New Face on the Local

With a morning assignment in Coshocton Wednesday, I left early to give myself a chance to catch the Coshocton local before heading to work.

I caught up with it on Paper Mill Road, backing onto a cut of cars sitting on the main. Not sure what he had been up to, but the consist also had two cabooses in it. The locomotive was the 3185, a newly arrived (from CSX) Super 7, still in fairly fresh 'dark future' paint and no OHCR markings. I shot the little train heading to the small yard in town, and after some rushing around, I found him picking up a long cut of boxcars that had been sitting on a siding for months. The landmark Coshocton Grain elevator was looming on the horizon, and the ancient trees lining the road providing shadows.

The First Train of the Year...

... same as the last train of the year.

I was out looking for some wild art Wednesday, January 3 and saw a crew from the city taking down holiday decorations. It was evening, and the light, while slightly diffused, was nice. I stood on the Y bridge and waited for them to come and take down the wreaths decorating the bridge. Free from the downtown canyon shadows, it would have been a nice photo had they ever come. Instead they turned just short of the bridge and headed back the other way.

But while I was waiting, the southbound GLT empties crossed the former B&O bridge in the nice evening light. The same set of power was on the train as the last time I saw it. The sky was bleached out by the last light, the blue sky of the day gone, and as the train slowly crossed the bridge, I thought about panning.

And tried it. But to pan a train moving less than 10 mph, you need a long, long, LONG exposure. Still, it worked out, more or less, and was a pleasant way to start the railfanning year.