BNSF power on NS train last night

Was very surprised to see a BNSF engine come threw Hillsborough
last night ona very fast moving intermodel move. How common of an
occurence is this.

Its more common then you think. Not every train but you do see it often. UP and leaser power is also common.

Well its a different railroad for me but the same situation. I was railfanning CSX's Riverline this morning and saw a southbound intermodal that had two BNSF Pumpkins followed by a CSX AC600CW.

It is a fairly common occurence, you may also see some Union Pacific locomotives on a semi-regular basis, like this early Sunday morning for example.

It seems to be common in the east to see western railroad power. Not too far from Reagan-National Airport, I saw a UP engine November 10th pulling a long freight southbound toward what was once Pennsy's Potomac Yard. (Of course Potomac Yard is no longer there...it's overgrown with a shopping mall).

Now, I'd prefer to see UP power in NEW JERSEY.

A NS loco is a common sighting in the BNSF powerpools working the Front Range Subdivision between Denver and Cheyenne.

Block,

Next time you see one post a picture...Would love to see an NS widecab on foreign rails so to speak so to say......

Steve

Well here is a shot of NS on foriegn rails. In this case its a NS widecab leading a double stack on the Riverline.
http://trainfreak.rrpicturearchives.net ... x?id=26584
http://trainfreak.rrpicturearchives.net ... x?id=26600

Speaking of "local" power on "foreign" rails, can you imagine how I felt when I traveled to a convention in Las Vegas and working in some railfanning, one of the first trains I come across is headed by CSX? Here I travel a couple of thousand miles for some road power located less than a mile from my home in Skillman. It was a great trip, though; the weather was perfect and got a lot of great UP stuff.

http://kpiersol2.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... x?id=57200

Kim Piersol

In the past month while up in the NJ/NY state line along the River Line I have see 3 trains headed by UP power and 1 train with two CP engines.......Also one night heading home I caught a quick glance at a freight heading north on the River Line and from the distance it looked like the lead engine was from Montana Rail Link.....It was blue and had the white lines (like MRL) but I wasn't postive if it really was a MRL engine (it might have been a leased engine).

Blue with white stripes sounds suspiciously like a leased Capital Finance unit. These go through Skillman on the CSX quite frequently.

Here is a photo of one from last April.

http://kpiersol2.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... x?id=57213

Kim Piersol

kpiersol wrote:Blue with white stripes sounds suspiciously like a leased Capital Finance unit. These go through Skillman on the CSX quite frequently.

Here is a photo of one from last April.

http://kpiersol2.rrpicturearchives.net/ ... x?id=57213

Kim Piersol

I just saw one of these yesterday on K206 at Hopewell, followed by an ex-BN leased unit. Didn't get any digital shots though.

Do you have any favorite photo spots around Skillman? I am starting to exhaust all the grade crossing and bridge locations in the area...

Well the foreign power saga countinues. Today while at the Riverline again L169 went north with two UP C40-8s leading followed by another CSX unit then right after that Q268 came south with a NS C40-9W leading. This is two weekends in a row with foreign power and just my luck im shooting video so i dont have any pictures to show.

Dear Diamond_D

I saw the same lashup {I just saw one of these yesterday on K206 at Hopewell, followed by an ex-BN leased unit} this morning going NB through Skillman (at Hollow Road) at about 8:40 AM. I did have my camera, but missed it because the gates were already down when I was pulling up to the crossing.

The photo spots in Skillman generally suck. The best place is a little south of the old Belle Mead station and the 206 "S-Curve" near the hardware store off of Reading Avenue (technically in Belle Mead). It is a long straightaway, and there is a signal there, so you don't actually have to see the train coming. Hollow Road in Skillman is nice late in the afternoon for trains going SB, coming around the curve in full sunlight. The Belle Mead station itself is OK in the summer when the sun is high enough to clear the trees. Generally, though, since most of the trains go through Skillman at night because of the CSX having to compete with and use the SEPTA line south of West Trenton, it's generally not worth the wait.

The shot I got of the Capital Finance leased unit was a fluke - I was crossing the Camp Meeting Avenue bridge (which is a one-lane bridge), saw the train, stopped on the bridge and took the picture. I don't think I ever got out of my car. The timing was perfect, and there was no-one else approaching the bridge at the time.

Kim Piersol

I've tried to find a way to shoot from Camp Meeting but I think stopping on there at a lucky time is the only way, it's so narrow. And the only time up up that way, the sun is directly down the tracks so it's no good for the usual northbounds through there.

I have gotten a few good shots up on the 604 bridge, there's a nice pulloff right after the bridge.

I've been doing some experimenting with different lighting, etc, around the Hopewell station area, and got some good fall shots at Province Line Rd and Hollow Road, but I'll definitely have to try your spot up by Belle Mead.

It's such a beautiful area in the valley there, too bad it's so tightly treed in. From the hill on Province Line you have an amazing view south of the ROW, but with all the trees you couldn't even see a train.