Petersburg VA 05.09.15: Crossover Appeal, Part 2

Описание: View Part 1 here:    • Petersburg VA 05.09.15: Crossover Appeal, ...  

Right about the time that we would have started grumbling about Q438 parking its six-unit carcass where it would completely block the view of anything on the other main past Collier, Norfolk Southern came through with a nice little sideshow. At 3:04, we refocused our cameras and our attention to the former N&W Belt Line as C44-9W 9693 and C40-9 'Top Hat' 8871 slid underneath Q438's power with westbound V17. Stack train 236 performed the same move in the other direction 48 minutes later, headed for Norfolk under the leadership of C44-9W 8970 and SD70M 2611.

By this point in the afternoon, it was abundantly clear that Q438 wasn't going anywhere for a while. To add a little urgency to our discussion on alternate viewing angles, we learned that the northbound Palmetto was on its way with Phase III Heritage P40 822 on point. I had not been up on the Halifax Road bridge for a shot in nearly 4 years, but this seemed as good a time as any to break that streak. Unfortunately I had neither sensible shoes nor the foresight to take a few drinks from the cooler with me, so schlepping my camera and tripod up the road was far less pleasurable than it had to be. Ah well - no pain, no gain.

A light breeze kept us refreshed until the Palmetto came within scanner range. At 4:55, we got a 'faux meet' of sorts as Q438 remained idle while the 822 and its train sped past on the other main. After the Palmetto crossed back over and made its station stop in Petersburg, L033 took its turn at 5:11 behind ES44AH 3013, AC4400CW 16, and ES40DC 5411. At long last, Q438 was cleared to depart at 5:27 and began a long, slow march northward. It looked as if the crew would have done well to cut in one of the three units in tow, as the consist now clocked in at nearly 150 cars. I have no doubt it will be interesting to witness the change in train lengths with the news of the latest symbol consolidations.

And speaking of symbol consolidation, Q438 was followed by one of the soon-to-be-abolished symbols as Q406 slipped under the bridge at 5:49, led by SD70MAC 4714 and C40-8W 7927. Q406's varied consist included an ex-Great Northern woodchip hopper in Big Sky Blue, still bearing the remnants of its 'Rocky The Goat' logo (at the 18:16 mark).

Amtrak's 822, L033, and that beast of a Q438 were all fine targets for the bridge angle, but arguably the best of them all rounded the distant curve under I-85 at 6:26 with horns blaring. The profile was unmistakable as P40s 816 and 835 hit the tangent through BX Interlocking with the southbound Auto Train. Conspicuous by its absence was the 'Sightseer' lounge car with its distinctive wrapover windows, but the train is still a sight regardless, especially in late afternoon light from an elevated position.

The Auto Train would have been a great finale, but CSX offered up an encore as empty grain train V771 could be heard on the scanner calling signals minutes later. There are very few things that could serve as the followup to a sweeping view of the AT, but the sight of a matched pair of C40-8Ws in battered-but-bright and increasingly rare YN2 livery leading the way was worthy of applause. The day may have started off dark and cloudy, but we ended it looking at a Bright Future. (because YN2 is also known as Bright Future and...haha...yeah...uh...ahem...)