Search

R613 is roaring down the Poorfork towards NRG with CSX 363 leading the charge, still in its as-delivered YN2 paint scheme. We made it with only 2 minutes to spare; we received notification upon exit from the tunnel by Rhea and rushed down from the house. As we stepped out of the truck, and met another railfan by name of Will Jordan, we heard the horn sound in the distance. Perfect lighting, perfect morning catch.

In what I call a fantastic outcome of shots, CSX 1850 leads M652 across the old Clinchfield N&W overpass in Saint Paul, Virginia. I have seen dozens of images staged here with various units of all types, yet this was the first time we had caught anything in Saint Paul in general. The closest we had came was amidst our chasing of the Santa Train, where we passed through. Until the Clinchfield Heritage Unit is done, and runs this way, this will have to do for now. Hey, wouldn't this be Family Lines?

CSX 1827 made a surprise visit to Lynch 3 on R614. If it hadn't been for my good friend Jeremy Williams, I would have never known it had came and gone. The Baltimore & Ohio scheme shines in the mid-day sun as Dragon pilots the unit and they begin loading. 1827 is the first Heritage Unit to make its appearance at Lynch 3 and is also the first Heritage Unit to grace CSX's roster. Good times.

After a what is to be considered major derailment along the CC Subdivision around Livingston, Ky, the Cumberland Valley Sub welcomed reroute traffic with open rails. G740-20 is seen here in Loyall having just tied down for the next few days. After doubling their train back into yard tracks 8 and 9, it will await a future crew to take it on south to Kingsport and then on up the former Clinchfield on its way to Russel. Not to far behind it is a second grainer, running as G842-20.

One of the rarer catches along the Rockhouse Subdivision, a 110 car unit train is found up the branch at Raven with the 1100 recrew loading the second cut. I can count on one hand how many trains have loaded here this year, and so the shower of rain didn’t bother me while shooting.

CSX 1776 spent a few days on the EK Subdivision last fall upon several local odd jobs. Finally, it went back to its original train at the Typo loadout, E018. I arrived shorty after the crew change, the previous had loaded the train. The sun lit the side of the unit just right, and before long, C442 was on its way through Hazard.

When I caught wind that 3194 was leading an R614 for Lynch 3, me and dad set up camp and lay wait in Loyall for its arrival. We made a few errand runs back and forth in town, one of which leading us to an encounter with a Harlan City police officer who was on duty for the night. Knowing the law enforcement unit was on its way, we thought it would be nice to stop and notify the officer of the upcoming photo-op. Hours passed, and as the clock struck midnight the horn echoed in the distance. About that time, our new officer friend pulled in beside us for the catch. It crept through the yard at a slow pace, but I knew it wouldn’t stop until a short ways ahead at Baxter. I’ve made friends with the CV crews over the years, and I wanted to see who was on duty tonight. We pulled in by the switch tower and I crept through the cold dark night to the switch stand for the Poorfork. The conductor came down and approached the switch post, and I was overjoyed to find it was a great friend of mine. Somehow, I was able to talk him into easing the train to a stop on the crossing just ahead, where this photo beside our officer friends cruiser on an IPhone took place. I think it turned out quite nice and it made an amazing memory.

After several years of cancellation due to Covid, the Clinchfield Santa Train made its glorious return thanks to new CSX President Joe Hinrichs. A Clinchfield tradition, CSX typically sends its OCS to its predecessor’s trackage annually in order to distribute gifts to many locals within the trackside communities between Shelbiana, Ky and Kingsport, Tn. This year, the more recently repainted OCS made its first run down the Clinchfield wearing its B&O paint scheme, shown here passing a former Clinchfield crossing sign in Dungannon, Va.

One lucky evening in my early years of photography, I stumbled upon a rare find on the CV. In a world among Gevo’s, an Ex-L&N SD40-2 found its way back to trackage that chances are it had hauled coal on many decades before. My presumption is that it came from Kingsport on its MOW train; inexperienced me at the time wasn’t aware how rare it was to see one of these powerhouses on this coal sub. Of all things, I shot on an Apple IPad at the time; probably the best photo I ever took on it.

The day began as the Eastman train barreled down upon Loyall with 45 empties and a YN2 leader, a classic scene that is only ruined by the trailing YN3 ES44AH. This was strange compared to the normal operations, as they usually load the full 90 cars, take 45’s in 2 trips and brung the entire 90 empties back. The dispatcher got themselves into a bit of a pickle however. R615 was rolling in on Main 2 and the other 45 Eastman loads was on Main 1. In the yard tracks, only 3 are inspected and up to date for use, the rest are for storage or just out of service. A MOW train of ballast and ties took up one of those tracks, and a set of bad orders was on another, meaning that when Eastman arrived with the loads and went in on the only open track, it was impossible for the power to run around for its second cut. Instead of leaving first, the crew had to wait until the high rail finished up for the R615 instead, better news for me. I opted to catch them coming in by the old Baxter Interlocking Tower, built in 1926.

After swapping power with an inbound R615 for Creech, the former Eastman power leads the loads back to Corbin after finishing up the overnight job. This drone shot from the middle of one of the old L&N double track steel girder bridges caught the 700 series leader in the early morning light; I had gotten lucky and caught them rolling through Dayhoit on our way to Kingsport.