Eastern Railroad Discussion > 2's Company, 3's A Crowd, 4's A Parade

Late this past Sunday afternoon I got a heads up from a Western Board member on an east bound KCS IDAAT with a trio of Belle units being lead by KSC # 5003 T4 GEVO. Now that just might be one to catch. Rare to have an east bound IM train with three Belle units. Now would it make an after sunrise appearance? And an even bigger question, would the weather cooperate? Well right about 7:30 am the East End dispatcher told a west bound 187 they would see three at Temple. The timing was spot on. The weather? Well the sun was struggling in it's fight to overcome the low level clouds that had dumped over 3inchs of badly needed rain over the weekend on an area that gone over a 21 day dry spell. 

So after a quick stop at the DD I headed to downtown Villa Rica and decided to head to the perch overlooking the main and siding tracks through town. Perhaps not the best spot but I wanted to be able to make a dash east on US 78 and not get delayed for additional shots to the east. It was a battle making changes to the camera settings as the sun was fighting it's battle with the clouds all morning long. IS what it IS, as they say. 

“Perch At The Church” 

#1. First east bounder of four on this day was NS 172 (NEW ORLEANS, LA (UP QLINSL) - LINWOOD, NC) on the Alabama East End District. It is at this location, Villa Rica CP MP 671.6 that east bounds fall under the control of the Atlanta Terminal Dispatcher. 

#2. In a recent post on the Passenger Train board a question was asked about the make up of NS 172 as it's mechanical issues this past Saturday ended up causing an 6 hour delay into Atlanta for AMTKK 20. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

#3. Within 10 minutes the next east bounder was NS 26A (VANCE ALA – ANGUILLA JCT, GA (GITM)  With the new NS operating plan this train will often include a cut of loaded well cars from annulled train NS 298. Not the case on todays load of export bound autos..

...more to follow...

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/19 08:47 by NSSpike.

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#4. Not long after the train of most interest showed up in town. NS 220 (DALLAS, TX (KCS IDAAT)- ATLANTA, GA).

#5. Off to the east in Douglasville at MP 659.9 the # 5003 leads today's “Hottest” train on the East End into Atlanta. 

#6. Heading back to the west I hear the detector at the MP 680.6 go off which allowed me just enough time to head back to the Perch At The Church and catch Long Beach CA NS 226 (SHREVEPORT, LA(UP ZLCAI) - ATLANTA, GA) take the siding and hold for today's AMTK 19.  

Good to be able to capture early morning east bounders after a LONG spell of this traffic running long before sunrise!!!  

Thanks for stopping by and always be safe when out track side!!!

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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BTW, it is not often that the KSC runs this IM train or NS 24E (DALLAS, TX (KCS IDAAT2) - ATLANTA, GA) with three Belle units. As a rule if 3 or more.. NS power will be in the mix. And for the better part of the last 1.5 years mainly NS power has been the primary power on this train. But here is one I captured back in 2015 with three motors in the Belle paint scheme east bound at MP 659.8 Douglasville GA. 

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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I like the last one...

NSSpike Wrote:
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T Well the sun was struggling
> in it's fight to overcome the low level clouds
> that had dumped over 3inchs of badly needed rain
> over the weekend on an area that gone over a 21
> day dry spell. 
Nice catches, please put the Belles on 238!

Glad you got some much needed rain! Now maybe you won't have to water as much?

Of course, THAT rain totally screwed up Hartsfield on Saturday. I was flying out of CHS thru ATL (well trying to). "Luckily", my outbound connection was 4+ hours late too. With thst delay and my recent visit to Austell, it's like I'm now a GA resident!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/19 18:58 by RayH.

Excellent series of images Phil!