Crew members grabbed Cokes from the machine in the depot before starting their work on the Western Railway of Alabama interchange. This scene is so reduced, simplified and sterilized in 2021 that... (more)

For the Birds

The birds perched on the ledges of downtown buildings in Orange, Virginia have decided that three Southern SD40-2’s roaring through town with a northbound train co... (more)

Three of Southern’s four remaining FP7’s slow to a stop for a photo runby under the well-known wooden bridge at Gilbert, Virginia. The train is on the southbound leg of an Alexandria – Charl... (more)

A few miles north of Charlottesville, Virginia, a southbound Southern hotshot approaches the bridge over the Rivanna River.

On one of many former CofG secondary mains in South Georgia, this Southern train is headed for Columbus.

Today's 45 - the westbound long-range local - is a big one, so three units have been assigned, including 2656, a GP30 that following a wreck was rebuilt to GP30 mechanical standards, but with a sp... (more)

The addition of N&W 1218 to the NS steam roster created several changes to the annual two-week excursion schedule in northern Virginia. Usually four Alexandria – Charlottesville round trips were... (more)

Southern 2544 leads five more GP30s, plus a GP35 and a GP38 on an eastbound train.

The scene may be nondescript, but the track is the original South Carolina Canal and Railroad, one of the oldest segments of rail line in the United States. There were few customers left in the a... (more)

GP30 and GP38 2771 power the westbound local - with lots of pulpwood flats, as usual - out of Opelika.

Once upon a time, Opelika generated enough traffic that most freights would at least make a quick pick-up/set-out. That has just happened in the photo, and 135 is again underway for Birmingham, w... (more)

The Crescent - behind two E8As and two FP7As - pulls away from its Tuscaloosa station stop.

The Piedmont - with its usual cut of pigs on the rear - makes its station stop at Lynchburg.

A GP7 and GP35 team up to roll the local west. Think wood products are an important part of the traffic mix? Just ahead is the long, high fill at North Auburn.

The long-range local has completed its work in Opelika and is about to head west behind a pair of GP30s. Just a few months earlier power likely would have been GP7/9/18. A few months before that... (more)