NECR tunnel motor 3317 leads a ballast extra north on the Palmer Subdivision from New London, and is seen here dumping stone on the approaches to the Horton Cove trestle in Montville, CT.

Westbound ballast train rounds the curve into Finleyville.

Ballast train passes what's left of the former Baltimore & Ohio Finleyville station.

A ballast train signals the beginning of the summer trackwork season on the AVR W&P Sub.

A pair of CM&Q barns leads the CP ballast extra south over the Mohawk River Bridge in Cohoes, NY.

A couple of MP15's, a dash 8, and a geep lead an eastbound ballast extra through New London Station.

Framed by an ornate 19th century building that has seen better days, the crew of a Conrail ballast train led by a GP40 switches hoppers at Westfield, MA, on the former Boston & Albany. A nearby qu... (more)

The inbound 1989 NRHS convention special with the N&W 611 passes a ballast train south of Charlottesville. No. 3988 was built by GE for the Southern Railway in January, 1979.

One of the first trains to load at a new ballast quarry on the east slope of NP's Homstake Pass route is seen on a blustry spring day behind a rebuilt SD9 and a geep. Regular service on this line ... (more)

For all intents and purposes, nothing in this scene says anything other than SOO LINE. This set of bright red SOO SD60's eases by the Humboldt Yard office on its way west with ballast from the Dr... (more)

A ballast extra consisting of one of the DL's beautiful RS-3s, a GVT caboose and three former conrail ballast hoppers sits tied down in East Stroudsburg. This ballast train will lay ballast near ... (more)

A ballast train waits at Plaster Creek.

SP 1518 (The first SD-7 built) rolls an 8 car ballast train through Johnson Siding westbound. The train was unloaded along the mainline in preparation of surfacing work to the track.

Note the absence of modern-day CP equipment; there are three variants of SD60's (including a 'tri-clops') leading a solid train of MILW rock cars.

Crossing an ex-CNW bridge, empty Herzog ballast cars are forwarded by the UP to the WSOR at Janesville for loading of the famous "pink lady" ballast, quarried near Reedsburg, WI.