FL9

About fifteen miles south of Wheeling on the Ohio side of the river a shuttle operation exists on today’s Norfolk Southern between loadouts six to eight miles up Captina Creek and a riverside barge loading facility at Powhatan Point.

Here on December 17th in 2005 we see NS SD40-2 #3331 easing a string of cars under the loading silo out of sight to the left before beginning the careful journey downgrade to the Ohio River.

In Corapolis, PA on the south bank of the Ohio River a few miles west of Pittsburgh, there is an old pedestrian bridge over the CSX mainline.  It is a perfect place to sit back and watch the trains pass below with no threat of vehicular traffic.  Trains have to call all signals over the radio, so it is always easy to know from which direction the next train is approaching.

Such was the case on 12/20/05 as the light was perfect for the CSX 8760 East passing under the tall bluffs towering over the Ohio River a few blocks to the right.

Hey, thanks!  I’m glad to see you loyal viewers stuck with me over vacation, and everyone got it right!  Yesterday’s shot was indeed a westbound UP train stopped at Big Sandy for a crew change on the old SSW line.

We made it back home Monday evening after 2200 miles on the road and a lot of fun.  There are three more days of pre-loaded slides, and that will give me time to get the new digital images from the trip processed so I may begin to share our experiences with you.

During a September 1998 visit to Wheeling was the only time I caught one of the eastern class one railroad business trains.

It was a rainy afternoon in Beaver Falls, PA when the Conrail business train with E-units headed east on the CSX.  A few hours later I was on a plane winging my way back to Texas. 

Ah!  Mystery time again!

Based on the past few days of CSX trains in Pennsylvania, was this picture in July of 1998 also taken in Pennsylvania, or is this Texas?