Eastern Railroad Discussion > A nice December day to watch CSX, Ashland, VA 12/1/12

I ventured up to Ashland,VA late morning of 12/1/12 to see what was the offering on the RFP sub. The Amtrak shots are posted at http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2937766 and I was also rewarded with a number of CSX trains including a little drama later in the afternoon. I saw 8 CSX trains during the 6 hours I was there, coupled with the 7 Amtrak made for a good day.

First up for CSX was Q141 the south bound combined intermodal and Tropicana Juice reefers. In this first shot we see ES44AH 861 leading.

Trailing was SD70MAC 4823 shown here.

The next shot shows the interface between the intermodal and Tropicana cars.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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This was followed by both the north and south bound versions of the New York City Municipal Wastes Unit Trash Trail. First by me was the north bound with the empty green containers.

Here we see GEVo 5246 as it leads past me.

The trailing unit was a CW44AC 233 now in YN3 paint.

The final shot of Q702 shows the last of the green containers as they cross W. Patrick St.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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Now the full version, Q793, comes south with CW60AC 673 showing off it's version of YN2 with the outlined CSX.

The trailing unit on 703 was SD40-2 8432 which started life as a C&O unit 7581.

Now after several Amtrak trains came by general merchandise train Q405 comes south. I could hear him talking the the BD desk in Baltimore that he was not going to make it into Acca before he hogged so was planning to tie down just north of the Hungary Rd. crossing in Henrico County thus blocking the 3 main until they could get a crew out there to go the remaining miles into Acca,which was probably less then 10. This would later come back to haunt BD.

This first shot of Q405 shows him as he is coming up to Vaughan Rd. north of Ashland. With the North Ashland signals seen closer to my location.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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We now see GEVo 5252 as it leads Q405 south.

Next is a shot of CW40-8 7300 as it trails.

Q405 was carrying these gray containers which I think are used to transport fly ash to dump sites.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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Also on Q405 were the orange trash containers used by Philadelphia to move there waste south to dump site.

After Q405 went by, it was break time for me and also to move to the west side of the tracks since trains were now getting into shadows on the east side.

The first train by my new location on the lawn in front of the Ashland Activities Center was L140, the north bound intermodal/juice with 2 ES44AHs on it. Leading was 941 shown here with the low December sun glinting off its flank.

The trailing unit was newer AH 3045 with the new box car logo.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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Now I do not condone the application of graffiti to any property, but the white sides of the Tropicana seem to be graffiti magnets and I have included seveal shots of the cars with their "art work".

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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In this shot we see the last of the intermodal well cars on L140 as the train heads north.

Now remember that Q405 was tied down south of my location on the 3 main so between the interlock at Elmont and the one at Greendale, the line was single track. Well here comes Q410 which will really mess things up.

As be moves by me with GEVo 5290 leading he is not moving all that fast.

The second unit on Q410 was CW40-8 7890.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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The trailing C40-8 7492, in YN3 paint, moves by me and I hear on the radio the train calling BD. He is telling the ds that he has an air leak somewhere and is having to stop and check it out. He grinds to a halt with most of the streets in Ashland now blocked. To add to the wows of BD, Q416 is behind Q410 at Elmont on the 2 and L033 is stopped north of Ashland on the 3. We see the conductor of Q410 as he is walking the train carrying an air hose and wrench.

BD now caught a break because the dog catch crew was onboard Q405 and ready to head to Acca. This let BD now get things moving and he brought L033 south down the 3. We see lead ES44AH 915 as it comes past the stopped Q410.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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Following the 915 was the 916.

Trailing on L033 was another AH 728.

Here we can see the cars of L033 passing an old C&NW covered hopper.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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The last well cars on L033 pass Q410 heading south.

Once L033 was past the interlock at Elmont, BD had Q416 cross over to the 3 main and come north past Q410. Shown here with AH 888 leading.

Another AH with the box car logo, 996, trails on Q416.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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By now Q410 had gotten his air leak fixed and was ready to head north. We see in this shot a string of time worn gons in the trains consist.

Finally the last box car of Q410 heads by me in the waning light.

This video is a compilation of the 2 intermodal/Tropicana trains that I saw. All of the videos are available at YouTube on my channel, Sharon Evans.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

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The real challenge, on Tropicana cars, is to find one WITHOUT graffiti!

I think I may have seen several on the 2 trains last Saturday. :-)

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

GREAT set of pics!!!! Thanks for sharing. I see it was a mostly GEVO day you had. :-)

ns1000 Wrote:
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> GREAT set of pics!!!! Thanks for sharing. I see it
> was a mostly GEVO day you had. :-)

Thank you, I don't consider the AHs as GEVos even though I guess you could.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

Sharon, thank you for sharing your sunny pictures. Socked in with some rainy weather southwestern PA.
John

You are welcome John.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA