Eastbound grain train, the whine of dynamic brakes and just nature otherwise. I liked those SD35s. Odd that exactly none ever got NS paint.

A former Southern unit is the last one in a helper string about to cut off. Hard to believe NS is well past its 40th birthday.

After a steady downpour the last drops are noisily landing here and there and the rising fog portends a bright day in the deep hollers along the Kentucky line. The shadows are long nevertheless, ... (more)

Crossing the state line a WB covered hopper train is squiggling through the mountains. Photo by Jim Satterwhite.

Westbound freight crashes through the interlocking. Photo by Mike Dolenski.

In the early days locomotives would appear lettered, and in this case painted, in PAL colors, only to last a short time. This nice looking ex-TASD unit had friction bearings, anachronistic even i... (more)

Back in early PAL days paint didn't matter much so some interesting but dirty consists materialized. I've always wondered if those GE motors on Alco trucks pulled better. I like the look.

In the rich late afternoon sunlight a westbound intermodal peeks around a curve out in the country between two leftovers of a bygone era. Now that's what a whistle post should look like.

Labor Day weekend and the yard is chock full of motive power and totally empty of human beings. We were like kids in a candy store. This unit seemed rather out of place but I'm not really famili... (more)

Southern Indiana is flat, more or less, not what the boy from Appalachia thinks of as coal country but nevertheless they produce millions of tons from pit mining and three railroads converged at ... (more)

The pay was low and erratic but being in the equipment business had its fringe benefits like the guided tours such as one that got us a trip through this great operation. This unit was originally... (more)

In VMV's heyday, they'd get a unit, slap VMV or PAL on the slide and assign it to PAL until the unit was sold, rebuilt or failed. The only trick was finding a PAL train running in the daytime. Th... (more)

Former CB&Q unit looks like it's had the course. Note that A-frame is not a building behind the locomotive but a rock screen. Photo by unknown. From my collection.

While the big H20-44s were working the road trains this unit had to stay home and perform the mundane switching jobs. Much appreciation to SWPC for permission to shoot, etc.

From another angle. All packed up and ready to go. Sold by a dealer to another industry, double reduction gearing and friction bearings dictate that it must ride to destination on other wheels. ... (more)