SimRacin14's Railfanning/Road Trip thread

SimRacin14 Sep 1, 2010

  1. bravogjt

    bravogjt TrainBoard Member

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    Another great road trip. Thanks for taking us along!

    Ben
     
  2. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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  3. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    I've had an interesting three days.

    3/6/2011
    [​IMG]
    CSX #7301 led Q275 south through Glendale,KY early on Sunday morning. CSX SD40-3 4002 was supposedly going to be the leader, but wasn't. I'll gladly trade that for this!
    3/7/2011
    I spent Monday in Burgin,KY. I saw 14 trains in the entire day.
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    UP units led one southbound train
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    BNSF units led the southbound train after that.
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    This ex-Conrail went north on NS 174.
     
  4. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    [​IMG]
    A leased UP unit also went north on NS 235.
    3/8/2011
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    Caught CSX 7587 in "stealth" paint leading Q525 in Lebanon Junction,KY.
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    Caught CSX 7868 with some weird numbering on the cab leading Q268 past Q574 at FX Tower in Louisville.
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    The catch of the day and perhaps the week was this pair of BNSF units with a KCS "Southern Belle" in tow!
     
  5. bravogjt

    bravogjt TrainBoard Member

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    Yes you did. Great photos!

    Ben
     
  6. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    Caught another Conrail unit yesterday. I had originally planned on getting up early and catching this unit on a train coming into Louisville, but after working late into the night and only sleeping 2 hours, I decided to cancel an early morning trip in favor of more sleep. I figured I'd probably miss the train entirely. I woke up early in the afternoon, and heard the work train, W011, waiting just south of Louisville for a northbound. I grabbed my camera and headed over to catch it.

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    W011, Brooks,KY
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    Pacing shots from Highway 61 just south of Shepherdsville,KY

    This particular unit usually stays down south, I figure I'm lucky to have caught it at all. I have just a few more to get, hopefully before CSX gets around to repainting them.
     
  7. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    On Sunday I got word that Q275 had foreign power, so I headed over to the Main Line Sub to look for it. After starting at Colesburg and working my way north, I heard it call a signal at Brooks,KY, so I decided to stop and wait for it at Shepherdsville:
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    Continuing north, I made my way into Louisville and to the north end of Osborn Yard. I noticed a train was coming into the yard, so I decided to try out a small back road that runs parallel to the tracks, typically I stay on the other road across the tracks from this one, but with the sun being in the wrong spot, I gave this road a try. I was rewarded for my efforts with one of CSX's SD70ACes!
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    S226 came on the scanner shortly thereafter and mentioned that they were ready to leave. I made my way over to Frankfort Avenue to wait on them:
    [​IMG]
    After heading back to the yard and then stopping by my brother's house for a few minutes, the scanner came on again mentioning that Q244 was almost ready to leave. I went west, deciding to try to catch the train a bit out of Louisville for a change. I decided Medora,KY would be the spot, and after a little bit of a wait, Q244 finally showed up:
    [​IMG]
     
  8. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    Monday was the opposite of Sunday, with cold temperatures and plenty of rain. I'd planned on sitting at home most of the day to catch up on sleep, when the scanner informed me that Q275 once again had foreign power. At first I wasn't going to try to chase it, but with the weather radar online showing the rain clearing for a bit, and the train getting stalled on Muldraugh's Hill, I drove over to Glendale,KY to wait for it. Q237, which had left Louisville a half hour later than Q275, would help Q275 up the hill. A pair of UP units were up front on Q275:
    [​IMG]
    Q237 followed a few minutes later:
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    After Q237 passed, I figured there'd just be one more train in daylight, a Q235. I was wrong however, as Q573 showed up a couple minutes later:
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    Q235 was the last train I did catch,however:
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  9. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    A few from the past week:

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  10. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    Derby Trains

    Day 1 (5/4/11)
    CSX's OCS Train was headed north from Nashville early in the morning, so I headed south to meet it. I'd originally planned to catch near Louisville, but figured afternoon lighting wouldn't be great so I went on down to Bowling Green. Q275 and J756 went south first, then Q210 showed up:
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    After a bit of a wait, I got word from a friend that P912 was getting close. It stopped to flag a crossing near WKU campus in Bowling Green, and then proceeded north very slowly towards the Depot/Museum, where I was sitting:
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    After he passed, the chase was on. Since he was moving slowly, I managed to pass him before he'd even gone a mile north of the Bowling Green depot. I took the interstate to Park City, and waited on him there. It wasn't a long wait, as the train had picked up speed after getting out of Bowling Green:
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    I followed him north along 31W, managing to pass him just south of Horse Cave. However a light stopped me from keeping my lead, so I went over to the interstate. At this point my truck needed gas, so I stopped and got gas, with the pump not helping one bit. By the time I hit the interstate again, he was truly flying. I spent the next 20 miles on I-65 just catching up with him, and it took another 10 miles before I was ahead of him. I decided to go on towards Louisville in order to have enough time to prepare for him. Fortunately another slow order held him up south of Elizabethtown. I went up to the south end of Osborn Yard, at "Park", in Fairdale,KY. Q235 was waiting P912 before heading south. Clouds prevented me from getting a nicely sunlit shot of P912 however.
    [​IMG]
     
  11. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    Derby Trains '11

    Day 2(5/5/11)
    I'd gotten word that Amtrak's Derby train would be in Southern Indiana early in the morning, just after sunrise. I left work and went home and got my camera and other stuff together, and went to Jeffersonville. Amazingly I didn't get held up at all on I-65 through Louisville in the morning rush hour. Ten minutes after I arrived at Jeffersonville, the Amtrak train showed up:
    [​IMG]

    CSX's Office Train would be leaving for Lexington the same day, and I had some time to kill so I went by Frankfort Avenue and waited most of the late morning and early afternoon. Q226, Q299,Q231 and Z546 all passed. Q512 left Osborn Yard ahead of P912, and gave me some CP power as a bonus for my patience.
    [​IMG]

    CSX's train finally showed up, and I went north along Frankfort Avenue to catch it:
    [​IMG]

    After catching the office train I headed home for some sleep, I'd been up since 7am the previous day with 2 hours of sleep in the meantime.
     
  12. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    Derby Trains '11

    Day 3 (5/7/11)
    My third day of chasing Derby trains started nice and sunny. I went to Frankfort to wait on CSX and R.J. Corman's trains. I'd photographed the CSX train enough already, so the Corman train was my priority. While waiting on the Derby specials I managed to photograph some RJC stuff sitting in a siding west of Frankfort.
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    CSX's train rolled by first, then an hour later R.J. Corman's train came through:
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    I was hoping to get at least one shot of the train between Louisville and Frankfort, but it was moving too quickly. I made my way over to Frankfort Avenue in Louisville and caught the train there on CSX trackage:
    [​IMG]
     
  13. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    Derby Trains '11

    Day 4(5/8/11)

    There was one final Derby train to catch, Norfolk Southern's. My original plan was to sit at Waddy,KY and wait on it there before chasing it east. However a derailment on the line the night before messed my plans up, so I went west trying to catch it. I met it as it was coming out of Louisville. I managed to catch it and get ahead of the train, but the road I was on veered away from the tracks, and I had no idea where to turn to catch it. The train tied down in Shelbyville for the night, meaning I wouldn't get it. I decided to head back to Louisville, and caught one of CSX's few units in Conrail paint on Q502, and Q573 passing by FX
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  14. bravogjt

    bravogjt TrainBoard Member

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    Awesome shots as always!!

    Ben
     
  15. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    Nice Conrail photo. They have to be getting more rare every day.
     
  16. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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  17. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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    Some photos from a two day trip to the Henderson Sub,most of these are from around the Nortonville,KY area:

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  18. SimRacin14

    SimRacin14 TrainBoard Member

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  19. bravogjt

    bravogjt TrainBoard Member

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    Mighty fine shots my friend! :thumbs_up:

    Ben
     
  20. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    You obviously have a great railfanning spot! :thumbs_up:
     

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