A fall 2024 trip visiting four steam operations over 2,700 miles in 9 days!

A fall 2024 trip visiting four steam operations over 2,700 miles in 9 days!

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My last long railfan trip for 2024 was with good friend and fellow railfan Bryan Burton where we set out to photograph steam operations at The Reading Blue Mountain Railroad, The East Broad Top Railroad, The Strasburg Railroad and The Valley Railroad at Essex, Connecticut. The first three were all train chases where as the last one was an actual photo charter. The trip started out on the October 3rd and  and lasted through the 11th. 

We both and many friends at each location and so we had a great time chasing the live steam at the various locations and though it was a long drive, we at least had the two of us to trade off driving, which made the trip a lot easier! As for which location yielded my favorite images, it’s really a toss up as I have favorites from each location which I’ll share some in this post with everyone.

Here’s some Wikipedia facts on each of the locomotives I shot during our 2,700 mile trip along with pictures from each railroad.

Reading Blue Mountain and Northern 2102

Reading Blue Mountain and Northern 2102 (historically known as Reading 2102) is a preserved T-1 class 4-8-4 “Northern” type steam locomotive. Originally built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in March 1925 as an “I-10sa” 2-8-0 “Consolidation” type locomotive for the Reading Company, No. 2102 was rebuilt by the Reading’s own locomotive Shops as a 4-8-4 “Northern” in September 1945, and it was used for pulling heavy coal trains for the railroad until being retired from revenue service in 1956.

Between 1962 and 1964, No. 2102 was used to haul the Iron Horse Rambles excursion trains. After the Rambles ended in 1964, No. 2102 was sold to Steam Tours Inc. of Akron, Ohio, and it spend the next several years pulling various fan trips in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. In 1985, it was sold again to Andy Muller to operate on his Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad alongside 4-6-2 No. 425, until its flue time expired, on October 27, 1991.

In February 2016, the locomotive began to be restored back to operating condition, and then it returned to service, in April 2022, pulling R&N’s excursions between Reading and Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Since the summer of 2024, No. 2102 pulled two new excursions through the Lehigh River Gorge from Nesquehoning to Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania in June and Pittston, Pennsylvania in August.

East Broad Top

“The East Broad Top Railroad (EBT) is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge historic and heritage railroad headquartered in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania. Operating from 1871 to 1956, it is one of the United States’ oldest and best-preserved narrow-gauge railroads, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The railroad is now preserved for use as a tourist attraction until operations ceased in 2011. After a nine-year closure, in February 2020 it was announced that the railroad had been purchased by a non-profit foundation and regular train service resumed in the summer of 2021.”

Strasburg Railroad

“The Strasburg Rail Road (reporting mark SRC) is a heritage railroad and the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge railroad in the western hemisphere, as well as the oldest public utility in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Chartered in 1832, the Strasburg Rail Road Company is today a heritage railroad offering excursion trains hauled by steam locomotives on 4.02 mi (6.47 km) of track in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, as well as providing contract railroad mechanical services, and freight service to area shippers. The railroad’s headquarters are outside Strasburg, Pennsylvania.

Strasburg has five operational steam locomotives on its roster, as well as several others in various stages of restoration. As of 2022, Canadian National No. 89, Norfolk & Western No. 475 and Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal No. 15 are all in active service, while Canadian National No. 7312 is currently undergoing restoration back to operation and Great Western No. 90 is undergoing its FRA inspection and overhaul as of January 2024. The other steam locomotive is a 15” Gauge 4-4-0 built by Cagney in the early 1900s. They also have the nation’s largest operating fleet of historic wooden passenger coaches. It hosts 300,000 visitors per year.”

The Valley Railroad

 

“The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Essex, Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex, and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.”

After the trip

Now, I’ve done a lot of railfanning since this trip, but those are pretty much local area and I’m still editing and posting some of my photos from the October trip as well. If you’d like to see more then visit me on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube or my website!

Below I’m including a video I did on each location for your viewing pleasure!! 

This week we catch steam action on The Blue Mountain and Reading Railroad between Outer Station at Reading, PA and Jim Thorpe, PA, highlighting steam locomotive #2102 on October 5th, 2024. Sit back, turn up the sound, expand to full screen and enjoy the trains!! Please like, share, subscribe and thanks for watching!

This week we catch steam action on the East Broad Top around Rockhill Furnace, PA featuring Locomotive #16 that was built in 1916 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, pulling freight and passenger cars. Sit back, turn up the sound, expand to full screen and enjoy the trains!! Please like, share, subscribe and thanks for watching!

This week we catch steam action at the Strasburg Railroad Museum in Strasburg, PA, highlighting steam locomotive #89. Sit back, turn up the sound, expand to full screen and enjoy the trains!! Please like, share, subscribe and thanks for watching! Saturday, August 24th, 2024 – A Saturday evening collection of steam photos from Strasburg, Pennsylvania for your Saturday evening viewing pleasure from Jim Pearson Photography.

This week we catch steam action at The Valley Railroad Company during a two-day steam photo charter by Dak Dillon Photography around Essex, Connecticut from October 8-9th, 2024. Sit back, turn up the sound, expand to full screen and enjoy the trains!! Please like, share, subscribe and thanks for watching!

2024 California Railfan Trip to the Tehachapi’s and Cajon Pass

2024 California Railfan Trip to the Tehachapi’s and Cajon Pass

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September 18th, 2024, BNSF 8057, NS 8068 and BNSF 5177 lead an eastbound train through the famous Tehachapi Loop on the Union Pacific Mojave Subdivision at Keene, California.

The flight out was fairly un eventful other  than TAS cutting the lock off one of my bags to see what was inside it! Of course it was my small tripod that had them concerned as  I’m figuring with it collapsed it looked very concerning to them on the x-rays of the bag. In the past before 911 it would have never raised concern, but times are different.

My good friend Jose picked me up from the Ontario Airport and I spent the next 10 days staying and traveling with him around southern California and had a great time! He lives up around Crestline, California up in the mountains and it was a great jumping off spot to all the places we wanted to visit. While Jose isn’t as much of a railfan as me, he does enjoy photographing trains and other types of landscape photography. My visit also gave him a good excuse to get away from his volunteer work with the local water company, which takes way too much of his time (his words) and I gave him a good excuse to get out and take pictures!! Now he plans to take a week or two off every few months as the result of my latest visit. I hope he sticks to it and get out to do more of what he loves! Jose and I pretty much followed each other around the world on assignments while we were both photojournalists with Combat Camera.

It was a great visit and I’ll add some pictures here from the trip. I did goof up and let my drone takeoff without setting the home point on a flight, which resulted in loosing it somewhere out in the Cajon Pass when it dropped behind a rocky point and I lost contact with it from the controller. By not setting the home point, the drone landed somewhere out there and after a two hour search we gave up on finding it. Not a mistake I’ll make again!!

Our Combat Camera reunion was held in Studio City, CA at our past boss’s and good friend’s home, Ken Hackman. We used to have big versions of these reunions that went over a weekend, but since COVID we’ve been doing mini versions where we’ve been gathering at Ken’s home for a day of fellowship and good food. It’s great seeing everyone and we had probably around 30-40 people or more attend! I’ll add a few pictures from that part of the trip as well!

Here’s a few more from the train part of the trip…

A few from the Combat Camera Reunion

Chattanooga Trip with Jim

Chattanooga Trip with Jim

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Well, I guess it’s about time I posted something on my 5 day train chasing trip to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum at Chattanooga, TN and points between!

I’ve been trying to do this trip for a couple months now, but due to the museum having issues with getting their Southern Railway 630 locomotive up and running for the new season, it didn’t happen when I had planned, so the trip got postponed a few times. I finally hit the road on April 26th and got back home to Kentucky on April 30th. I caught a lot of steam action on SR 630 and also on the CSX Chattanooga Subdivision and the Norfolk Southern CNO&TP District. I’ve not really railfanned the Chattanooga Sub much at all and never done so on the CNO&TP District so both were pretty much new territory for me!

On day one I spent making my way from Nashville to Chattanooga, TN on the Chattanooga Sub and thanks to the help of Reed Redding on spots to check out I was able to catch several photos of the line that I’m very happy with. Below are a couple of my favorites from this stretch of the trip. If you’d like to see more from this subdivision then visit this link to my photography website. 

Loaded Coal train CSX 904 passes the old Spanish style depot at Bridgeport, Alabama as it heads south on the CSX Chattanooga Subdivision, on April26th, 2024.
Loaded Coal train CSX 904 passes the old depot at Tullahoma, Tennessee, as it heads south on the CSX Chattanooga Subdivision, on April 26th, 2024.

Then for two days, with fellow railfans Bryan Burton and Dak Dillon, I spent chasing the Southern Railway Steam locomotive 630 and Thomas the Tank Engine on many runs between Grand Junction in West Chattanooga to East Chattanooga and back. It’s not really a very long run, but there’s several good spots to capture these trains in operation, which you can see from the photos below. Here’s also another link where you can view other images from this and past trips to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, which I highly recommend!

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s steam locomotive Southern Railway 630 departs Grand Junction at West Chattanooga as it heads to East Chattanooga, Tennessee with the daily local, on April 27th, 2024.
The Iconic Thomas the Tank Engine leads a passenger train over the Chickamauga Creek Bridge as it heads to Grand Junction at West Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 27th, 2024.

Now, the last part of my trip was along the Norfolk Southern CNO&TP District and this was pretty much all new territory for me. It was a very successful trip thanks to the help of two fellow railfans, Andrew Stephenson and Matt Murphy!

For this leg of the trip I started out on the afternoon of April 28th and railfanned the district till the evening of April 30th, when I made my way home! I think this trip was one of the most successful 3 days of railfanning on Norfolk Southern that I’ve had in a long time, if not forever! An outstanding trip and caught a lot of action in interesting locations! Below are again a couple of my favorites and here’s a link to more!

A trio of Norfolk Southern engines lead NS 168 as they make their way across the New River Bridge northbound on the NS CNO&TP (Rathole) Subdivision at New River, Tennessee. On April 29th, 2024.
Norfolk Southern 890 passes the old mine loadout at Revilo outside Sterns, Kentucky as they head southbound with a load of coal on the NS CNO&TP (Rathole) Subdivision, on April 29th, 2024. The coal was picked up at Warrior Coal mine on the Paducah and Louisville Railway, outside of Nebo, Kentucky and is headed for the TVA power plant at Kingston, Ky under stormy skies.

So, what’s coming up for me down the road? My next planned trip is to southern California to visit friends in September and my plan is to revisit my old stomping grounds in the Cajon Pass and Tehachapi mountains in the central part of the state. Stay tuned!

Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225

Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225

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The weekend of December 16th, 2023 I spent time chasing the Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 with fellow railfan Bryan Burton, Dak Dillon and Brian Caswell, along with many others on their last weekend of the season running this great locomotive! It was their version of a Polar Express train and while this wasn’t a photo charter like my Colorado trip, we still had plenty of opportunities to capture it in action. It was a quick, but great trip and below are a few of my favorite images from the weekend. Click here to see more!

Here’s a video for your viewing pleasure as well!

Ten days chasing steam in Colorado!

Ten days chasing steam in Colorado!

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Man, where to begin with this post? Last October 2023 I spent almost two weeks with friend Bryan Burton and several others on two different steam train charters in Colorado and part of New Mexico. I’ve railfanned the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad before, but not on the end of the line between Antonito and Osier, Colorado. However, the first charter was on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad between Durango and Silverton, Colorado and has been on my bucket list of places to photograph for a very long time and it didn’t disappoint at all! 

One of the many photo lines on our Durango Photo Charter Trip. Bryan is in the center of this shot, along with from left, fellow friends Jeffery Stoner and William Diehl. In spite of having around 70 people on this charter, everyone pretty much got along and shared spots as we usually did several photo runbys at each location.
One of the many photo lines on our Durango Photo Charter Trip. Bryan is in the center of this shot, along with from left, fellow friends Jeffery Stoner and William Diehl. In spite of having around 70 people on this charter, everyone pretty much got along and shared spots as we usually did several photo runbys at each location.
This shot was from my window seat on the first flight I’ve taken since before COVID-19 began in 2019. I tried to do a iPhone post daily during my trip and this is one such shot.

From this 10 day trip, only about 5 of the days were actually on the photo charters and the rest were days when we chased trains on our own! In case you’re not familiar on how these charters work, each one is limited to a certain number of people, Durango was about 70 and Cumbres was about 40 people. The way things worked was we all started the day on both charters before sunrise where we all boarded our trains and were taken to our first photo location for the sunrise. Everyone would get off the train and our leaders would establish photo lines where everyone stood and then the train would back up the line and steam past our location so we could photograph and video the train. Most locations they would do several run-bys so people could change spots between each run.

The days were long and the altitude was between 9,000 and just over 10,000 feet and the body of this 73 year old knew it! Fortunately my walking 10,ooo steps a day normally, helped greatly with the loading and unloading in the high altitude and thin air. I’ll admit that after a 10 -12 hour day, by the time we got back to our hotel at night, my feet were ready for a rest!! 

Rather than talking about the day by day events I’ll just let some of my pictures from the trip do the talking for me and finish this trip post up by saying, this was one of the best charter trips I think I’ve ever been on and a big shout out to the Durango and Silverton for their excellent charter and to Dak Dillon Photography for organizing and hosting the Cumbres charter! 

If you want to see more images from this trip visit this link! I’ll also include a video below from the trip for your viewing pleasure!