Norfolk Southern's "Southern Railway" heritage unit, GE ES44AC number 8099, works in DPU mode (distributed power), bringing up the rear of an empty Scherer coal train as it crosses the Chattahoochee River departing Columbus, Georgia. This is a rare scene for several reasons: These coal trains are normally powered by BNSF locomotives, but several train sets are currently utilizing NS power. This set happens to have the one-of-a-kind Southern unit, along with EMD SD70ACe number 1030, which many might remember as the "honorary heritage unit" used at the heritage gathering in July 2012 at Spencer, NC, to represent the current NS paint scheme. After the coal is loaded in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, the Scherer trains are usually routed from BNSF in Memphis to Sheffield, AL, Chattanooga, TN, Atlanta, and to Georgia Power's Plant Scherer (north of Macon, GA). The empties usually return the reverse route, but occasionally are re-routed via Birmingham, Alabama, to ease congestion through Atlanta and Chattanooga. One of the alternate return routes is pictured here, the former Central of Georgia district from Macon to Columbus, Georgia, and on to Birmingham. Photo by Casey Thomason. For more information about Norfolk Southern, visit www.nscorp.com
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
