Eastern Railroad Discussion > Chasing CSX Q581 with a pair of leaser SD40M-2's

On Friday evening, 7/25/14, a friend of mine posted a shot on Facebook of CSX train Q581-23 with a super cool EMD team consisting of two leaser SD40M-2's and CSXT #2702, the Franklin M. Garrett/Spirit of Atlanta GP38-2. Also on board was a conductor friend of mine that we call "Weatherman". The train was leaving Chattanooga,TN bound for its terminating point of Atlanta,GA but left at dusk out of Chatt. I figured I wasn't going to get it. I checked on the train when I got home that night around 0100 and it was in the hole at Martin Marietta just south of Adairsville,GA waiting to meet hotshot intermodal train Q028. There was still another 6 hours until sunrise so I went to bed but set my alarm for 0700 to check on it again just in case something odd happened.

I woke up as I planned at 0700 and saw that the train had barely made any progress but was indeed moving south. I threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera and hit the road. I knew I would get this train somewhere but the question was where. Every spot I checked was still too shadowed in because the sun was still coming over the horizon and had not yet illuminated anything to my liking. I found a sweet spot covered in kudzu off Hwy 41 in Marietta and waited for no longer than 15 minutes until the train showed up. The 645's in the rebuilt leasers were roaring as was the GP38-2 and a huge smile came across my face. Nailed it! As the train worked hard up the hill by me, I noticed my conductor friend was not on board anymore which meant they had gone on the law most likely at Martin Marietta helping cause the delay.

I gave chase as there were only 20 miles at this point between the train and it's terminating point of Tilford Yard. Speed limits are 35mph max on this point of the line so I knew I would catch him easily. In addition to the trains speed limit, it was also 6,000+ feet and was lucky to get to 25mph over some hills. I caught up to the train a few miles down the road and saw that he had to stop at milepost 16 in Smyrna which is pretty usual. Q581 would wait there for about 45 minutes to meet northbound trains Q582 and Q212 and then proceed south to Tilford.

The chase was over after I shot him for the last time coming into the receiving yard at Tilford but I was happy with my photos.

After I shot a few more trains that morning I went home and messaged my conductor friend on Facebook asking what had happened? He replied explaining that it took them 8 hours just to get out of Chattanooga on Friday due to Q582 having engine trouble on single track and tieing up the railroad. They got to Martin Marietta to meet Q028 and then heard that a detector had gotten Q028 for dragging equipment. The dragging equipment ended up being a "trailers brake rigging" falling off at some point between Cartersville and Kingston but luckily the defect detector caught it. Q581 went on the law at that point and there was no recrew called for it. All this of course helped me out substantially. Just another night on the railroad I suppose.



The consist: OFOX SD40M-2 #2787 (ex DRGW #5325), CEFX SD40M-2 #3122 (ex SP #8901) & CSXT GP38-2 #2702 (ex GA #6051, one of four original GA Road GP38-2's).

Picture 1 - Sign of the Times: Q581-23 (Nashville,TN - Atlanta,GA) working hard up the grade by Kennesaw Mountain just north of Marietta,GA catching the first light of the morning.

Picture 2 - The trio of EMD's dig in as they pull their 6000+ foot train up the grade into Marietta.

Picture 3 - Q581 stopped at MP 16 in Smyrna,GA.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/14 17:15 by djy23.

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Picture 4 - Q582 roars north past Q581 with a rare CN SD70I third out. The SD70I's are basically SD70M's but with an isolated cab. This is one of 26 ever built.

Picture 5 - Q581 crosses the Chattahoochee River and enters Atlanta City Limits. Georgia Power's Plant McDonough looms in the background which has been converted for natural gas use.

Picture 6 - Q581 creeps through R6 at Tilford Yard and ending its long journey from Nashville.

Thanks for looking! All pictures taken on 7/26/14.

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Nice pics. In my personal experience, staying awake at 3 a.m. on a standing train is absolutely maddening. You are exhausted, tired and ready to sleep. As long as the train was moving, it was much easier to stay awake and react to signals etc. But standing still for hours in the middle of the night was deadly........

Great series and location photos along with an informative story.
alan

All standard-cab EMD's, two SD40m-2's in SD45 bodies leading ........... oh wow. I think I just .......... ah, never mind. Better not say that on here.

Great shots & thank you for sharing them. Awesome seeing that consist leading.

SUPER pics!!! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the comments!

reel_smooth Wrote:
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> All standard-cab EMD's, two SD40m-2's in SD45
> bodies leading ........... oh wow. I think I just
> .......... ah, never mind. Better not say that on
> here.
>
> Great shots & thank you for sharing them. Awesome
> seeing that consist leading.

Haha! Yeah, I go crazy over this kind of stuff too. I know some guys who could care less to shoot something like this but different strokes for different folks.