Eastern Railroad Discussion > Norfolk Southern & BNSF OCS Masters Trains

With the assistance of Tom (tomd) and Jay (garr), I decided to venture out to Augusta, GA today in hopes of seeing the Norfolk Southern F7A's and F7B up close, for the first time. When I arrived to the location, I first rode around looking for a place to get a good shot outside the fencing. I was able to utilize a side road to my advantage to get these shots. Using my 70-200mm F4L lens, these first three photos were my result.

And, Jay, I didn't check my old thread about these trains again, until this evening. If I had been wise, I probably could have located the CSX train on your instructions. I had spoken with a local railfan who was also there to see the NS "F" units and he wasn't immediately aware of where they would park the CSX OCS, either. Instead of a wild goose chase, I just stuck with what I have here.

Thanks for the help Jay & Tom.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/13 17:36 by Vanakatherock.

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Photo 2 here is a shot down 6th street where Norfolk Southern has a few street runs per day, from what I understand. Didn't get to catch one, unfortunately.

Photo 3 shows the BNSF OCS train sitting along side the NS OCS trains.

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NICE shots !

After getting my shots outside the fencing, I decided to pull around to the open gate and walk in. I walked over to the security trailer and asked the guy if I could take photos. He was more than happy to walk me around while I took photos. He was very generous and even stated that "If the CEO of Norfolk Southern were here, and I had turned you down, he'd have my head," so it's good that NS has a railfan friendly CEO.

Photo 1: The rear car of both NS OCS setups. On the left, you have the oldest office car in the NS fleet. NS #1 "Virginia" was said to have been built in the 1930's and originally belonged to Southern Railway.

Photo 2: The "Delaware" is an open/glass dome roof car.

Photo 3: NS 4270 "F7A" poses for her closeup shot.

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was4097 Wrote:
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> NICE shots !


Thanks for viewing!

Photo 1: A closeup of NS 4276 "F7B" unit.

Photo 2: BNSF GEVO #6514 poses for her closeup. You can definitely tell she's new. A GE ES44C4.

Photo 3: A close shot of the "Virginia" NS #1 car.

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A couple more shots of NS #1 "Virginia" before I left Augusta.

Though not exactly easy to tell, the yellow reflection in the paint is the security guard, and the white reflection to the left of that would be me taking the photo.

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Great set of photos. Glad they let you inside the fenced area.

Only one thing would have made it better--if the BNSF train had been pulled by a warbonnet ;-).

Do you know if this the first year for the BNSF office car train to be in Augusta?

Jay

Jay,

The BNSF train has been before, I believe it ran last year. But I can't say for sure how many times they have run it.

Grady

garr Wrote:
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> Great set of photos. Glad they let you inside the
> fenced area.
>
> Only one thing would have made it better--if the
> BNSF train had been pulled by a warbonnet ;-).
>
> Do you know if this the first year for the BNSF
> office car train to be in Augusta?
>
> Jay


From what I gathered by the local railfan and the NS security guard, this was the first year of the BNSF OCS in Augusta for the Masters. The security guard stated that the BNSF & Norfolk Southern CEO's were good buddies, so I guess the Moorman (NS CEO) talked Rose (BNSF CEO) into bringing their OCS out here this time around. I asked how many guests they averaged per day out here, and he stated that it was generally 75-100 per day/night.

WOW, those are some real nice photos. Well done. Thank you for sharing.
John

Thanks for the great pictures.

Thanks Van and Grady. I wonder if the BNSF train will make a run to the Kentucky Derby too?

Jay

GREAT SET OF PICS. Thanks.

VFPNSFAN Wrote:
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> GREAT SET OF PICS. Thanks.


AGREED....!!!

It is hard to believe how ugly the BNSF cars are after being stripped by Rob Krebs.
I wish that they would have at least kept BN-1, Etc.