More Trains At The Turn Of The Millennium

Back for another quick ride on the high iron. Above - Union Pacific power idling on CSX right of way in Baldwin, FL in 1999.

Westbound coal empties snaking through the S curves at Shenandoah Junction, WV in 1998.

CSX Q400 and one of the MARC westbound commuter trains at Point of Rocks, MD in 2000.

Westbound MARC train #871, with old F-7 #7100 sporting brand-new paint, passing the signal at Barnesville, MD in 2001.

Eastbound Rock-Runner at Gaithersburg, MD in 2001.

Baby Car watching eastbound coal drag at Boyds, MD in 2000.

A special guest appearance by the Tropicana "juice express" - shown here splitting the signals at the Pepco switch near Dickerson, MD. New signals have been installed, but are not yet operational (to the right of the train).

Newly-painted MARC F-7 #7100, sitting pretty at Gaithersburg, MD's "old town" commuter station in 2001.

WB Q400 passing Gaithersburg station in 2001.

Heading toward the digital age - Three different models roll east "elephant style" through Washington Grove, MD in 2005.

That's all for now. Soon - back to the Florida Keys!

Steel At Magnolia

Yesterday, I found my way to Magnolia, WV to scout potential locations for shooting trains in fall color. The trees are not quite ready and the sky wasn't the best for most of the day, but here are some relatively unedited samples. The bit of color above is actually the ridge just north of Great Cacapon, WV - about 20 miles from Magnolia.

West Portal, Stuart Tunnel, Magnolia.

Westbound Q400 clears the signals at Magnolia.

Caboose! These things are exceedingly rare on a train like this. Weird.

Venturing onto the trestle over the Potomac at Magnolia, looking west through Graham Tunnel.

Q373 rolls west toward Paw Paw and points beyond.

Q415 crossing the Potomac at Magnolia. Where were you this morning, when the sun would have been right on your nose? Phooey.

Dead Tree! That's mainly for Mom. She loves dead tree pictures.

A little switching work at Hancock, MD on the way home.

That's all for now. Still scanning hundreds of negatives from 1997-2006. Ciao!

Trains In Black And White

Trains look older when photographed in black & white. We railfans tend to like our trains old. Above: Idle Power at Brunswick, MD in 1993.

CSX GP40 #6223 emerging from the west portal of the Point of Rocks, MD Tunnel in 1999.

At the same location, but facing west, the eastbound Q216 is captured in 1997 with the C&O Canal tow path and the Potomac River in the background.

Q398 rumbles east through Dickerson, MD in 1993.

At Riverside Shops in Baltimore in 1993, this ex-Burlington Northern E-9 has received its new MARC identifiers and awaits a "67" number board.

In 1992, westbound Amtrak train #29 "Capitol Limited" rolls toward its first stop in Rockville, MD. It will be in downtown Chicago by lunchtime tomorrow.

Two shots of a CSX freight heading east out of Cumberland Yard and past Mexico Tower at North Branch, MD in 1992.

A train robbery reenactment at the old Western Maryland Station in Cumberland, MD in 1996.

Westbound Q217 approaching Cumberland Yard in 1992 and not making nearly enough noise.

Check back for more. So much more...

Train-chasing in 2nd Gear

In an effort to keep you non-railfans from getting dangerously bored, I've tried to round up a few train pics that are at least somewhat interesting, photographically speaking. I found that I have more than a few, so I randomly selected nine for this post and I will upload more later. If trains just aren't your thing, hang in there. I'll be getting to The Cruising Years (MD, PA, VA, WV, KY) soon, and hopefully the lighthouses that follow will prove to be worth the wait. But first - the above banner photo is the meeting of two Conrail trains just about smack in the middle of the famed Horseshoe Curve, near Altoona, PA in 1995.

This set of Rio Grande light power was photographed as it followed the Amtrak train #5 "California Zephyr" into the Rockies west of Denver, CO in January 1987.

Where the railroad meets the sea - CSX #6577 (with the obnoxiously elusive #4253 hiding behind it) sits at Penn-Mary Junction in East Baltimore, MD in 1992. The gantry cranes in the background belong to the Port of Baltimore.

A rare switching operation at Point of Rocks, MD in the summer of 1991.

Significant more for history than for photographic quality, this shot of a westbound container train leaving Cumberland, MD in 1992 could not be duplicated today. The rails that branch off to the right (towards Cincinnati) are now single-track, the manual switch lines in the far upper right of the frame are gone (replaced by electronic relays), the steps of Viaduct Junction tower, from which I shot this photo (and the tower itself) are gone and there's now a big modern signal bridge situated about where the last engine is. "Progress."

Westbound freight laboring up the grade near Fairhope, PA in a misty autumn chill - 1993.

Westbound auto-racks crossing Thomas Viaduct over the Patapsco River, between Relay and Elkridge, MD - not far from Baltimore - in 1992.

Amtrak train #29 "Capitol Limited" blasts westward past Randolph Road with a couple of miles to go before its first stop at Rockville, MD in 1995.

CSX #6603, still in B&O paint, awaiting service at the Riverside Shops in Baltimore, MD in 1994.

Thanks for looking. Much more to come!

Old Stuff On The MARC, Part Two: The F-Units

The MARC Commuter Rail system in the early 1990s was loads of fun for railfans. We've already covered the rickety old RDCs. Tonight, we'll take a quick look at some of the F-units MARC employed during the period leading up to their mid-90s fleet upgrade. These classic locomotives from a bygone era in rail travel are extremely photogenic. Dating back to the late 40s and early 50s, they're streamlined and elegant and with the right paint scheme can appear to be smiling. Enough said. The CSX F7 (A-B) set above, followed by one of MARC's own F7 A units, is seen crossing the Monacacy River near Dickerson, MD in 1992.

MARC #7100 at Brunswick, MD in 1994, awaiting repainting in the silver/blue/orange scheme.

CSX #116 and MARC #83 in the yard at Brunswick, MD in 1991.

CSX #116 pushes its train east past Point of Rocks, MD in 1992.

MARC #'s 85 & 7100 on the west end of Rail Appreciation Days special train at Brunswick, MD in 1991.

CSX #118 and MARC #7100 approaching the Thomas Viaduct en route to Baltimore on MARC's Camden Line in 1992.

MARC #85 approaching Metropolitan Grove Road in Gaithersburg, MD in 1994.

MARC #83 races west past eastbound auto-racks near Derwood, MD in 1993. For the record, I would recommend against trying to cling to the top of a barbed-wire fence to shoot two high-speed trains heading in opposite directions within seconds of each other in insufficient light. Just sayin'.

THANKS FOR LOOKING. MUCH MORE TO COME...

Basic Training

I have been fascinated with trains since I was a child, but I didn't start making a semi-serious effort to photograph them until early 1991. I have approximately eleventy-five bazillion photos of trains now, so it's been a challenge to select favorites to post here. I've gathered a nearly-random sample of five shots from 1991-1992 below. All were shot along the Metropolitan Subdivision of CSXT's former Baltimore and Ohio line, between Kensington, MD and Brunswick, MD. The banner photo above is a tracks-eye view of what was left of Brunswick's yard in 1996.

Above: Westbound auto racks rumbling through the defect detector at Rock Creek, just west of Kensington, MD in 1991 - in one of my very first railfan shots. Yes, I'm pretty sure that headlight is out. No, I have no idea why.

Idling coal drags at Brunswick, MD in August 1991. The SD50 on the right and GP40 on the left, still sporting Chessie System colors, had yet to be repainted in the CSX blue and grey scheme.

For much of the early 1990s, MARC Rail employed CSX power on many of its commuter trains. Rolling past Brunswick station, this F7-A (former CRR, I think) is on the east end of a special Railroad Appreciation Days excursion from Brunswick, MD to Martinsburg, WV and back, in 1991.

Okay, the shot above is far from perfect. I've got motion blur, an overexposed nose and my focus is about halfway back on the lead engine, thanks to firing a quarter-second too late. I don't mind all that, because bright sunlight on a train (and trees!) with dark clouds in the background is one of my favorite settings. It was still 1991, and I was still learning to shoot these things. Empty coal trains (this one is coming off the Old Main Line past Point of Rocks, MD) can be awfully fast!

This 1992 photo of GP30 #4253 as the middle unit on the westbound (empty) "Rock Runner" crossing Randolph Road near Rockville, MD goes in the "lucky shots" file. My friend and railfan mentor and unofficial life coach had given me a heads-up that this engine was coming and that it was facing backwards, so I had pre-focused and composed the shot, but the train was absolutely flying, so getting it in the right spot was just luck. This engine, with its rare B&O "sunburst" paint scheme, has a story all its own for me and my buddy, but that's another post for another time.