Not Much to Look at But I Appreciate it Now

This CSX SD40-2 leading an auto rack train through Berea won’t win any beauty contests but in its own way it has a certain visual appeal. And that is despite the rust, mismatched number boards, faded paint, and generally battered appearance.

The 8068 was built for the Louisville & Nashville in October 1979 and later served the Seaboard System motive power fleet. It appears to have an earlier CSX livery iteration that is well worn and weathered.

Today such sights would be rare on CSX for the carrier doesn’t have that many standard cab locomotives left in road train service.

The image was made on April 29, 2000, and was scanned from color negative film.

Article and Photograph by Craig Sanders

In the Middle of a Lap Siding

CSX has removed some of the lap siding on the Toledo Subdivision that the Baltimore & Ohio installed years ago, but it kept the one in Cairo, Ohio. Shown is steel train K596 coming out of the northern end of the siding and onto the main.

If you look carefully, you will see that the dwarf signal is giving a train in the southern end of the siding a clear signal to come out onto the main.

Out of view is CSX manifest freight that is meeting the K596 here.

Note that lead unit SD40-2 No. 4008 has one of the square cabs CSX gave some of these units when they were rebuilt. This locomotive was originally built for the Seaboard Coast Line.

When In Doubt Look for a Grain Elevator

I was chasing a light power move of the Decatur & Eastern Illinois when I find myself in the tiny Hamlet of Camargo, Illinois.

I wasn’t sure what I would find but most towns in central Illinois have a grain elevator next to the railroad tracks.

I don’t know if the D&EI serves this particularly elevator but I do know it hauls a lot of agriculture commodies.

It just happened that none of them were moving on this particular job, which featured a pair of SD40-2 locomotives.

The heritage of this route is Baltimore & Ohio. At one time it extended from Indianapolis to Springfield, Illinois.

Most of the line is abandoned west of Decatur, Illinois, and within Indiana.

SD40-2s on the Prairie

I grew up in east central Illinois so I am well aware of how flat the landscape is there.

Yet if you seek to make photographs of railroads in action it can be more of a challenge than you think to create images that scream “this is the prairie.”

Illinois is sometimes called the Prairie State although little native prairie land remains. Today it is a moniker for being farmland.

 You might be surprised and at times frustrated at how many trees there are along the railroads of Illinois. Open views that suggest a vast open landscape can take some doing to find.

In the image above a pair of SD40-2s working for the Decatur & Eastern Illinois are running light eastbound a little east of Tuscola.

I had photographed a D&EI train at this same location last summer when crops were still in these fields.

Now those crops have been harvested and the field in the foreground plowed for the winter.

Plowing after harvest used to be commonplace but is less so today.

Orange Leaves, Tuscan Red Locomotive

The Louisville & Indiana operates over a former Pennsylvania Railroad line between Louisville and Indianapolis and has adapted a Pennsyesque look.

Locomotives are painted Tuscan red with gold stripes, and the company herald is shaped like a Keystone.

L&I pays tributes to the nation’s veterans in its Keystone as can be seen here on the nose of SD40M-2 No. 3002.

The 3002 is on the point of train Z550, which is returning is passing through Franklin, Indiana, en route to the yard in Columbus.

The 550 has more work to do in Columbus before the crew can go off the clock.

Of course I framed the train with those track side trees showing off their October foliage.

NS Donates SD40-2 to Kentucky Group

Norfolk Southern has donated an SD40-2 locomotive to the Kentucky Steam Heritage Corporation.

The unit, No. 6212, saw service in the Appalachian coalfields during its 42-year service life.

Chris Campbell, president of the nonprofit, said the diesel will be placed in the organization’s collection and used to “tell the story of how railroads built our region and the nation as a whole.”

No. 6162 was built in May 1978 by Electro-Motive Division for the Norfolk & Western.

It is expected to remain in operational condition and will be displayed in Irvine, Kentucky.

So Who Was Bo Bo?

Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-2 No. 4003 is noteworthy for two reasons.

It was the first W&LE locomotive to be repainted into the railroad’s orange and black livery.

However, that livery had a slight variation from what became the standard. It had a different font for lettering, and its pilots and the area round the front number boards were black.

No. 4003 was repainted in 2002 to match the rest of the motive power fleet.

As for the name BoBo that appears on the short hood, it’s not clear who that is but it’s probably a W&LE employee or former employee.

In the top image No. 4002 is shown at Navarre on March 9, 2016.

The bottom image shows No. 4003 in January 2001 in Hartland Yard in its original W&LE livery.

Top Photograph by Robert Farkas