To the dark side



"As a child I used to think nap time was a punishment 
now as an adult I think it is a mini vacation"
~Unknown  


   I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, that is where the story begins. I was sitting eating dinner with the family when my buddy Dave messaged me, and we discussed going out to Bellevue Ohio on Saturday. Well over the course of a few days those plans solidified and we decided to go. I arrived at his house at 4am and we proceeded to make the almost 2 hour drive out there. Upon arriving we were greeted with some pre-dawn trains going into and out of the yard. As the sun rose we managed to find a Wheeling train with Norfolk Southern power over on one of the connecting tracks. Not wanting to miss the opportunity of catching a sunrise with a train (one of my favorite things) I managed to get this picture right here.

Fenced in power
While the angle wasn't my favorite due to the industrial fencing paralleling the locomotive I still took the shot. Once I headed back to the car here came a train with a couple of track panels and a high and wide but I missed the opportunity to get the shot due to me trying to get the aforementioned shot.
While sitting in the car trying my best to stay warm (I get cold easy anymore) we hear a pair of CP power coming in on an adjacent track. Jumping out of the car I ran over and nabbed this shot of the duo as theu come into the yard. 

Canadian visitors to the yard
As the morning went on there was no shortage of trains, with at least two an hour coming or going plus the local museum giving caboose rides for the holiday special. Later in the morning we hear a 8199 calling to get out and knowing NS does not have a locomotive by that number we knew it would be something special, but what came out of the yard neither one of us really expected. It was a CSX SD40-2 leading. Now to find a SD40-2 leading on any class one is a treat, finding a untouched one from a competitors road was a real treat for sure. I set my camera, pointed, and got this epic picture of the unique consist.

CSX 8199 in the lead
 Once he passed us on his way out we hear a crew doubling the train with another interesting locomotive leading, a former Burlington Northern SD60M Triclops. Now by the time he was ready to depart some of the clouds had taken over and blocked the sun, and while we still took some shots of him we decided to chase him out to a location just past the yard. Once we arrived I jumped out of the car and ran across a farmers cornfield to get this shot of the train as it passed by.

A Lone Triclops leads a local past a farmers field
Once he got passed us we decided to go get some food and once we did we sat back at our spot and ate some of the best BBQ you could ever want, and if you are ever in Bellevue I recommend  checking out Bone Boy's Smokehouse at 109 W. Main Street. Once we finished our dinner we decided to go over and do a live video of the holiday special at the museum. Once we got the video I decided to wait a few minutes and get a picture of the small Whitcomb locomotive.

The largest train of the day
With fading light and lake clouds moving in I decided not to attempt any more pictures not to mention a inconsiderate person whom decided it was a nice gesture to sit and block out view of anything coming out of the yard (you can tell this irked me to no end). As night fall began I decided to practice some of my nigh/blue hour photography with the signals and an approaching auto train.


Clearly blue
 Once the train was past me I clicked the shutter again and was pleased with these results. 

Auto racks going into the yard
Once our train went into the yard we decided to head back towards home. On the way we decided to go get coffee and stop in the nearby town of Greenwich where we were treated to six additional trains on the CSX. It was a day for the record From dark to dark nothing but solid train action. While Thanksgiving has passed I still want to take this opportunity to drop some nuggets of wisdom for you to enjoy. Most of the time we can get caught up in the I wants of life we fail to be thankful for the things we have until we either don't have them or the opportunity is taken from us. I am thankful for this trip it wasn't one I could have made myself but it is friends like Dave  who not only made this trip fully possible but also provided some good company I really enjoyed and that I am thankful for. What are you thankful for?  Try to find one thing to be thankful for and I bet you will find one less thing to be ungrateful for. Until next time take care and remember God is still in control

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