Today's Train of Thought- Once Again Whistling Past the Graveyard, October 25, 2011

Today's train of thought seems to have a little bit of everything- some New England Fall Color, 'classic' motive power, clear skies, branchline railroading and- fittingly enough a few days before Halloween- a graveyard.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Brian P Bennett caught up with Guilford/Pan-Am local BK-1 as it makes its way south with light power. EMDs are trundling past the Riverview Cemetery in N. Bucksport, ME in October of 2007 enroute to do some work at Bucksport on a crisp day as the leaves are approaching their peak colors.

Lettered for Guilford/Maine Central, GP40 #381 has the honors today, followed by high-hood GP35 #212. The photographer has traced the lineage of the #381 as far back as 1969 when it was built as Seaboard Coast Line #1577. The trailing #212 is slightly older, being built in May 1964 for the Nickel Plate before their October 1964 merger with Norfolk & Western.

And to the best of my knowledge, none of the headstones in the Riverview Cemetery read 'Gage Creed'.

Todays Train of Though- Change of Seasons in the Hoosier State, October 24, 2011

Granted New England seems to be more renowned for its fall foliage, but with just the right composition, the Midwest autumn can be just as colorful.

Take for instance this local freight on the Indiana & Ohio's Brookville line in Southern Indiana. Here, railpictures.net contributor Michael Beihn caught GP38-2 #3889 from sister Rail America road Chicago, Ft Wayne & Eastern trundling long hood forward past some late fall foliage in Cedar Grove, IN in November 2009. In most of New England, most of the foliage is typically already on the ground by this point.

The freight shown here is traversing the I&O's Brookville branch which connects the southern Indiana town with the Cincinnati, OH area.

Today's Train of Though- Of Sound Mind; Dec 4th, 2010

The Puget Sound & Pacific is a fairly new arrival as far as some of the shortlines in the Pacific Northwest are concerned. After already successfully starting up the Arizona & California and California Northern railroads, the ParkSierra group ventured into the Northwest with their purchase of the former BNSF (nee Northern Pacific) line between Centralia and Grays Harbor, WA (as well as the branch between Elma and Shelton, WA and on north to the naval base at Bremerton) in the summer of 1997. In 2002, ParkSierra Group was purchased by Rail America and the Puget Sound & Pacific as well as the California Northern and Arizona & California were brought into the Rail America fold.

Traffic, like other shortlines in the Pacific Northwest, consists of about what you'd expect- like forestry products. Of course, with the line also serving the Naval base at Bremerton, there's also a touch of the unexpected, like garbage, munitions and Trident missile insertion tubes.

And like other Rail America operations, over time this would mean an influx of power from other, more distant Rail America lines. With the leaves changing on this sunny October 2010 afternoon, railpictures.net contributor Joel Hawthorn caught Puget Sound & Pacific GP38 #3802- still in its ParkSierra paint scheme- rounding the curve and in charge of seven units with the Shelton-Bangor Turn, including power from the Florida East Coast and Dallas, Garland and Northeastern (still in Norfolk Southern paint). The heavier grades north of Shelton require additional power.

Today's Train of Thought- Foliage Along the Main Street of Montana; Nov 26, 2010

Proving that the northeast doesn't have the monopoly on fall colors, today's Train of Thought comes to us from Big Sky Country as the aspens in the Rockies begin to turn to gold courtesy of railpictures.net contributor mtgteam2.

Here, a duo of new Montana Rail Link's new SD70ace's lead westbound manifest freight LM (Laurel, MT to Missoula) through Nimrod, MT with a few miles remaining before reaching its destination of Missoula. The SD70ace's were purchased new in 2005 and have begun gradually replacing the older SD40s and SD45s that were purchased secondhand, some of them dating as far back as the 1987 formation of the MRL.

Today's Train of Thought- Cardinal Truth About Passenger Rail in Kentucky, Nov. 15, 2010

Louisville, KY lost it's most recent incarnation of passenger rail back in 2003, with the cessation of Amtrak's Louisville Cardinal, an extension of Amtrak's Cardinal that ran from Chicago to Washington D.C. via Indianapolis and Cincinnati. The Louisville section of the Cardinal would simply operate over the Louisville & Indiana line between Indianapolis and Louisville after splitting off with the Chicago-D.C. section of the train, but the odd arrival and departure hours and 30 MPH track speed on the L&I eventually doomed it.

That's not to say there isn't any interest in passenger rail in Kentucky's largest city. In September 2008, a delegation of Kentucky transportation officials and commuter rail advocates travelled to Nashville, TN to inspect that city's Music City Star commuter rail service in the hopes of starting up a similar service in the Louisville area.

Approximately two months later, Four Rivers Transportation arranged a trainset for a trial run on the Paducah & Louisville line between Louisville and Cecilia, KY southwest of Louisville. Powered by PAL GP38-2 #3801 (painted in Louisville University Cardinals colors) and PAL GP38-2 #1998 (painted in University of Kentucky Wildcats colors), railpictures.net contributor Alex Moss caught the special passing through Muldraugh, KY (just North of Ft. Knox) on its return trip to Louisville, KY on November 8 2008. Even among the fall foliage, the consist stands out in contrast to the Paducah & Louisville's fleet of two-tone green diesels.

Today's Train of Thought- Out On A Limb; Nov 5th, 2010

With less than a month of road service under it's belt, brand new Norfolk Southern SD70M-2 #2656 finds itself on the point of Norfolk Southern's Frisco to Big Stone Gap, VA local, train symbol #T-74 as it makes its way east through Gate City, VA.

Railpictures.net contributor Chris Starnes caught the brand-new Thoroughbred making it's way past some peak foliage in October 2005, making good use of some of the trees in the foreground on this former Norfolk & Western line some 50 years after photographer O Winson Link travelled from Brooklyn, NY to that part of Virginia to document the final days of big steam on a major North American railroad..

Today's Train of Thought- Say "Adirondack"; October 28, 2010

Today's train of thought takes us to the opposite shore of Lake Champlain and the Canadian Pacific's former Delaware & Hudson line between Albany, NY and Montreal, QC.

This end of the D&H wasn't historically as busy as the Mechanicville, NY to Binghampton, NY segment, which to this day serves as a bridge line between New England and the mid-Atlantic states and points west. However, besides being the railroad's gateway to Canada, the more northerly and scenic portion of the D&H was noteworthy in that it hosted one of the few post-Amtrak passenger trains where a freight railway used their own locomotives and rolling stock, when the railroad resumed passenger hauling with the Adirondack in 1974.

Amtrak eventually assumed control of the Rensselaer, NY to Montreal segment of the Adirondack and to this day is rated as one of the passenger carrier's most scenic routes. Through it all, the Adirondack has continued operating through the host railroad's acquisition and subsequent messy divorce from Guilford Transportation, the more amicable divorce from New York Susquehanna & Western and it's current ownership by Canadian Pacific.

In fact, traffic on the Albany-Montreal section of the D&H is expected to see an increase, with the Canadian Pacific and CSX reaching an agreement on hauling CSX freight between Selkirk, NY and Montreal, eliminating a lengthy detour via Syracuse, NY for CSX. In return, CSX would handle Canadian Pacific's freight between New York City and Selkirk. Aside from the already existing CP traffic and newly rerouted CSX traffic, the Adirondack also has to compete with trains 666 and it's less satanic counterpart 667, a unit ethanol train that runs between North Dakota and Providence, RI via Chicago, Toronto, Montreal and Rutland, VT (onto the Vermont Railway, New England Central and Providence & Worcester).

Railpictures.net contributor Frank Jolin knows this line well, and on October 23, 2009 he caught Amtrak P42CD #16 leading the southbound Adirondack (train #68 on most timetables), complete with a dome car, making it's way past the Red Rocks above Lake Champlain's Willsboro Bay, just north of Willsboro NY.

Today's Train of Thought- Peak-a-Boo! October 26, 2010

I already mentioned that New England doesn't necessarily have the monopoly on fall colors, right? True enough, the foliage in Michigan's upper peninsula or upstate New York's Adirondack and Hudson Valley regions explode into similarly brilliant displays of reds, oranges and yellows- all making for impressive photographic backdrops.

Although many areas in the Southeast or mid-Atlantic can be hit or miss, West Virginia has no shortage of autumn foliage. Railpictures.net contributor Chase Gunnoe reported that a particularly mild summer in 2009 resulted in noticeably brighter oranges and yellows. Here, he snapped CSX (ex-Conrail) GP38-2 #2751 heading south through Ben's Run, WV in October 2009 with a local. The local train originated at Brooklyn Jct. in New Martinsville, WV and is heading south parallel to the Ohio River and WV Route 2 en route to switching some of the industries along the former B&O Ohio River Subdivision.

Today's Train of Thought- Change is U.P. in The Air; October 17, 2010

The Lake Superior and Ishpeming in Michigan's Upper Penninsula had a reputation for making the most for it's oddball fleet of six-axle ALCos and GE diesels up until the end of the 1980s, where they were replaced.....well....by more oddball diesels. This time around, the replacements took the form of nearly twenty six-axles U30C's purchased secondhand from Burlington Northern. The 3000 HP behemoths had an extensive background hauling coal from Wyoming's Powder River basin to power plants throughout the midwest and would seemingly be at home hauling ore jennies from the mines to the dock along the south shore of Lake Superior at Marquette, MI. The 50-mile line sees most of it's traffic come from mining.

With the leaves starting to change color in Michigan's upper peninsula, railpictures.net contributor Kevin the Krazy 1 caught LS&I U30C #3006 leading a short train from the Canadian National (former Wisconsin Central) interchange through the rock cut at Neagunnee, MI on a brilliant October 2008 afternoon.

While change may come slowly to the LS&I, it does come sooner or later as the shortline is presently leasing nine C44-9s from CIT Group.

Today's Train of Thought- Berkshire Revival; October 11, 2010

Perhaps no railroad in New England could better personify the revival of rail freight in Western New England than the Housatonic Railroad. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, I had relatives who lived in towns along the weed-choked and forlorn Canaan running track between Canaan, CT and Pittsfield, MA which the Boston and Maine received during the formation of Conrail in 1976. A decade of neglect under B&M successor Guilford Transportation didn't help matters much: the outlook for the former New Haven Railway line was bleak and it looked as though western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut would get yet another sorely needed bike trail.

To the south, the most recent incarnation of the Houstaonic Railway started up service in 1983 between New Milford and Canaan, CT. It was expected that the Housatonic would do reasonably well hauling excursion trains on the weekend, but these plans were undone by the line's 10 MPH speed limit. However, there were a number of freight customers available that allowed the railway to continue operating.

In 1991, the Housatonic took over operations on the 35-mile former B&M/Guilford section of the Canaan running track between Canaan, CT and Pittsfield, MA. In that time, the line has gone from once-a-week service to weekday freight trains to and from the CSX interchange in Pittsfield as well as excursion trains in Berkshire County and the occasional circus train. Freight traffic includes lumber, plastics, limestone, paper products, construction debris and contaminated soil. The railway has even begun doing feasibility studies for restoring regular passenger service along the route.

Most of these duties are handled by the Housatonic's fleet of dapper green and yellow rebuilt GP35s. Here, railpictures,net contributor John Ryan snaps Housatonic GP35M #3600, heading southbound from the CSX interchange at Pittsfield, MA with symbol freight NX-13 at the village of Housatonic, MA on a sunny November 2007 afternoon. The line between Canaan, CT and Pittsfield, MA follows its namesake river pretty closely.