Norfolk Southern Employees’ Photography-Contest calendar

Looks like something my brother and I might do. (Photo by Anthony Randall.)

—BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM! “Rise-and-shine, sunshine!”
It’s my brother-from-Boston, 7:30 a.m. or whatever, pounding my room-door at Wye Motor Lodge south of Altoona (PA).
We are there to chase trains, and he didn’t hafta do that. I been up at least an hour getting dressed, brushing teeth, pills, etc. But I don’t mind. Like me he’s a railfan, and we always have a good time chasing trains.
The February 2018 entry in my Norfolk Southern Employees’ Photography-Contest calendar looks like something my brother and I might take. Except it’s late afternoon, not early morning.
The train is in Missouri headed for interchange in Kansas City. It’s a unit-train of all corn-syrup. Single commodity unit trains can run point-to-point avoiding yarding.
Quite often my brother and I see unit-trains near Altoona. All-coal or all-grain or all crude-oil. Often we see trains of only auto-racks. I suppose they could be called unit-trains too.
But ya gotta have lots of that single commodity to make a unit-train. Five or 10 cars don’t qualify — even 30 or more. One unit coal train may be 130 cars.
Short car consists get yarded to become manifest trains = trains of multiple car-blocks all going to the same destination.
Railroading loves unit-trains. They take out yarding expense, mainly sorting cars. Yarding also takes takes time.
We have to be careful in lighting like this. Shadows might partially obscure locomotive-fronts. This might not be a problem on cloudy days. But if it’s sunny we hafta be east of the tracks — southeast is preferable.
Depends what season it is too. Early morning from northeast becomes possible come summer. Where the light falls determines success of a picture.
“Modeling” plays in too = a train partly in shadow. Often that’s attractive, but an engine-front partly shadowed rarely works.
There are locations that only work a very short time; like into deep rock cuts.
This picture reminds of one I used as the cover for this year’s annual train-calendar. The lighting is similar. My picture was taken in late afternoon; the only time the locomotive-front would be lit.
I discovered this location on-my-own. I’m sure my Altoona railfan friend Phil Faudi, who showed me many of my photo locations, has been there. But he never showed me it.


The cover-shot on my 2018 train calendar. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

“Hey Jack, where we headed?” (I let my brother drive; he’s only 60, but I’m 74.)
“Main Street Bridge in Gallitzin.”
“You are not! Yer headed for Jackson Street Bridge.”
“Negatory Dude. Main Street Bridge next to Tunnel Inn.”
“WRONGO-WRONGO-WRONGO-WRONGO-WRONGO! Tunnel Inn is 702 Jackson Street, manager-boy.”

• Tunnel Inn is a trackside bed-and-breakfast I once used. It’s in Gallitzin atop Allegheny Mountain.