By any other way

           This Week has had it's ups and downs, mainly it's downs with the temperature it was so cold it reminded me of the old Mom's Mabeley Joke about the two drunks going through the grave yard the first drunk falls into a open grave that has been freshly dug he soon becomes chilled a few hours later a second drunk is walking past and hears the first drunk saying "help I'm cold" "I am Soooo cold" the second drunk looks into the hole and says, "no wonder your cold you fool you done kicked all the dirt off of you"
Now I got the joke out the way and I hope you enjoyed it The weekend was the typical no train weekend and Monday presented a cold but beautiful sunrise devoid of any trains, and by the time I get off work there is not much light yet for good Photos.

Sunrise Monday Morning

Tuesday was the same but devoid of any good sunrises as it was mostly cloudy, Wednesday I was able to obtain some new filters and toys for my camera and this is when the game changer came about 30 minutes after the boxes came my buddy Dave and I went trackside with my new polarized filters I was able to snap a pic of Q372 a CSX eastbound, a shot not easily obtainable due to the lighting being against me and shooting into the sun, but none the less I bagged the shot.

Q372 creates a rolling snow storm past a CSX MOW truck doing flag protection for construction in the area

The rest of the afternoon I spent the time watching the weather, the trains and the sky change and was able to bag another shot that in my opinion was one for the record of Q394 passing under one of the most beautiful skies I have seen in a while. 

This is why I railfan no further explanation needed

While living in NE Ohio I have learned the weather can change quickly within about 30 minutes of the last shot we got snow squalls along with the squalls the Q331 got to us after getting clearance from the train-master to proceed after being into emergency I was standing under a bridge freezing my tail off to get the picture of them moving light to go pickup 82 cars west of us.

Q331 with a ex RF&P leader and a snow Squall

While we saw three more trains I am going to cut it short here, and after dinner we shot some night shots and went on home. Thursday I had running to do so I didn't make it trackside, but Friday Oh boy. Friday was our coldest day it was -7 deg and sun. Dave picked me up from my old office after work (my old office is our former train station) and we went to sit and watch K516 sit and idle due to the crew being off duty or outlawing. While this became almost a 5 hour waiting game we did see a few east bounds.

K516 sits and idles

While still learning my new filters I snagged a pic of Q226 rolling past the K516 the other ones we saw was the Q138 and a Q394 with a pair of BNSF pumpkins on it. While we were trying keep warm we were joined by two of the local Railfans, Bo and Pam and the wait still ensued for the westbound traffic jam to go away.

Q226 passing a waiting K516

 While one of the sad things was they left the crew of K516 on board five hours after they outlawed basically the dispatcher forgot about them, somewhat understandable considering he had a bunch of dead trains including the Q355 behind the K516 and almost 60 miles of single main due to the other dead trains now as the Q394 passed the Q355 Re-Crewed and was waiting along with the D750 and the Q015 (now this was bad to stop a hotshot intermodal) Shortly after the Q355 Re-Crew our K516 got a Re-Crew and was getting ready to roll soon we would have a bunch of trains rolling.

Q394 rolls east as traffic passes on the freeway above

Now watching our K-train get ready we were able to pass the time but never the less the action began as the dispatcher gave Q355 the EC-1 to go over to track 2 and Q355 called for permission through the work limits. Crossed over and rolling the Q355 passed the still stopped 516 with the new crew.

Q355 Highballs past the K516 in the shadows of the Urban canyon that is created by the buildings

Now while the 355 passed by the conductor worked on releasing the brakes on the 516 and D750 got permission to roll west.

K516's conductor and the sticky air brake that plagued him

Now as the D750 cleared the signals at MP130.5 the conductor climbed back on  the K516 and they prepared to move the train up to the track to the next interlocking two signals away, it looked like our K516 whom provided the sound of a idling GEVO for most of the day was finally going to ride off into the sunset.

D750 hauls the mail past the 516 in the fading sun light of a cold Friday

As the K516 got underway we heard the Q015 (our stopped hotshot) call AY and we knew our day was coming to an end with the last two trains we would see for the day.

K516 Finally on the Move 

Now seeing close to five trains in a short time and almost 15 trains in two days made for a good week and I am going to leave you with the last pic I took,and the last train to ride off into the sunset, the Q015. As Always I thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed my journey as much as I did and remember God is still in control.

Q015 rolling west wrapping up a great day of train watching

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