Throw Back Thursday Dec. 1st 2016

SD38-2 #280 was a favorite locomotive of mine and was built in the summer of 2007.  The locomotive was sold at a Timonium show one year and continues to earn it's keep on a model railroad in Rhode Island.  The gentleman's layout was in an issue of Model Railroader too!  I still see the guy at the shows.  He's got a slug painted for VMID also.  Really loved the white face.  Might be the future paint job!

VMID SD38-2 #280

Throwback Thursday November 3rd 2016

It's fall so it's time for a fall-like throwback.  Even though it's 80 degrees today, the leave changing is in full effect around here.  In Mance, PA, home of the Ex- B&O between Cumberland and Pittsburgh, was a place I took a yearly trip in the second week of October.  As most trees weren't even close, up on the summit, the maples were reds/yellows and rest were close.  Never got there during peak colors because the weather is dreary most days and would pick the most appealing days to camp out.  It was quite cold at night with lows in the 30s/40s. But worth it every second when you get pics like this from October 2005:

Awesome pics/video from yesterday and TBT: August 25th 2016

Yesterday, My two sons and I headed due north up to my favorite hobby shop:
Mainline Hobby

It's a long drive but always worth it.  As usual, we do some railfanning along the way.  The Maryland Midland interchanges in the area of the hobby shop which is located in Blue Ridge Summit, PA.  The name is where I got my name for my HO empire.  I've been coming up here for 15 years and one of the first time I did, I stumbled upon the Maryland Midland.  The paint has changed recently but they represented what I wanted in a railroad.  I railfanned them alot over the years and knew the line like the palm of my hand. We lucked out as we found them in Thurmont, MD as we were heading up.  The chase was on once I saw this lashup!:

FIVE Emds on the head end?  Must have a big train.  Turns out that it had 54 loaded cement cars and 2 boxcars for the run up the Catoctin Mountains.

2006 lashup

2016 lashup

TBT: August 11th 2016

 Bet you never thought I had a paper plant on the layout?  Well here's proof.  The industry turned out too large for the layout and eventually was removed.  Klotz and Patriot Industries are now in this spot.  As for the loco, definitely a odd ball with the Horst air filter on a GP38.

Throwback Thursday: August 4th 2016

Old school meets new school, catfish vs. high hood or GE vs. EMD.  Exactly 10 years ago I find myself in Vardo Yard in Hagerstown, MD.  Then, high hoods were the norm, but are very rare these days.  My main appeal to NS is the high hoods.  Man do they standout versus the widecabs!

Throwback Thursday: April 7th 2016

NS highhoods always had an appeal to me.  I really fell in love with them while in college and the NS mainline ran by.  they are just about extinct now.  This was from Richmond with the capital city in the background.  2004

Upclose of the high hood or nose.  GP50 #7069 Ex Southern

TBT: Feb 18th 2016

Here a short flashback to the Winchester and Western short line railroad that's in the northwest part of Virginia.  Good short line power and a slug with a cab!

#709 with a boo-boo.  It will become a chopped hood when it's repaired.

TBT: February 11th 2016

Haven't done this in a while so here goes:
One of my favorite spots  to railfan back in the day was down in Richmond, VA at the south end of Acca yard.  It was a great spot and very busy.  I loved the closeness to the action and the rare cars I would see.  These are from July 2007.

Last Throwback Thursday of 2015: December 31 2015

This goes back to January 23rd 2007 and our first snowfall(very late) of the 06-07 winter.  This test train was in Remington, VA on Norfolk Southern.  A very ACL looking locomotive.  Even got the pic in Railpace Magazine.

TBT: November 5th 2015

Its my favorite time of the year, fall.  Beautiful outside with the changing of the leaves and temperatures start to get comfortabel again.  Here are some shots from Mance, PA at a place I used to camp for a few days in the fall and enjoy the trains!

What a great place to camp!  Old Mance Training Camp was a delight.  The only thing was at about 4-5AM it sound like non-stop trains going over the mountains.  And it usually got to the lower 40's at night!

The overlook at Mance

A little Amtrak action

Great vantage point from the treehouse!

TBT: October 22nd 2015

2004 in Front Royal, VA

Wow do we miss old Blue?  I do and these funky looking GE's.  A C39-8 at Front Royal VA,  Love the "Darth Vader" looking cab.

Crossing the diamond at Front Royal, VA (2004)

TBT: October 8th 2015

Been a while since I've done one of these so here we go:  From 2009

Believe I finally have the trackage correct for Fredericksburg Flats.  Took me a while to figure out exact industries.

The Virginia Central has had some locomotive changes since 2009 and this pic is not different.  Used the older boxcar scheme on the MP15 and I think it looks good.  

TBT: Sept. 10th 2015

On this day before the 14th anniversary of 9-11 I wanted to post a throwback pic of old glory from one of my favorite railfanning spots: Mance, PA.

Mance Post office (not in operation) 2005

The only reason why I like Norfolk Southern: High hoods!  July 2009 near Bealeton, VA.

Throwback Thursday: September 3rd 2015

Been a little warmer and humid this first week of September so its time for a cold flashback to December 5th 2005, where we find some early season snow!  Winter is only 3 months away!

A little snowy action on the RF&P sub of CSX only minutes from where I grew up.  This shot is from Jones Crossing looking toward Guinea, VA

Zoomed out shot.

Throwback Thursday: August 27th 2015

These are from a 2008 railfanning trip to the Cumberland, MD, Grafton, WV area with my good friend Gary Mullis.  The shots below are from the South Branch Valley Railroad in eastern WV.  They run a route from Oldtown, WV (interchange w/ CSX) near Cumberland, MD and it runs south to Petersburg, WV.  Like most shortlines, they have some different power.  Beside having a B&O Chessie system GP9, they have their own paint scheme on a couple SD9's.  It's definitely like going back a few decades when seeing their usual assortment of power. 

SBVR #6240 GP9 (Ex B&O and C&O)

SBVR SD9 #180 (EX-DMIR)

Throwback Thursday Aug 20 2015

Back to April 2009.  The Buckingham Branch short line had an open house in Doswell, VA and they had a locomotive and their beautiful caboose on display.  Cameron (my oldest) had a great time!

Cameron on poses on the caboose.

Cameron posing in the engineer's seat in BB #3 a GP16.

BB caboose #223 Ex-Chessie System

BB #3, one of their original locomotives

Throwback Thursday: August 13th 2015

Favorite railfanning places:
In the last TBT post, I had railfanning pics from the Sandpatch/Mance area, Ex- B&O.  In this segment we will look at another section of the B&O that is in the remote area of West Virginia and Maryland.  This area is along the Potomac River between Cumberland, MD and Hancock, WV and some of the more tranquil and beautiful areas you will ever go.   Here are some shots from October 2005/Spring 2006.

One of the older CSX paint schemes leads an autorack westbound through Hansrote, WV.

A veteran SD40-2 leads a manifest westbound through a foggy Hansrote.

Another westbound in the sun this time coming out of Randolph tunnel.  There are  4 tunnels on the Magnolia Cutoff, all within a about 4 miles of each other.  Notice my 4-wheeler on the bottom left.  The best way to get around! 

Another westbound manifest splits the signals at Doe Gully.  Believe all the B&O CPL's are gone now.

An eastbound coal train crosses Kessler bridge into the Kessler tunnel.  This is the Potomac River.  The train will go from WV, into MD then back into MD in this spot. 

Remember your in the middle of nowhere.  Lots of river retreats are along the tracks.

The westbound Capital Limited crosses Kessler bridge back into WV.  This photo show the Kessler bridge, Graham tunnel through MD, the Magnolia bridge and the signals in WV at Magnolia.