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Thank you. I had to do my Usain Bolt imitation to get the Burgin Tunnel shot, arriving at the spot out of breath with the headlight already seen within the tunnel. It's not a quick park-and-shoot locale. A 30 minute walk further downgrade finds McElroy and Lick Log tunnels in rapid...

Take three. I opened and re-saved the two jpgs. Helpers depart Biltmore, NC at Milepost 0 under a classic Southern Rwy. cantilever signal bridge. Miles east minus helpers, the same train exits Burgin Tunnel and works downgrade at Ridgecrest, NC.

At Ridgecrest, NC, the train passes by and enters Swanannoa Tunnel. Unfortunately, I missed a train coming out of the tunnel earlier in the day. :(

Went out today in search of trains and got some shots. Blue Ridge Southern arrives in Asheville, NC as a special NS locomotive looks on: Later in Biltmore, NC a one car freight with abundant horsepower arrives:

These were certainly durable little locomotives weren't they? That's so neat that you got to fire on one during a summer. I checked to find that the L&C unit is an SW-900 built in '65, but I couldn't find anything about the locomotive in your photo. :confused: Amazingly, I did find that...

Went out yesterday in search of NS's Nickel Plate heritage locomotive, but failed in my quest. :( As consolation, I grabbed a few roster shots of Lancaster & Chester locomotives.

Caught NS Train 24Q this morning, a weekly "baretable" train that runs empty well cars from the Port of Charleston, SC to Elizabeth, NJ. That's the Lackawanna heritage unit trailing as I posted here a week ago, along with an old GP unit probably headed to the big yard at Linwood, NC for servicing.

As a sidenote, I think the ES-1 requires an FX body to work as advertised. I think I once figured out that DX cameras would require tubes. I've messed around with some of the home-brew methods and got fair results, but the setup time was extensive and the adjustments required more patience...

I've been painting our deck and as I finished up today's portion, I turned and found a little green lizard had arrived to inspect the work. Fortunately the paint had dried and all was well with him. We have lots of these little guys around and they're always welcome in our yard. They're about...

As I waited for the Lackawanna unit to tie on to its train, NS 238 with a lengthy load of double stacks arrived en route to the Port of Charleston.

With some patience waiting for good light and with some good fortune, I caught up with Norfolk Southern's Delaware, Lackawanna & Western "Heritage Unit" today. I'd never seen this one before and it's beautiful from any angle.

Caught NS today departing Columbia, SC with a local freight, my first train picture of 2019. It's backlit, but it was good to be outside taking pictures. The lead unit is a survivor, built in 1980 and rebuilt in 2005. I thought it was worth getting a roster shot of this veteran in better...

Earlier in the day I'd encountered the SOU unit in the Asheville engine terminal. It's an impossible location for pictures. So near, and yet so far. :( Finding it in the Loops later in the day was a pleasant surprise.

Two tunnels that would make good compositions next time, west portals at Ridgecrest and High Ridge. That's abandoned US-70 above the portal of High Ridge tunnel in the lower photo. It's been made into a great hiking and cycling trail.

Went out yesterday to see what I could find on NS's "Loops" east of Asheville, unaware that a mudslide had shut down the railroad for the day. I packed it in late in the afternoon and drove to the bottom of the grade at Old Fort to look around and found evidence of trouble. I saw a damaged...

My mother was closer to the tracks and fired off this shot moments later as my wife and I crowded the dutch door. I'd outfitted us with safety glasses and handkerchiefs to escape the cinders. Our hair was like concrete at day's end. ;) (PS -- 25 years later we no longer look this young.)

Yesterday I found this old snapshot from the early 1990s as taken by my Dad in western North Carolina. That's Norfolk & Western 611 having just climbed Saluda Mountain and is headed for Asheville. My wife and I are aboard the train. This section of track is essentially out of service today...

I don't often treat myself to things, but I did so this week to get a pair of N Scale Jersey Central SD-35s before they're gone. I hope to begin construction of my new model railroad this winter.

One of the model trains recently given to me by my friend is this little N Scale jewel that's nearly 50 years old, an Arnold Rapido 0-6-0. When I was a kid, I had one just like it and as kids do, I hopelessly ruined it trying to paint it. It's not a valuable locomotive, but it won a place in...