Its my favorite time of the year, fall. Beautiful outside with the changing of the leaves and temperatures start to get comfortabel again. Here are some shots from Mance, PA at a place I used to camp for a few days in the fall and enjoy the trains!
What a great place to camp! Old Mance Training Camp was a delight. The only thing was at about 4-5AM it sound like non-stop trains going over the mountains. And it usually got to the lower 40's at night!
Bet you never thought I had a paper plant on the layout? Well here's proof. The industry turned out too large for the layout and eventually was removed. Klotz and Patriot Industries are now in this spot. As for the loco, definitely a odd ball with the Horst air filter on a GP38.
Haven't done this in a while so here goes: One of my favorite spots to railfan back in the day was down in Richmond, VA at the south end of Acca yard. It was a great spot and very busy. I loved the closeness to the action and the rare cars I would see. These are from July 2007.
Sorry I have not had any other updates in a few weeks. Been quite busy and MR time is at a premium. But I do have the TBT post for today!
This is former RF&P GP40 patched for CSX. These were common a few years after the merger since the RF&P motors had to lead on RF&P tracks due to their CTC controls.
Back when I railfanned alot, I had a rare chance to catch a DMIR leader here in Virginia. DMIR #409 leads a BNSF engine south on 35Q on Norfolk southern rails near Culpeper, VA. This was from 8 years ago.
Another HLCX lease unit. HLCX #6204 SD40-2 Ex- BCR in a USA patriotic scheme.
Here a short flashback to the Winchester and Western short line railroad that's in the northwest part of Virginia. Good short line power and a slug with a cab!
#709 with a boo-boo. It will become a chopped hood when it's repaired.
Well it's Thursday again so time for some older stuff. These two are from back in 2005 and 2006.
Original VMID power. These are two of the first green & gray locomotives I painted. These are both GP40's. The 299 still occasionally shows up on the layout. The 290 was sold years ago. Great looking lashup. The layout is nothing like it is today.
Looking back at some of my extreme weathering, this one sticks out as being pretty good. The hand drawn grafitti I think is simple but effective.
More Railfanning: My absolute favorite place to railfan, Mance, PA on the former B&O "horseshoe" and Sandpatch Grade. Spent many days camping along the ROW and taking all the trains that ran over the hill.Few things you were guaranteed in October: cold nights/mornings, unusual power, and lulls in the action!
These are from October 2004. Always hard to get a sunny day up there anything of the year.
Yesterday, My two sons and I headed due north up to my favorite hobby shop: Mainline Hobby
It's a long drive but always worth it. As usual, we do some railfanning along the way. The Maryland Midland interchanges in the area of the hobby shop which is located in Blue Ridge Summit, PA. The name is where I got my name for my HO empire. I've been coming up here for 15 years and one of the first time I did, I stumbled upon the Maryland Midland. The paint has changed recently but they represented what I wanted in a railroad. I railfanned them alot over the years and knew the line like the palm of my hand. We lucked out as we found them in Thurmont, MD as we were heading up. The chase was on once I saw this lashup!:
FIVE Emds on the head end? Must have a big train. Turns out that it had 54 loaded cement cars and 2 boxcars for the run up the Catoctin Mountains.
Been a while since I've done one of these so here we go: From 2009
Believe I finally have the trackage correct for Fredericksburg Flats. Took me a while to figure out exact industries.
The Virginia Central has had some locomotive changes since 2009 and this pic is not different. Used the older boxcar scheme on the MP15 and I think it looks good.
