Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren

This eastbound CSX run through was spotted at Lenox by the UP crew that brought it to Memphis, 7/15/08.

The above photos of the new cranes being assembled were taken on July 18, 2008. Note the man standing on top of one of the beams in the 5th photos. The first of these cranes is expected to be erected Sept. 1, 2008. Note the near rail of the "very broad gauge" track on which these new cranes will run upon.

R J Corman has the contract to switch the sidings in the industrial parks around BNSF's Tennessee Yard. The engines get spotted at various locations, 7/18/08.

This was the first train we encountered on our trip to Indiana University for a chemistry meeting. At Princeton, IN, I spotted this set of power and then discovered that they were slowly pulling a train under the silo in the distance, loading a unit coal train, 8/26/08. In the second image, the conveyor with the coal is coming in from the left, the silo is in the center, and the coal cars are wrapped around the loop to the right. The third image shows more detail of the conveyor which connects the mine on the west of US41 with the silo on the east side of US41. The fourth image shows a car being loaded with the chute dropped down into the car. Flood loading is very quite except when the first of the coal is dropped into the car. There is also NO DUST! The last image shows some of the loaded cars and the power wrapped around the loop, slowly pulling the cars under the silo.

This GP7 was sitting on a side track near where the coal train locomotives were when I first spotted them. On the cab, smaller image, it states that this GP7 is ex-MKT-17??. The last two numbers, even on the original image, are not clear, obstructed by the leaves on a branch. I did not see this information until I was processing the image in PhotoShop, thus I do not have a true "cloeup" of this information. Anyone know which MKT unit this was?

After visiting a cemetery in Bicknell, IN where Jan's paternal grandparents are buried, we continued our trip towards Bloomington, IN and IU. At Sanborn we picked up the tracks of the Indiana Southern, ISRR. At Marco we spotted some cars sitting on this otherwise unused track. Further north I spotted some unit coal hoppers with coal loads along with some grain hoppers. Just south of Beehunter, we spotted an SUV with a man standing at the crossing with unit coal cars headed our way. The crossing at Beehunter was blocked by the train in the top image which was backing onto this string of cars. We hung around to get the power and a shot of the long string of unit train hoppers across the soybean field. The last image shows the power pumping his train while sitting on the connection with the mainline leading off to the southeast. The power was all ex-CN GP40-2 with safety cabs. One was painted in Rail America colors and lettered TP&W. (Jan's grandfather mined coal throughout this area of IN in the 1920s and 1930s, dying in a cavein, along with 16 others, at Bicknell in 1941.)

In Bloomington, I discovered this former passenger station, now jazz club on the hill between Walnut and College streets north of downtown. Both Walnut and College Ave. pass under the tracks and passenger platform on underpasses.

This Indiana Southern MOW truck was shopping at WalMart in Washington, IN, 8/1/08.

This signal and station are in Washington, IN, 8/1/08.

BW Services, freight car repair services, in former B&O shops, Washington, IN, 8/1/08.

Foundation of the former B&O roundhouse, Washington, IN, 8/1/08.

B&O Wabash River bridge Vincennes, IN, 8/1/08.

This eastbound CSX train sat on the Illinois side of the river for the better part of an hour awaiting a slot through the busy Vincennes, IN plant. After the last car passed I tried to give chase throught the city and found out why they wait in the farm land where there are no crossings to block. Apparently the west side of the river was once the current side as the round pier suggests that once there was a turn span for river traffic. Just off the bridge, the line crosses a little uses industrial spur that runs along the levee, 8/1/08.

The CSX's operations center for Vincennes is located in this former station which has mainline tracks on 3 sides. The top image shows the former B&O mainline running left to right. To the left is the former mainline of the C&EI. To the right, and behind the station, is a connecting track from the B&O track from St. Louis to the C&EI track to Evansville, IN. The bottom image shows the former B&O main crossing first the connecting track and then the former C&EI main, 8/1/08.

This UP unit coal train appeared on the B&O track from St. Louis and took the connector track. From where it first appeared until it disappeared, this train made 3/4 of a circle around me, 8/1/08.

Upon leaving Vincennes, IN, we headed west on US50. At Flora, IL, I saw a sign for the Little Toot Steam Railway. It is located in Charlie Brown Park outside of Flora, 8/1/08.

We rode Metrolink from Union Station to East Riverfront in East St. Louis, IL. The second image shows the track level of Eads Bridge. We then rode back to Union Station, 8/2/08.

BNSF Police Headquarters in Springfield, MO, former Frisco Museum, nee Frisco CTC facility, 8/3/08.

This TVA unit coal train was passing the BNSF Police station as we arrived, 8/3/08.

West of Republic, MO, we met this eastbound vehicle train. I made a U-turn and gave chase.

In Springdale, AR, we discovered this consist at the north end of the Arkansas & Missouri shops, 8/3/08. It is assumed that the UP engines are from a run through unit grain train out of Van Buren.

A&M #62 and #60 sit at the south end of the station, 8/3/08.

A&M C420 #57 is seen MUed to new slug #80 in their River Front yard in Van Buren, AR, 8/4/08.

In the first picture, we see the conductor walking to the box to request a signal for his train to depart north bound out of Van Buren. We then see the train approaching the "spring switch", 8/4/08 .

Once across the bridge, the train switches from the A&M line to the former MP Ft. Smith Railroad line. Here we see the train pulling the grade up from the river, 8/4/08.

The A&M on the Ft. Smith Railroad is seen crossing North 6th Street on the down grade into the yard, 8/4/08. This train is transferring cars from the UP in Van Buren to the Ft. Smith Railroad in Ft. Smith.

The A&M train on the Ft. Smith Railroad is seen here passing the Ft. Smith Railroad terminal and the Ft. Smith Visitors Center (the only Visitor Center in a former brothel). In the going away shot, we see the former Frisco station, 8/4/08.

On my way to the Main Street crossing in Van Buren, I noticed that the lift span was down. I raced toward the bridge but the train was already heading down grade into the A&M yard, 8/5/08.

The "Unlimited Parking" loaded unit coal train got permission from the "parking lot attendant" to pull up to the A&M crossing home signal. The conductor punched up the home signal and the train slowly pulled across the A&M while the conductor exercised the spring switch before aligning it again for the main. The train then pulled into the yard so that the DPU could be refueled, 8/5/08.