again transloaded to B&LE trains.
It is then taken down to steel mills in the Pittsburgh region, mainly to the blast furnaces at US Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania, part of the Mon Valley Works.”
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/640, ISO 100.
Canadian National (CN) locomotive 3233 (Support our Troops) heads north on the CN Centralia Subdivision leading CN M396 passes through Anna, Illinois on December 15th, 2020.
From a CN Press Release: “CNs two new tribute locomotives (CN 3233 & 3015) pay homage to veterans and active military men and women across North America. Their custom design represents the proud footprint we have established across our network and our deep recognition for the veterans who live and work in the communities our trains pass through every day. Stay tuned as they make their debut on our main line in the coming days!”
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100.
Paducah & Louisville PRX1 SB through the clouds at Nebo, Ky
Calm winds prevailed for me as PRX1 makes its way through the the marshlands as Paducah and Louisville 4504 and 4501 pull their freshly loaded coal train away from the Warrior Coal Mine loop at Nebo, Kentucky on December 5th, 2020 providing wonderful reflections!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100, Exp. Comp -3 (for detail in the highlights).
CSXT 3113 & 214 lead loaded coal train N040-09 as its shadow chases along on the track next to it as it passes the Planters Bank Grain silos headed south on the Henderson Subdivision at Sebree, Kentucky on December 9th, 2020.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/640, ISO 100.
The late afternoon light plays across the marshland as Paducah and Louisville 4504 and 4501 pull their freshly loaded coal train away from the Warrior Coal Mine loop from Nebo, Kentucky on December 5th, 2020.
This is my first photograph I’m sharing from my new Mavic Air 2 drone that shoots RAW! With the Mavic Mini I’ve not been happy with it only shooting JPG and being very hard to control highlights and the skies in my photography. This drone for me is a game changer, when it comes to being able to pull all the detail out of the image! My clouds and skies are back!!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100.