Alternate Title: No, officer, I’m not Middle Eastern
Originally, I had planned to try for a few more fall color shots this past weekend. However, a few storms last week pretty much blew away what color was left. That left me with plan B. Plan B was to meet up with Emmett and Carmon this past Saturday. Berea’s trick or treat was on Saturday, and I wanted to take Noah trick or treating. I went out shooting on Sunday instead.
I had heard from Emmett that NS was in the process of replacing the old searchlight signals at Millidgeville, KY (a few miles south of Danville) with the new “Darth Vader” type. I wanted to get a few shots of those searchlights before they are gone forever. Also, a check on the JREB.org NS forum revealed that train 25J had left Austell, GA with a leased SD60 on the point. This information gave me three goals for the day: 1.) Get shots at Millidgeville. 2.) Get some shots of 25J 3.) Since it was Halloween, it would be only fitting to shoot a BNSF pumpkin leading a train.
175 and 40A had been calling signals and running close together for about 15 minutes before I arrived in Danville. 175 was refueling, and had a BNSF warbonnet leading (still in good paint, at that). 40A was pulling up behind them, and I made note of their “noisy” radio. Many times, a noisy radio means that there will be EMD power leading.
I took a quick shot of the warbonnet, and then headed south. A stop at Bowen yielded a tied down coal train, and the signals cleared for a northbound. My first thought was that the train parked on #2 would make a nice depth of field shot with the signals.

A few minutes later, 216 passed. I heard 175 getting ready to leave Danville, so I headed down the road. I passed on the shot at Millidgeville for 175, and thought Palm was a better place to catch it. The light was perfect.

I had already planned on shooting 40A at Kings Mountain, so I that’s where I headed to next. 175 was just heavy enough for me to beat them up the hill, and I caught one more shot of it tackling the grade at Kings Mountain.

40A was close behind 175, and after hearing North End telling 196 that they’d be at Kings Mountain for 175 and 40A, I figured I wouldn’t have to wait long. However, one of 40A’s trailing units died and it was a painfully slow climb uphill for them. The residents of Kings Mountain and other folks who passed by me while I was waiting for the train probably wondered why there was some crazy fool with a camera on the 501 bridge (more on this later). 40A finally popped around the curve and joyful noise was filling the air as a leased SD60 was working hard to pull the train up the grade.

I hadn’t planned on going any farther south than Kings Mountain because I was waiting on that 25J. This changed as I heard that 40A would be getting an engine from 25A at Waynesburg. Here’s the power getting ready to couple back up to the train.

I wanted one more shot as the train left Waynesburg, but 25A was heading north and blocking the view. Another tango foxtrot at the hands of NS.
A few more southbounds converged on Danville, and 168 was coming north. They eventually stopped at Palm for two southbounds. 161 left Danville and I decided to get the shot at Millidgeville with the signals.

I went back to Palm just to see what the power was on 168. En route, I heard 25J at Kings Mountain. I was thinking about heading west if those two trains got out of Danville before the light went away. At the same time, 223 was leaving Danville. I couldn’t find a suitable location to shoot. I had already gotten 175 at Palm, and since 223 would be going to #2 at Palm, that shot was out of the question. The CP at South Fork was already in shadows by this time, but the shot would have looked good in decent light.
I also tried to find a suitable location for 25J. Northbounds are dang near impossible to shoot at this time of the year. It would be going west, so I could always try my luck that way…or not. 168 left Palm, but there was no room at the inn for 25J. A 376 stopped at Faulkner Road, no crew called for 25J, and the coal train parked at Bowen could only mean one thing: They would be at Palm for an indeterminate amount of time. The break in action allowed me to get something to eat.
It sounded like 117 was getting close to leaving Danville, so I looked for a place to shoot it. While waiting at Moreland, I got a visit from the Lincoln County Sheriff, who informed that I “had the railroad all worried” and then wanted to know if I was shooting photos for a school project (I get asked that a lot for some reason). He never said what I did to get the railroad all worried. He didn’t run me off either. He passed by me earlier at Waynesburg and just kept on going, so the “having the railroad all worried” bit doesn’t really convince me. And 117? I shot them at Millidgeville. This marked my first experience with shooting RAW.

I probably should have stayed at Millidgeville for 295, but I decided to go back to Palm, even though I knew the shot would totally suck. But it was a GE anyway. 25J finally got away from Palm, after meeting 295 and I tried to shoot them at Moreland, but failed. My shot was an epic failure, so it will never see the light of day…not on this website at least. There was hope that 25J would leave Danville quickly, but the dreaded words, “tie it down” came through on the radio. This train wouldn’t go anywhere for a while.
I watched 124 go by Bowen, and 215 was sitting at Junction City waiting for them to clear. 215 left town in a hurry, and with three big engines, had no trouble getting up to track speed by the time they passed Bowen.

I went back to Danville after this, and saw 197 and 168 at Perryville St., refueling. 168 had a nice EMD trio, and the light was still fairly decent. I tried to shoot them at Harrodsburg, but my shot sucked, so it will never see the light of day. At this time, headed back home, but not before stopping at Faulkner Rd. to get a shot of 375 with one of the Operation Lifesaver Dash 9s on the point.
I hope everyone enjoys, and thanks for looking!