Sunday, December 18, 2011

Always In Training

All this writing about hoboes has me missing my trains. Or, missing the photographing of the trains, at least. Here's a sampling of shots from 2008 and 2009. Above, a westbound and empty coal train comes off the Old Main Line at Point of Rocks, MD in May, 2009.

Eastbound mixed freight splits the new signals at Barnesville, MD in May of 2008.

I miss the old B&O target signals. Change is bad, mmkay?

Another eastbound at Barnesville, later that same day.

Westbound Q400 rounds the big curve at Thomas Viaduct in Relay, near Baltimore. The tracks branching off to the left are the Old Main Line. This train will pass them again at their other end, in Point of Rocks.

Coal rumbles through Washington Grove, MD in the Spring of 2008.

Steam rises from the wet ties as the temperature quickly moves from the 50s to the 70s. Washington Grove, 2008.

I hate snow, but this morning at Washington Grove in January, 2009 was fun. Here comes the empty trash train, returning to the transfer station a mile or so away, to load up with more rubbish.

One spring morning in 2009, this old engine - the last un-rebuilt GP40 on the CSX - puttered by with a short work train. Just visible on the right, beyond the bridge, is a privately-owed old caboose, languishing in the sun.

At the west portal of the old Point of Rocks tunnel, empty auto-racks rattle westward, en route to Detroit to be reloaded with new cars.

Thanks for stopping by. More to come, as my hobo lifestyle permits...

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Sometimes Skies Do This And Seas Do That

So, it's monsooning ridiculously hard in Maryland, tonight - might even change to snow before it's over. Normally, I head straight for my Keys or St. Thomas pics or some such warming images. Tonight, for some reason, I'm into the doom and gloom and howling wind. The sun is supposedly coming back tomorrow, anyway. The skies and seas in this post were photographed from the balcony of our favorite motel in Kill Devil Hills, NC in 2007.

See spray? I know - so do I!

Cormorants on the wing. It was really, really dark.

Then this happened. Serious coastal rain.

Gull. Yup.

Pelicans!

Wait - is that a patch of blue?

Just enough of a break to allow for a nice sunset over the Albemarle Sound.

The following morning's sunrise wasn't perfect, but I included it here because of the sheer novelty of having been awake to shoot it. Mornings are not my thing.

But this is. Early sunshine on a churning Atlantic. Looks like something else entirely.

Back soon! :)