We found ourselves overstaffed at work today, had three drivers on expecting more calls than we actually got, since the recent week of absolutely FRIGID days has kept everyone at home. (Monday was SUPER busy as dozens and dozens of car batteries called it quits when the mercury first went below zero)
Around noon, boss told me to just knock off for the day since there was no point in me standing around losing the feeling in my toes on company time. You don't have to tell me twice!
Thirty minutes later, I'm nearing the end of my commute and about a mile from home when a horn suddenly goes off and shakes me out of my highway hypnosis.
What? What I do? Who's blaring that at me? Sounds like a truck.
And there it goes again, and... wait, that's no truck....
It's a train at the crossing?
The one that NEVER has a train at it?
Yep. Looks like my cut-short work day means I'm now running on time to actually SEE the train that I know goes through here, but I never get to see it, just HEAR it from the next valley over as it signals for this very crossing.
And it's not the usual Norfolk Southern coal drag? It's our semi-famous * little shortline railroad coming through? I gotta get a picture of this.
https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hp...4a&oe=55589527
Oops, too slow on the shutter.... well, time to pull a 180 and try and beat her to the next crossing. (If you aren't a railfan, you won't understand this strange compulsion, but just pretend you do for the story and play along.)
And they've upgraded the track around here, meaning the trains no longer do 25.. they do 40.... well, fortunately, nobody else was on the road and I got to the next town with time to spare and wait....
https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hp...5b&oe=558765AA
Darn it! Something glinted into the camera lens and put a huge violet/blue tinge on everything! I managed to cure it as best I could in photoshop, but at the time I took the picture, it was awful!
Back into the car and on to the next town.... and this time I was ready
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...30097085_o.jpg
BAM! New FB profile picture and a nice one if I do say so myself.
For those really interested, the N&BE motive power on display is veteran GP8 #1603 (ex-Reading ex-Conrail GP7 rebuilt at IC-Paducah), GP10 #1804 (ex-PRR ex-Conrail GP9, also an IC refurbish out of Paducah) and GP38 #2004 (ex-Penn Central) wearing the EL-inspired colors of the North Shore line.
So that's how I spent my afternoon, placating my desire to pursue my main two hobbies, photography and trainspotting.
* The Nittany & Bald Eagle stood in for the fictional Allegheny & West Virginia Railroad in the Denzel Washington action movie Unstoppable a few years back. If you saw that film, you actually saw this area, albeit in the fall with a light misty rain falling. The road in the foreground follows the tracks for about 10 miles and in places is so close that the shoulder is essentially the tracks. Many of the ground-level "pacing" shots in the film were done right here.
Around noon, boss told me to just knock off for the day since there was no point in me standing around losing the feeling in my toes on company time. You don't have to tell me twice!
Thirty minutes later, I'm nearing the end of my commute and about a mile from home when a horn suddenly goes off and shakes me out of my highway hypnosis.
What? What I do? Who's blaring that at me? Sounds like a truck.
And there it goes again, and... wait, that's no truck....
It's a train at the crossing?
The one that NEVER has a train at it?
Yep. Looks like my cut-short work day means I'm now running on time to actually SEE the train that I know goes through here, but I never get to see it, just HEAR it from the next valley over as it signals for this very crossing.
And it's not the usual Norfolk Southern coal drag? It's our semi-famous * little shortline railroad coming through? I gotta get a picture of this.
https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hp...4a&oe=55589527
Oops, too slow on the shutter.... well, time to pull a 180 and try and beat her to the next crossing. (If you aren't a railfan, you won't understand this strange compulsion, but just pretend you do for the story and play along.)
And they've upgraded the track around here, meaning the trains no longer do 25.. they do 40.... well, fortunately, nobody else was on the road and I got to the next town with time to spare and wait....
https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hp...5b&oe=558765AA
Darn it! Something glinted into the camera lens and put a huge violet/blue tinge on everything! I managed to cure it as best I could in photoshop, but at the time I took the picture, it was awful!
Back into the car and on to the next town.... and this time I was ready
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...30097085_o.jpg
BAM! New FB profile picture and a nice one if I do say so myself.
For those really interested, the N&BE motive power on display is veteran GP8 #1603 (ex-Reading ex-Conrail GP7 rebuilt at IC-Paducah), GP10 #1804 (ex-PRR ex-Conrail GP9, also an IC refurbish out of Paducah) and GP38 #2004 (ex-Penn Central) wearing the EL-inspired colors of the North Shore line.
So that's how I spent my afternoon, placating my desire to pursue my main two hobbies, photography and trainspotting.
* The Nittany & Bald Eagle stood in for the fictional Allegheny & West Virginia Railroad in the Denzel Washington action movie Unstoppable a few years back. If you saw that film, you actually saw this area, albeit in the fall with a light misty rain falling. The road in the foreground follows the tracks for about 10 miles and in places is so close that the shoulder is essentially the tracks. Many of the ground-level "pacing" shots in the film were done right here.
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