T.G.'s Photography Blog

  The last time I captured a view looking over the forest in my neighborhood, the trees were bare, the ground covered in snow, and more snow was falling. This week with spring in full bloom and the sky filled with some great-looking clouds, I sent the drone up again to capture the view. Looking northward toward the Seneca River at an above-ground-level altitude of 225 feet. Ash Trees and the Emerald Bore   A lot of the trees in this forest are ash trees. Many of them are infected by the Emerald Ash Bore (EAB) and are either dead or dying. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the EAB, a type of beetle, is an invasive insect that most likely arrived in wood packing materials from Asia approximately thirty years ago. The EAB, as its name implies, bores holes throughout the tree, resulting in the tree's death. When the ash trees become infected by the EAB, an increased presence of woodpeckers occurs. The beetles are a food source for woodpeckers. The bare

 After a nine-hour chase from Claremore, Oklahoma, to Kansas City, Missouri, Union Pacific's (UP) steam locomotive 844 arrived at Kansas City in the late afternoon of May 28, 2006. The train arrived at Union Station by way of Kansas City Terminal's (KCT) trackage from Sheffield Tower to Union Station. UP 844's arrival at Union Station UP 844 is westbound on KCT Main 4 between Main St. and Broadway Blvd. Sheffield Tower (also known as Sheffield Junction or Control Point (CP) Sheffield) is where UP's KC Metro Subdivision interchanges with and crosses over the Kansas City Terminal's tracks. As well as some trackage belonging to Kansas City Southern and BNSF. UP's Coffeyville Subdivision ends/begins a few miles to the south of Sheffield, and the KC Metro Subdivision connects it with the KCT tracks. UP 844 and the SCEHT are west bound at KCT milepost 7.0, next to Union Station. The famous Western Auto sign is in the background. From Sheffield Tower, UP 844 pulled th

  In 2006 Union Pacific (UP) Railroad ran the South Central Express Heritage Tour (SCEHT) featuring steam locomotive UP 844. Over thirty-six days, the tour spanned nine states from April 27, 2006, to June 1, 2006. I departed St. Louis, Missouri, and went to Claremore, Oklahoma, to chase UP 844 from Claremore north to Kansas City, Missouri.   UP 844 on display at Claremore, OK. The SCEHT left Cheyenne, Wyoming, on April 27, 2006. I caught up with the train after it had traveled through the states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and Arkansas before passing back through Oklahoma on the return leg of its trip. In the early evening of May 27, 2006, I arrived in Claremore and found UP 844 parked along UP's Wagoner Subdivision, just south of West Blue Star Drive (milepost (MP) 610.43). The siding that the SCEHT is sitting on is just north of the diamond crossing of the Wagoner Subdivision and BNSF's Cherokee Subdivision.  In the early evening light, UP 844 sits along

CSX train I007 is a daily priority intermodal train that runs from North Bergen, New Jersey, to Rose Lake, Illinois. Rose Lake is part of the St. Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area. The train swaps intermodal cars at DeWitt Yard in Syracuse, New York, and CSX's Avon Yard in, Avon, Indiana. I007-15 at CP323 of the Rochester Subdivision CSXT 3106 & CSXT 513 lead I007-15 west at CP 323 of the Rochester Subdivision at Savannah, NY.  I007-15 rolled through CP323 and the quite town of Savannah, New York, just after 6 PM. Above, I007-15 is passing under the cantilever bridge that holds the westward absolute signals (WAS). The signal bridge sits on the eastern edge of CP323. Today's I007 was shorter than normal, consisting of only 204 axles. Using data from the Fairport, NY., train log for April of this year, the average number of axles for I007, after departing Syracuse, was 311. CP323 Control Point 323 (CP323) is at milepost (MP) QC 323.4 of CSX's busy Rochester Subdivision.

The Seneca River Montezuma Bridge, commonly called the Montezuma Trestle, spans the Seneca River and part of the Montezuma Marsh on Hog Island, between Savannah, New York, and Montezuma, New York. The bridge is part of CSX's Rochester Subdivision. This line is a former Conrail, Penn Central Railroad, and New York Central Railroad line. The Seneca River at this location is the dividing line between Cayuga County (to the east) and Wayne Country (to the west).  Seneca River and NMWMA at Montezuma Trestle Looking north, at Hog Island (right of the river) as CSXT 3453, CSXT 5461, CSXT 5314, CSXT 7793 lead Q367-15 west. The Seneca River flows from Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, east and northeast to the Junction of the Three Rivers, north of Syracuse, New York. The Seneca River flows from the south to the north here, but it is not the main river channel at this location anymore. The Erie Barge Canal is the primary channel now. The canal borders Hog Island from the southern tip of

 While hanging out on the "Green Bridge" in Minoa, New York, last Sunday, I captured some photographs of CSXT 2561 switching a block of intermodal cars on the east end of DeWitt Yard near CP282. The locomotive had pulled the long cut of cars onto Track 1 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision (STS) at CP282, since Track 4 was going to be blocked by a track inspector.  CSXT 2561 CSXT 2561 was built as Louisville and Nashville (LN/L&N) 4051. The locomotive is a GP38-2 and was built by Electro-Motive Division (EMD) in 1972. The L&N became a subsidiary of the Seaboard Coastline Railroad (SBD/SCL) in 1971. In 1982 the L&N was fully absorbed into the SBD/SCL. Sometime between February 1983 and May 1984, the locomotive was re-lettered as SBD 4051.  CSXT 2561 is shoving a block of intermodal cars from Track 1 (to the left) of the STS at CP282. In 1980, the locomotive became part of CSX Corporation's railroad family when the SBD/SCL merged with the Chessie System of ra

In the winter of 2004, I caught a Union Pacific local train heading south on the UP Lesperance Industrial Lead and the UP Desoto Subdivision. The train came south out of UP's Lesperance Street Yard in St. Louis, Missouri , and was destined for DeSoto, MO. UP 321 in South St. Louis I spotted the train coming south on the Lesperance Industrial Lead (LIL) along 1st Street, near Potomac Street in South St. Louis. With the train moving slowly I had enough time to turn around and head to Bellerive Park, where the LIL runs between the park's river bluffs and the Mississippi River. Bellerive Park sits up on the bluffs, while the lower level where the tracks are is Sister Marie Charles Park now. UP 321 leads its train south at Bellerive Park and Sr. Marie Charles Park, near Elwood Street. With the train moving slowly, I was able to get to East Steins Street (milepost (MP) 6.3), at Vulcan Street, to catch it coming around the curve there. In the background are some of the old brick build

 A railroad speeder is a small maintenance of way (MoW) vehicle that is used by track crews and inspectors to quickly move along railroad tracks. The speeder has been largely replaced by high rail vehicles. However, some smaller railroad operations, such as the Georgetown Loop Railroad (GLRR) still use them. Even railroad hobbyists collect and restore  (external link) them for operation. Morning track inspection While driving east on I-70 toward Georgetown, Colorado, my wife and I stopped to take in the view from the Georgetown Overlook Pull-out. As we took in the view of the Rockey Mountains GLRR's MoW speeder came around the loop to the southwest of Devil's Gate Station . Before the day's train excursions, track inspection had to being done. GLRR's speeder pushes a trailer car around the loop located to the southwest of Devil's Gate. Fairmont railroad speeder According to the GLRR's website, the speeder is a Fairmont A4 model, and it originally operated on the

Canadian National (CN) 3115 and CN 2830 made some appearances on CSX's Water Level Route across New York in April 2022. I was able to see and photograph the locomotives leading trains Q212-22 and Q212-27 last month. Train Q212 is a daily autorack/intermodal train. The train runs from Frontier Yard in Buffalo, New York, to Oak Island, New Jersey. Between Buffalo and Syracuse Q212's train consists of only autorack cars. At DeWitt Yard in Syracuse the train picks up a set of intermodal cars.  CN 3115 and CN 2830 at DeWitt Yard CN 3115 and Q212-27 are stopped on Track 1 at CP282's eastward absolute signal (EAS). Just like when I caught Q212-22 , Q212-27 stopped on Track 1 of the Syracuse Terminal Subdivision at  CP282  so that the crew could cut the engines off and run lite into the yard. Depending on congestion in the yard and on the mainlines, Q212 will make this move and leave the autorack cars on Track 1 while picking up the cut of intermodal cars. Running lite, CN 3115 and

The "Green Bridge" is a nickname for a pedestrian bridge in Minoa, New York. The bridge crosses over the eastern edge of CSX's DeWitt Yard and Syracuse Terminal Subdivision between North Main Street and South Main Street. There is no road crossing connecting the two streets, so the bridge allows pedestrians to cross safely over the tracks. It also gives railfans access to safely watch and photograph train movements on the eastern end of DeWitt Yard.  The "Green Bridge" at CP282 Looking at the north access ramp, as an ex-Wisconsin Central boxcar on train Q626-06 begins to roll under the Green Bridge. The Green Bridge earned its nickname because it is painted green. Though these days, the green color is faded, and reddish-brown rust seems to be more prominent. The bridge crosses directly over the top of control point (CP) 282 of CSX's Syracuse Terminal Subdivision. The bridge is a popular railfan hangout, even though the bridge can make photography difficult.