Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS 22W with 6920

Saw on facebook that NS 22W has the 6920 and was two hours west of Sandusky, OH around 7 AM this morning. Anybody know anything about it?

Well, HeritageUnits.com has it through Greensburg, PA, at 10:00, so that suggests the "two hours west of Sandusky" three hours earlier was erroneous. They certainly can't both be right.

In any case, it's a middle unit. Feh.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/12 08:45 by toledopatch.

22W went thru Alliance, Ohio around 0530-0600 this morning; and yes as Toledopatch confirmed she is the second locomotive out of three...ugh

Your camera still works if it's trailing. Go out and see it anyway. Who knows how long before it'll come your way again.

Chris Tokarcik
Morgantown, WV

NSHorseheadSD70 Wrote:
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> Your camera still works if it's trailing. Go out
> and see it anyway. Who knows how long before it'll
> come your way again.

If it's trailing, the picture is inferior. Somebody else already has a better shot of it -- lots of somebody elses in most cases.

Since I'm one of the somebody elses who got shots of the 6920 leading on #21G nine days ago, that's not the best example for me to cite ("I got mine!"), but I'll give an example of how I do walk this walk: the Wabash unit is down in the Circleville, Ohio, area having come in the other day on an empty grain train. I have a day off tomorrow, I conceivably could drive down there to "get it" since it's one of a few NS Heritage units I don't have in the wild and I'd like to get them all. But it's a middle unit in the consist. Unless that changes between now and tomorrow morning, I'm not going to drive half an hour, much less 3-1/2, to capture that. If it finds its way into my viewfinder without any concerted effort, sure, I'll take the picture, but as a middle/trailing unit it's not worth time, gas, or effort -- or, for that matter, a Look What I Saw posting to TrainOrders or anywhere else afterward. With only rare exception -- and there are exceptions -- trail = fail.

If others want to run around chasing trailing units, it's a free country. Do what you like. And if I weren't able to travel a fair amount, if I could only get these things running through my hometown in whatever order the railroad felt like serving them up, I might approach this differently. I'm just explaining my philosophy (since you called me on it), and my opinion about this is not unique.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/12 10:09 by toledopatch.

Already got a very nice picture of it last week on 21G. To me it does not matter if a Heritage unit is leading or trailing. I just know that for some it does matter if it is leading therefore the word "ugh.". Hope everyone is having a nice week thus far.

Posted from Android

I'm sorry you feel that way. If a unit is close, why not go out and at least see it. You might even see more trains than that one. They did all these nice paint schemes and people won't go to see them if they aren't leading or the sun isn't shining. They still look good without a lens aimed at them.

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NSHorseheadSD70 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Your camera still works if it's trailing. Go
> out
> > and see it anyway. Who knows how long before
> it'll
> > come your way again.
>
> If it's trailing, the picture is inferior.
> Somebody else already has a better shot of it --
> lots of somebody elses in most cases.
>
> Since I'm one of the somebody elses who got shots
> of the 6920 leading on #21G nine days ago, that's
> not the best example for me to cite ("I got
> mine!"), but I'll give an example of how I do walk
> this walk: the Wabash unit is down in the
> Circleville, Ohio, area having come in the other
> day on an empty grain train. I have a day off
> tomorrow, I conceivably could drive down there to
> "get it" since it's one of a few NS Heritage units
> I don't have in the wild and I'd like to get them
> all. But it's a middle unit in the consist. Unless
> that changes between now and tomorrow morning, I'm
> not going to drive half an hour, much less 3-1/2,
> to capture that. If it finds its way into my
> viewfinder without any concerted effort, sure,
> I'll take the picture, but as a middle/trailing
> unit it's not worth time, gas, or effort -- or,
> for that matter, a Look What I Saw posting to
> TrainOrders or anywhere else afterward. With only
> rare exception -- and there are exceptions --
> trail = fail.
>
> If others want to run around chasing trailing
> units, it's a free country. Do what you like. And
> if I weren't able to travel a fair amount, if I
> could only get these things running through my
> hometown in whatever order the railroad felt like
> serving them up, I might approach this
> differently. I'm just explaining my philosophy
> (since you called me on it), and my opinion about
> this is not unique.

Chris Tokarcik
Morgantown, WV

NSHorseheadSD70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm sorry you feel that way. If a unit is close,
> why not go out and at least see it. You might even
> see more trains than that one. They did all these
> nice paint schemes and people won't go to see them
> if they aren't leading or the sun isn't shining.
> They still look good without a lens aimed at
> them.

The other side of that is, I have other things going on in my life than just chasing (and photographing) trains. Yes, photography is my primary interest in this hobby. If I have time, I'll stop and watch a train go by just for the heck of it, even if I can't take a satisfactory picture. But when I head out deliberately to look for trains, it's to photograph them and come home with results I like. And my time is valuable; if I don't think a particular day/location will yield satisfactory results, I'm inclined to do something else that needs or wants to get done, so that when a better photography opportunity presents itself, I'm free to pursue it. Sure, the railroad runs on dull, cloudy days, too, but I've got leaves that need raking and I'd much rather do that on a grubby day than waste a sunny one doing it.

Assuming a higher-priority responsibility doesn't take precedence, I'm sure I'll be out photographing trains tomorrow. I just won't be making any kind of effort to get that Wabash unit unless I learn that it has been switched out to be in the lead on whatever move it makes. I'll strive to get something else that I find more satisfying than a middle unit in an engine consist: maybe some more shots of CSX's Q106 or Q107 trains with KCS power in locations I haven't done before, or a branch line up in Michigan I have been meaning to cover, or some other Heritage unit that I might get a heads-up about in the morning if NS decides to send one my way in the lead. Back in August, I could have gone to Pennsylvania to get that Wabash engine in the lead, but the weather ended up being too marginal for my tastes and I ended up doing something different in the Cleveland area that weekend, and got some photographs I'm very happy to have in my collection. Suppose NS 1070 catches fire and burns tonight and I end up missing out on it altogether (other than having got it and its sisters in Spencer, which was a safety play), I'll probably consider the decision not to go to Pennsylvania in August to be the "how it got away" moment, but at the time my odds-of-success judgement steered me elsewhere.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/12 11:30 by toledopatch.

NSHorseheadSD70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm sorry you feel that way.

Why does it matter?

> If a unit is close,
> why not go out and at least see it. You might even
> see more trains than that one. They did all these
> nice paint schemes and people won't go to see them
> if they aren't leading or the sun isn't shining.
> They still look good without a lens aimed at
> them.

No dispute, they look good period.

However, the reason that I fall squarely in the same perspective Toledopatch has explained is that I only have so much time & money that I can spend on this hobby between working full time and family so I only care about high value returns if I'm going to make any significant effort. It's one thing if I run out on my lunch hour to watch whatever rolls by - it's something else all together to head trackside during precious weekend time or evenings (during the time of year that's an option). Simply "seeing" one isn't worth as much to me as many other things I could be doing. If I'm going to make significant effort to do so I want a good picture as a result. That was also a big part of why I went to Spencer - so I could see them all and get pretty sunny roster shots of them all. Now when one goes by in the dark, in the rain, clouds or trailing I don't feel the urge to spend time & money chasing it down just 'cause I've never seen it before.

If I had more time or different priorities I might just go see them purely to watch them roll by, but that's not my priority at this point in my life. However, that is the great thing about this hobby - you can enjoy it however you want. Some people love just watching trains go by, others like photography, others do video, etc. etc. It's not (or shouldn't be) a right/wrong or better/worse situation. It's a matter of different people doing different things they enjoy.

My 2 cents,
Michael

Well here it is coming through CP Cannon on the NS Pittsburgh Line today on NS 22W at 3:55pm.

---

Still a very nice picture weather it is leading or trailing. To each their own...have a good night all.

Posted from Android

I was lucky enough to get her on her first revenue run out of Enola Yard leading, at five different locations. Weather was sunny and a beautiful day.
I still like them, leading, trailing or whatever. Rain or shine, if I don't have it yet I'll try to go get it. Then hope for a better day if I did get it in the rain! LOL
If I wait for perfect everything, I may not get it at all! But, being retired helps a little that I am able to get up and go when they come to my little corner of the world!
Just my 2 cents.

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In any case, it's a middle unit. Feh.

I'm generally with the folks who prefer the good stuff leading instead of buried in consist. If this 6920 would have been 2nd out on that 21G the other sunday I would have taken one shot and let it go at that instead of following all across Northern Ohio. Here is how I have always handled the interesting but buried units : From my 70's print and slide film days to today's digital I will take a grab shot of a buried rare unit "just in case" I never see it again. The slide would become "shoebox" fodder if better photos were taken later on. Film and processing wasn't cheap, so you just didn't blow a lot of film on nose coupled units. In today's digi world the buried unit photo becomes buried on an hard drive once a better one is obtained. Clutter covering a unit (poles, trees, crossing gates, etc.) is more offensive in a photo than a well composed nose coupled shot in my book.
I generally get my fill of "watching" trains at work, so I really try for photos when out fanning. Hard to beat those places like the Station Inn though, places where you can just sit on the porch watching and listening to the sights and sounds of the railroad.

RAD