Eastern Railroad Discussion > Sun and Snow around Pittsburgh

I was able to get out for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon with the new drone, and got a chance to explore the 2.5x and 6x optical zoom.  Seeing the sun out over the frozen tundra of Pittsburgh I was excited to see a few trains, no matter how cold, this is my favorite time for photography!

After chatting with PittsburghMike I went up to Emsworth, north of Pittsburgh on the Ft. Wayne Line which runs west to Conway Yard (and continues on).   
1. Anyway, a 36A was stopped east of us at BELL when I arrived, and I shot a zoom shot of the DPU as the train eased its way east.
2. The DED at Sewickley warned us of an eastbound, and after a few minutes a 38G passed through. (2.5x zoom)
3. After 38G cleared, 11V made its way west.  I think this one was also 2.5x zoom.

 

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4. We'd gotten word that NS 245 had the "blue mane" 4001 unit leading.  We decided to position ourselves down by the Ohio Connecting bridge to take advantage of the last light of the day. Here's the 4001 crossing over the west end of Island Ave Yard.
Incidentally - 245 runs from "NY Container" to Sandusky. I don't know anything about "NY Container"... I'm assuming somewhere around Newark, NJ?
5. Another view

That was it for the day, except that I wanted to try out the night-shooting capabilities. I heard the AVR "tootling" down the Allegheny River as I got home last night, and took the bird out for a test ride.  I was pretty happy with the results. 
6. Here, I took advantage of the bright lighting of the Pittsburgh Water Authority complex to illuminate last night's AVR-02 behind a pair of GP40-2's.

That's it for today.  Thanks for looking!

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JUTower Wrote:

> Incidentally - 245 runs from "NY Container" to
> Sandusky. I don't know anything about "NY
> Container"... I'm assuming somewhere around
> Newark, NJ?

Staten Island, NY Container Terminal.
It only runs a few days / week.
Nice catch

Great post too, I love seeing action in the Pittsburgh area.

Absolutely beautiful views!
Bob

Hard to pick a favorite from this group of great pics!

Bob

Nice stuff Alex.  Glad you're having fun with your new drone.

Great stuff Alex, the first shot on the OC is my fave...

JG

Pretty hard to pick a "best" OR a "worst" shot from that group. They're all fantastic.

Fine bunch. Love how the drone (and winter) makes the river scenes pop.

Thanks for sharing. Drones certainly have opened up new views of trains. But skill is still needed. You have demonstrated that admirably in lighting, composition and subject matter.

Victor Baird



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/26 22:25 by wabash2800.

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> Thanks for sharing. Drones certainly have opened
> up new views of trains. But skill is still needed.
> You have demonstrated that admirably in lighting,
> composition and subject matter.
>
> Victor Baird

Thank you Victor, that's very kind!

Nice work...

Alex, your aerial photos are very impressive. With your knowledge of the area you picked some impressive views. Including the frozen river was a plus.
John