Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren
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51 Years of Railroad Photography |
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April 16, 2011
| On a trip back to Memphis, we found the A&M caboose parked at the former Frisco station in Van Buren, AR. |
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April 17. 2011
| My first train this this Sunday afternoon at Kentucky Street in Memphis was the eastbound stack train with lots of J B Hunt containers. At the rear, as part of the piggy-backs, were several of the new FedEx Multimodal trailers. |
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| Two coal trains are sitting at Tower 17 waiting for this stack train to clear before heading west. |
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| Before the stack train had cleared, the first empty coal train started moving and its engines were even with the last trailer this side of CN Jct. |
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| As the DPU came into view, so did another empty coal train, this one on Main 2 rather from the "Southern" west main. |
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| This second coal train pulled to the signal bridge for CN Jct. and stopped to await the signal to clear for its passage west across the Mississippi River bridge. |
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| The remaining train made no indication that it was going to move anytime soon so I left. |
April 19, 2011
| On my way to Tahlequah, I made my usual tour of the yards in Van Buren, AR. This eastbound began its journey as I arrived trackside and I got it as it approached the South 28th Street crossing. |
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| This local followed the eastbound out of the yard. |
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April 23, 2011
| Rev. Condren wanted to visit a woman in a nursing home in Stilwell so I drove her there. While she was visiting with the woman, I headed to the KCS depot. After a short period, I heard a southbound on the radio and moved from the south parking lot to the north parking lot of the depot. The train was on the passing track with a short train. |
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| I got a call to return to the nursing home. After picking up the preacher, we headed back to the south parking lot of the depot to shoot the meet. After a few minutes, I noticed that a crew member was on the ground preparing for the roll by inspection so I got out of the car into a mild shower as I saw the headlight of the northbound empty coal train with UP power. |
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May 4, 2011
| It had been my plan to shoot "The City of New Orleans" on May 1, the 40th anniversary of Amtrak. I had shot trains on the first day of Amtrak. However, Mother Nature had another thought. The weather in Memphis has been bad for a couple of weeks, with heavy rain and flooding. Finally the weather broke and I shot the train which was turning in Memphis because of flooding north of Memphis. Amtrak has been busing passengers around the high water from Carbondale, IL to Memphis, TN. |
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| The train departed on time but stopped after about 3 unit lengths. The engineer got off, went to the second unit and got on, stay for several minutes, and then returned to the lead unit. |
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| The train then pulled forward again until the diner/lounge door was even with me. |
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| The train then sat stopped at the CN Jct. signal for about 10 minutes before getting the signal to proceed across "Broadway". Note that the transition sleeper/cre dorm was on the rear of the train southbound rather than "turn" the train on a wye. |
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| On my way home, I caught this Main Street Trolley. |
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| and then a view of Mud Island from Union Ave in Memphis showing the high water on the Wolf and Mississippi Rivers. |
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| Later in the day, I caught this KCS southbound as I was driving through Stilwell, OK after driving across the entire width of Arkansas, much of it on a "causeway" like I40 due to high water and flooding from Memphis to west of Little Rock. Note that the KCS on the nose has been reduced to "CS" with red paint over the K. |
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May 14, 2011
| On my way to Railroad Days at the Three Rivers Museum in Muskogee, OK, I stopped by the UP engine facility east of Main Street where I found the following locomotives. |
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| This ex-MKT caboose has been moved from the park by the submarine to the Oklahoma Music Museum which is located in the former Frisco freight house across the street from the Three Rivers Museum in Muskogee. |
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| After shooting the caboose, I head back track side at the site of the former MKT Muskogee passenger station. After putting together its track this local pulls by my location. |
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| The Three Rivers Museum was celebrating its 10th Annual Railroad Days on May 14, 2011. There were several minature railroad layouts inside the museum for kids of all ages. |
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| My presentation about the Ozark & Cherokee Central is available at Muskogee, OK May 14, 2011 (69.9 MB) |
| While outside, I heard a southbound unit coal train on the former MKT mainline of the UP. It appears where the MV and SLSF once crossed the MKT. |
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| After the program, I returned to the parking lot where the MKT passenger station once stood. The first train that I saw was this southbound grain train. |
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| The next train was a northbound welded rail train. |
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May 18, 2011
| On my way to Memphis, I swung by the yards in Van Buren, AR and found this A&M swticher delivering some cars of sand to the Port of Van Buren. |
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| I then headed to the South 28th Street crossing at the east end of the yard where this loaded unit coal train was parked. |
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| On my way to see my dentist, I went by the NS Forrest Yard and crossed to the south side of the tracks in hope of seeing a train. I had just crossed the tracks when I spotted the headlights of this westbound empty unit coal train. |
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| I continued on east and shot the DPU in the student parking lot of the University of Memphis. |
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| After my visit to the dentist, I was headed down Poplar Ave. and saw headlights of an eastbound train coming around the curve at Mt. Moria. I was able to turn onto White Station Ave., cross the tracks, and into the East Gate Shopping Center parking lot to get these shots. I found it unusual to see NS power on a coal train. |
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| The loaded coal train stayed on the mainline but stopped just after Estate Road. I suspected a meet so I applied the "10 minute rule". After 10 minutes and no action, I left. |
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This page was designed and is maintained by Mike Condren.
If you have materials
that you would like to contribute, contact me at mcondren@cbu.edu