November 18, 2006 trip to Dalton, GA area

After a couple of busy months I was able to break away from school and other appointments to head for the railroad tracks. The first train of the morning was CSX Q120. I ran into this northbound around Ringgold, GA and made a quick u-turn to find a spot for a picture. It was coming mostly out of the sun which proved to be a bit of a challenge. I headed back south. This time I made it only a little farther before I heard the detector go off. I quickly drove to the Ringgold station and waited a couple minutes. It was another stack and TOFC train heading north. I followed the tracks south exploring the line until I reached Tunnel Hill, GA. I still hadn’t heard anything more on the scanner as far as CSX trains went so I made a quick trip over to the NS tracks. All morning long I had heard of NS trains, and I wasn’t disappointed when I reached the line. When I reached Varnell, GA I found a northbound BNSF Powder River Basin empty coal train waiting at the signals. I parked just north of the train and waited for a southbound.

Thirty minutes later another BNSF Powder River Basin coal train arrived. It was a loaded one with 2×1 locomotive configuration. After shooting a couple shots of this train I waited as it rolled by and over the crossover in front of the northbound empty. Then the empty got a light around rolled out with 124 cars. I put on my tele-converter for a going away shot of the DPU on the rear. A few minutes later the G38 (Georgia local) rolled through the crossover with two NS units. I tried a more side shot since the sun was not in a good position for northbounds. Two hours later the scanner picked up some traffic heading my way. Soon another BNSF empty coal train rounded the corner near Waring, GA. I shot a going away of the DPU and then noticed the headlights of an approaching southbound. This proved to be NS train 275 with 34 autoracks. I decided to chase this train south and try to grab another couple shots.

The chase went well until I reached Dalton, GA. The traffic slowed me down quite a bit and then I stopped for a minute to catch a CSX northbound manifest with some interesting power. I saw NS 1649 in the yard south of town and then took off on I-75 for the chase. I could hear this train hit the different detectors as I flew down the freeway. I took the Adairsville exit confident I was ahead of the train. After a short trip I arrived at the NS tracks at Pinson, GA. If I had known where I was going exactly I probably could have gotten a shot, but when I did find the tracks the tail end of the train was just rolling by. I continued the chase down to Rome, GA, but it was fruitless. The train was just going too fast to be able to get ahead of it very well. After giving up on the chase I drove back north to Pinson, GA to wait. About an hour later another southbound rounded the corner. It was a manifest train with 5 engines on the point. After shooting this train I drove north to Reeves, GA following the tracks. The sun was providing some great light but no trains showed up. And unfortunately I had an orchestra concert I had to play in so I had to quickly head for the church. It was a fun day even though traffic levels were a little on the low side.

November 18, 2006