Life is like a bunch of chocolates.. you never know what you're gonna get. The same can be said for a railroad hub such as Cincinnati, Ohio, where two Class I's, several shortlines and a spiderweb of main lines converge between two joined rail yards in downtown Cincinnati. Freight from all cardinal directions converge, mash together, and are spit back out just as rampant for a new destination.
In this shot, two I&O/G&W SD40-2s of Canadian heritage prepare depart to pick up an empty autorack train to take to Honda's assembly plant in Greensburg, Indiana; a CSX hump yard job pulls out to Yard 2 to shove a cut of cars into the bowl;Cumberland to Cincinnati manifest Q317-09 is waiting at Yard 2 for a new crew to bring the train in; and the star of the day, Norfolk Southern's "Monongahela Railway" heritage unit pushes on a manifest freight departing Gest Street Yard climbing Erlanger Hill on the ex-Southern 1st District to Danville. No photoshop, no staging, just another day in the Queen City.
