Lots of foreign power!!!

It seems to me that there has been a trend among the railroads who interchange with one another to keep the first road's power, rather than perform the time-costing switch. I've never seen so many BNSF and UP led intermodal trains as I have over the past year. This can be seen in Fostoria where it is not uncommon to see 4-5 strait trains with foreign power and the Water Level Route seems to look more as it did with CR.

For the record, in Walbridge yesterday was BNSF, UP, CP, CSX, and CN (plus GT) power. As mentioned in an earlier post, 3 KCS units made an appearance in Toledo as well the other day.

Is this indeed the new trend in railroading?

Post your foreign power sightings in Ohio here...

Happy 4th Everyone!

Saw a GT Geep on an NS local near Green Springs on the ex-NKP line between Bellevue and Fostoria.

I don't understand this obcession with "foreign" power by railfans. If it's so cool to see why not go to Battle Creek or Watseka or Chicago or whatever and see a ton of it? To be honest, I find it rather annoying to be setup for a shot and then find some off-road power leading. That's ruined plenty of my shots over the years. Why do you like like to see this so much?

-Brian
(Confused )

railohio wrote:I don't understand this obcession with "foreign" power by railfans. Why do you like like to see this so much?

Here's the thing, see, everyone likes something different -- and there's no accounting for it. I find it easier just to accept this diversity of tastes in all things. Sometimes it helps to try to see the world from someone else's perspective (empathy).

But then, since you're asking "why?" I guess that's what you're doing.

As you were.

I like foreign power so much because Norfolk Southern has the dullest paint scheme on the planet. How in the world anyone would rather shoot an NS locomotive rather than a BNSF one makes me just as confused as you!!!

But I enjoy your photos regardless of the power.

matt wrote:I like foreign power so much because Norfolk Southern has the dullest paint scheme on the planet. How in the world anyone would rather shoot an NS locomotive rather than a BNSF one makes me just as confused as you!!!

But I enjoy your photos regardless of the power.

Thanks for the compliments, but I'm still confused. If BNSF is so much better than NS why do you railfan NS all the time instead of going to see BNSF?

I guess this is where the difference between railfans and rail photographers come in.

I believe that to a railfan it's nice to see a surprise from the norm on a set of tracks. It's not as easy to defend a GTW or CN loco as much since they are just up in Michigan or in North Toledo. But for BNSF, it's not easy for some of us to head out west to "simply see BNSF".

Personally, I don't find NS paint that dull... I mean, I'm a fan of the Penn Central, so black and white is fine with me. But that doesn't mean that all I want to see is NS. I find it more exciting from my own photography preferences to get a shot of a Southern Pacific loco leading a train on NS or CSX tracks than it is to get a CSX or NS loco. Part of the reason I like fanning is because you never know what will come around that bend. It's the possibility of seeing anything that makes you want to stay in a spot to see just one more train. If I go to CN country in Michigan, I know I'll see those GTW/CN locomotives, but it's less of a surprise that way.

In any case where I get to see something other than the host company's power, I kind of see it as a "rare find" so to speak. Seeing that GTW loco on an NS local was a treat for me. I never get to see the blue & red locomotives of the GTW around here in NS country. So I enjoyed seeing that as opposed to just another NS widecab. Plus, CN will someday have all those locos drabbed in red, white, and black, so to see them now is nice. I know that they won't be around forever, so I won't have to worry about kicking myself for never seeing them now.

I take pictures of trains for personal enjoyment and simply a way to capture a memory. I don't get too artistic with them so I suppose I just don't understand how foreign power could "mess up" a shot the same way that you don't understand how some of us love foreign power.

As I posted before about the NS on the CSX's TT there have been alot of Foreign power on the TT foremost - I have seen everything in the past month EXCEPT a KCS on the TT too many to list!

And no I do not find NS boring but I would like to see a CSX or NS on their OWN tracks as leading power, but the trailing can be foreign.
Except for the zebra stripes in front I find CN's paint scheme most boring, but thats me.

Ryan

As it was mentioned I think, if I went out west to fan the BNSF, I'd probably get bored of all the pumpkins just like I get bored of the endless stream of NS Dash 9's thru Toledo. I am not a photographer and I simply just enjoy colorful rails regardless of where I am.

I hope I didn't say I dislike the NS scheme, I don't. I just get bored easily.

A'ight, I dig it. I guess we just got different ideas of what a day trackside should yield.

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks...