Eastern Railroad Discussion > INRD SB Manifest (SAHW) After a Failed Chase

You win some you loose some. 
Back in December, I was home from college for break and decided that I should catch as many trains as possible since I go to college where there aren't any in Michigan's UP. It didn't start off so well.

While the weather was a beautiful 55 and sunny (rare for southern Indiana in the winter), the Indiana Railroad had track work north of Bloomington somewhere, making the daily southbound train a bit late. I sat for 2 hours at a crossing just west of Bloomington where I've always wanted to catch the train, but also where I've been cursed many times. The curse was very much there on December 23rd. 

Train time came and went (16:00-16:30 is the norm) and the sun was bellow the horizon. At 17:00, I decided to check a crossing about a half mile east where there wasn't a curve and I could get a good look down the track, not expecting to see anything and continue on home. Low and behold, I turn on to the road and in the distance, the train is blowing by that crossing at 40mph. After a not-so-legal 3-point turn, and an excruciating wait for my phone to think about pulling up Google maps, I high-tailed it west on IN-45. I knew roughly where I was going, but there was one turn that if I missed I'd be screwed thus the need for Google. 

I made the turn ok, and set up several miles ahead to wait for it. Wasn't far enough. Stepped one foot out of the car and it starts tooting away for my new crossing--My first mistake. Did another 3-point turn and realized that while I had picked this crossing way ahead of time as a plan-b location, and made a conscious decision to wave the fact that it was a dead end street, I was now trapped on the wrong side of the tracks--My second mistake, although a calculated one at that. I knew the train would drop down to 30 mph approaching Solsberry which relieved some stress, and I decided to pace it for a short while along IN-43, loosing valuable time to get ahead of it again--My third mistake. After another short bit of pacing past Solsberry (just couldn't resist) I punched the gas and hit the next crossing down, which was at Howe-Lar Down Way (funky name eh?).

This time I was able to set up the tripod with only about 10 seconds to spare. Somehow, there was just enough light left to where my camera didn't have too much trouble finding good white balance and focus. 

With the last bits of sunset still reflecting off the clouds to the east, two of the railroad's iconic SD9043MACs (standard power for this train) come rounding a surprisingly picturesque curve. Adding to the fun was a Progress Rail tunnel motor DIT, likely heading for the shops in Jasonville. I'd actually end up catching this particular pair, 9011 and 9001, several times over the next two weeks on both SAHW and HWSA.

After the train had passed, I thought it'd be just barely possible to still have enough light left so I made haste to Tulip Trestle. Wrong turn--Mistake number four. After another 3-pointer, I was loosing hope and as I was trying to play catch-up once again, I could hear the rumble of the train on the ancient, quarter-mile long viaduct echoing through the hills. Game over.

Oh well. Better luck next time. 
 

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So great to see something other than the norm, great video. The power is great

Nice video!!