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It's 1943, and World War 2 is being fought across both oceans. Back in rural Georgia, a crew is getting ready to head south towards Macon, where they'll swap out with another crew that will head west to Savannah where war supplies will be shipped to Europe. The young crew knows they have to keep time or risk delaying more than just a few business men on the way to work, they would delay a decent bit of the war effort. The fireman was keeping the firebox hot and roaring and the engineer took his turn to oil the rods. A few minutes later, the locomotive would whistle off, and her mile long train would fly down the rails. This crew would actually make it to Macon an hour ahead of schedule and the new crew hadn't even arrived yet. This same crew would take their engine to the coaling tower and water tank, do some small maintenance, and run hard back towards Chattanooga for another load. They would swap with a new crew around Rome and be back the next day, once again with the MacArthur 699. In reality, it's 2025 and this is Southern 4501 dressed as 699. Hunter Terrell is in the cab while Christian James is on the ground. This was after the TVRM Founder's Day night shoot and both of them wanted to pose with the 699, and I don't blame them!

CofG 699 receives final touches

The most spectacular derailment I have witnessed and photographed happened on April 21, 1980. Santa Fe 2862 east, with SF 2849, EMD 764 (Ex-Conrail) and 6371 ran into the back end of another stopped eastbound at Mountainair, NM. The oncoming westbound train had trailers ripped opened by derailed cars fouling the main. It was quite a mess on this April 21st, 1980 afternoon.

Santa Fe Kodachrome helpers 1564, 1573 push hard against SF caboose 999236 and a Los Angeles-Barstow manifest train near Alray in November 1985.

UP 4014, UP 1616 and UP 1776 are on display at the Ogden Union Station, as thousands of people come to see the train.

RMRX 8020, RMRX 8021 and the Canyon Spirit passenger train at the Seven Mile siding, rest underneath the stars near Arches National Park in Moab, UT.

UP 8937 West burst into the sunshine at Henefer with a long PSR combined grain/manifest train.

UP 6059, UP 7045, and UP 5906 helper units wait for their next assignment at Helper, UT on a beautiful afternoon.

UP 6521, 8425, and 7310 lead an eastbound Salt Lake-Chicago Z train through the tunnels/bridges of Taggart at 10:21am.

UP 6005 is the rear DPU helper on a westbound grain at the twin Taggart tunnels/bridges at 10:08am.

Utah Transit Authority's #20 rest at the station in Ogden, UT on a beautiful afternoon with snow still on the mountains.

Utah Railroad GP40-3's 3002 and 3000 sit at the Utah Central Railway yard in Ogden.

UP 4943 and UP 4263 lead the Malad local from Bingham City, Utah. The train is stopped at Corrine, Utah waiting for a new crew on a beautiful afternoon.

CP 7020 leads a grain train going westbound thru CP Heacker

Union Bridge, MD June 2023. Former Western Maryland right of way.

The sun has yet to rise over the holler as the action begins on an early January morning within the coalfields, the hot coal creating a cloud of steam as it meets the steel of the frost-covered 3-bay hoppers within the 90 car unit train. This is an iconic winter-y coalfield vibe seldom found these days, the art of old fashioned mining rapidly being forgotten. Despite the quaking urge to shiver, we steadily watched the GE giants roar to life as the belt line fed coal across US 119 and the Poorfork of the Cumberland River on this cold and chilly morning.

Corbin-Lynch mine run R611 creeps overtop of US 119 as they load their 110 car unit train at Bluegrass Natural Resources' Lynch 3 loadout. The town of Cumberland, Kentucky, resides in the valley to the left, a once busy railroad town now quiet save for the occasional train to creep around the outskirts.

Savage Railroad units 1704 and 8609 work the Savage Elko Transload facility in Osino, NV.

BNSF 8042 West leads the Provo-Stockton manifest on UP rails at Osino, NV just east of Elko.

UP Big Boy 4014 steam special comes through Deeth, NV under crystal clear skies at 17:09 pm. The "250th" special includes SD70M's Abe Lincoln 1616 and UP 1776 "250th" commemorative unit.