A Day of Railfanning on January 18th, 2014

On Saturday January 18th, 2014, I decided to take advantage of the sunny (but cold) weather and head out for some railfanning. Unfortunately, I only got two trains in the time that I was out, but they were both freight trains. 

On my way to Ashland, I saw Q140, the northbound Juice train approaching, and decided to stop and grab a shot of it. Power for the train was provided by ES40DC 5266 and ES44AC 836.

After Q140 passed by Hunton, I moved up to Ashland, where I had originally planned to set up. Upon my arrival in Ashland, I met up with a couple of members from the "Old Dominion Railfans" Yahoo group, and got word that a southbound was approaching. I was more prepared for this one since it was still in Taylorsville while I was setting up. Q033, a southbound intermodal train passed by the station behind ES40DC 5445, C40-8 7582, and "boxcar" ES44AH 3025. This would end up being the last train for the trip, due to the fact that it was very cold out (and the wind chill was not helping matters), and it was getting late.

 

A nice afternoon to catch Heritage Unit 145 on September 25, 2013

Listening to the Ashland, VA scanner feed on Tuesday morning (9/24/13), I heard Amtrak 89, the southbound Palmetto call 145 as its engine number, and I knew in advance that Heritage Unit 145 would be coming back north on Amtrak 90 the next day, so on Wednesday afternoon (9/25/13), I headed 0ut to the Mountain Road crossing in Glen Allen to catch it.

Right as I arrived at the crossing, something called the signals at Laurel just to the south. What I thought was going to be a work train actually turned out to be a nice surprise. Some sort of CSX special went northbound with SD40-2 8882 and GP40-2 6025 leading two CSX Office Cars.

After this train hit the detector at CFP 8.1, Q141, the southbound Juice train called the signals at Hunton and passed by the crossing on Mountain Road with a CW60AC and SD70ACe pair.

Shortly after Q141's passage, I relocated to one of the gravel piles near the tracks right before Northeast Regional 125 was calling Hunton, and it passed by Mountain Road behind P42 91.

Around 6:15 Wednesday evening, I got what I came for, as the northbound Palmetto passed behind Phase III Heritage P42 145.

Nice Saturday Weather to Catch The Inspection Car Navy 118

After receiving a few days notice about the Private railcar "Inspection Car Navy 118" being on Northeast Regional 67 (Amtrak P077 on weekends), I was briefly out of the house on the morning of Saturday August 31st, 2013 and up to Ashland, taking up a position at Langford between Ashcake Road and Francis Street on this day. This day's Northeast Regional 67 had P42 91 on the head end.

Another Nice Morning To Film Trains on August 17, 2013

Well, I have been very behind on my blog posts lately. I was able to get out a couple of times during the month of August. The first outing that I took in August was on the morning of August 17th. This time I decided to set up at the Railroad Crossing on Gwathmey Church Road in south Ashland. 

I had plenty of time to set up my equipment and eat breakfast before my first catch of the day came. Northeast Regional 88 came by Gwathmey Church behind P42 164.

After P088 passed by, there was a little break in the action until I heard a Qxxx on the scanner at Elmont. The train was Q034 which passed by with not one but TWO 3000 series GEVO's on the head end. ES44AH's 3044 and 3057 led CW44AC 5101 past Gwathmey Church Road with a healthy-sized northbound intermodal.

 A little while after Q034 passed Gwathmey Church, Amtrak's Northeast Regional 67 (Amtrak P077 on weekends) passed by Gwathmey Church Road behind P42 190. As P067/77 was approaching, some people showed up to cut the grass, and it was time for me to relocate.

My last train for this day was Northeast Regional 194 led by P42 121. On this Day, 194 was running about 40 minutes late. 

 

A Nice July Morning To Photograph and Videotape Trains

On the morning of Saturday, July 27th, 2013, I decided to spend a few hours trackside on the RF&P. I decided to set up at the Visitor's Center in Ashland as it had been a while since I had gotten any footage at that location. There was plenty of time for me to set up my tripod and camcorder and eat breakfast before it was time for Amtrak's Northeast Regional 88 to make its stop at Ashland. The defect detector at milepost 8.1 and Elmont signals to the south were all static on the scanner this day but I tried to make out what signals were being called.

At 8:38 AM, Northeast Regional 88 made its stop at Ashland behind P42 150.

 After 88's passage, it was almost another hour before the next train showed up. Northeast Regional 67 (Amtrak P077 on weekends) made its stop behind P42 131 on track 3.

 So far, it was turning out to be a quiet morning on the RF&P. We didn't get any other trains through until 10:20 AM when Northeast Regional 194 arrived to its stop in Ashland about 10 minutes late, led by P42 9. 

While the train was stopped, I decided to take a picture of the "North Ashland" signals

 About 20 minutes after 194 was out of Ashland, I finally got a freight; Q702 a northbound empty trash train came through behind ES44AC 849 and CW44AC 360. Not the best of power, but I was glad to finish off my morning at Ashland with a freight

 

A Day to Catch Heritage Unit 145 on June 1, 2013

After hearing from a member of Yahoo's "Old Dominion Railfans" group that Heritage Unit 145 was leading Amtrak's northbound Palmetto, I was out to Elmont Saturday afternoon to wait for it.

When I arrived the block signal on track 3 was green meaning that we would get a southbound. Sure enough, shortly after I set up, Northeast Regional 195 called the signals at North Ashland, and made its stop at the Ashland Station. At 5:25 PM, Northeast Regional 195 passed by the camera with P42 123 in the lead.  

 
After 195's passage, the bottom block signal on track 3 changed to a lunar/restricting signal (red over white) which indicated that another southbound train was coming. At 5:30 the southbound Silver Star passed by with P42's 48 and 192.

 Then shortly after the Silver Star passed by, the northbound Palmetto passed by with Phase III Heritage Unit 145 in the lead.

  About 15 minutes after the Palmetto had passed, Q406 announced that it was passing the signals at Hunton, and passed by the camera with ES40DC 5205 and CW44AC 362

 The last train I saw before heading home was the southbound Auto Train led by P40's 814 and 831.