Great Rail Sites Volume 3: The Trackside Photographer

Since becoming a rail-fan in 2008 and starting Legacies On The Rails 5 years ago this month, and through the hobby of and process known as rail-fanning for me has mostly been focused on watching trains, and driving by rail-yards looking for that next great pic and/or video of a locomotive, a Heritage Unit, or other piece of “Fallen Flag” equipment or something I had not caught before. Visiting rail museums, locomotive, or caboose displays, depots (or depot/rail museums) and riding and recording various excursion trains. You’ll recall that in August, 2015 the Legacies On The Rails Art Show took place at Cathy Kline‘s art studio at the CB&Q Depot in Parkville, Missouri.

Now, I did start the Facebook Page Railroad Bridges: Related Photos & Video. I do take pics of a grade crossing, or signals here and there, and honestly, some of my favorite pics, be they mine or by another rail-fan, are those in which the equipment is passing under signal towers. I take pics of the buildings at the crossings that tell which railroad they belong to, and have the mile-post marker, and often a phone number to call to report crossing emergencies. I am always looking for more Facebook Groups to share these pics on.

But in hind-sight, I don’t feel like I ever gave that much time in thought about the Railroad Landscape itself which is what our featured site today is all about, which is The Trackside Photographer.

Since March of 2016, thetracksidephotographer.com has focused on 24 different categories that you will find clearly listed on their website, and as is stated in their Mission Statement, focuses on what is along the tracks…..not on the tracks. This is clearly just as important to what makes up railroads past and present as any of the topics I have been focusing on.

The Trackside Photographer publishes a new article every Thursday and they are always looking for more photographer/authors to submit work for publication within certain guidelines, that are also accessible in their website. You can submit your work to them at tracksidephotographer@embarqmail.com .

Some of the topics covered on The Trackside Photographer are: Bridges-like John Marvig‘s July 2012 piece: The Kate Shelley High Bridge. Freight Houses-like David Kahler‘s 2016 piece: Standing Tall. Grade Crossings-like Ed Fuller‘s August, 2016 piece from The Editor’s Notebook. Grain Elevators-like Eric Gagnon‘s June,2016 piece: Wheat Filled Wonders. Interlocking Towers. Maintenance Of Way. Signs. Signals-like Carl Smith‘s 6/15/17 piece: Two Hundred Miles And Counting. Stations, and much more!

So, be sure to check out The Trackside Photographer today on their website as well as on Facebook! As I’ve been famous for saying for years: You’ll be glad ya’ did!

 

This Edition’s Railroad Equipment Profile is this Missouri Pacific Caboose that I photographed recently in Buckner, Missouri, #11078. The 11000 Series Cabooses were used by Missouri Pacific for yard and transfer service. After December, 1982, Mo-Pac had 651 cabooses, including 407 bay-window, 208 cupola, and 36 transfer models. They were assigned Class CA-19 through Class CA-35 designations. 11078 is one of the CA-19 Class. # 11078 is one of several built by T&P in Marshall, Texas in 1955, and  rebuilt in Sedalia, Mo 1966-1971. It was removed from service 10/15/84 at Sedalia. Thanks to Utahrails.net for this information.

As always, though trains are fun, and have a lifetime of history and heritage behind them, nothing on earth can compare to a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and I hope that you have accepted him as your Personal Lord & Savior and are actively following His leading through His word, prayer, and fellowship in a local church. If you have not, I hope you will accept his free gift of salvation today!

And when it comes to trains, the Railroad Landscape and everything that is railroading, that you continue leaving Legacies…On The Rails!

Great Rail Sites Volume 2: Delay In Block Productions

Welcome to Great Rail Sites Volume 2! When I am not out in the field taking constant rail photos and video, or writing this blog (in rough draft form on paper, then here on the site), or uploading all my pics to Facebook from my phone, videos to You Tube from my phone (sometimes through the Viva Video Editor) or  to my computer, then to Facebook, from my camera, and later to this site, I love to watch other railfan videos on You Tube.

That is where I found videos by today’s featured site Delay In Block Productions. http://delayinblock.com/ Using the term that means “If you stop or slow your train to below ten mph, you have to be prepared to stop at the next signal”, in late November 2011, Drayton Blackgrove of Jackson Michigan, who has had a lifelong love of trains started Delay In Block Productions. It was officially licensed in 2013. The goal? Very simple: to produce and share the best quality railfan videos available on the internet. And if I might add, not just videos of current railroads transporting their goods and passengers from Point A to Point B, but also to share the history, the heritage, and the people of railroading.

Since 2011 Delay In Block Productions has gone on to involve over 30 professional photographers. A few of them are listed on their website and you can visit it to view their full profiles, but they are: David Ferrell, Chris Campbell, Jim Stanton (who along with Drayton is one of my Facebook Friends), Jordan Hood, and Connor Short.

Delay In Block Productions website and You Tube channel feature trains from steam to diesel, streamliner to modern. They feature mainline railroads to excursion trains, passenger trains to freight. They feature current day railroads to fallen flags. Very simply put, no matter what you are looking for in railfan video entertainment, Delay In Block Productions that as of this writing had 421 You Tube videos and 321,150 subscribers just on the main channel not to mention their Trains For Children channel, has something for you! My favorite thing they do, is the narration. And, although I do my share of posting here on Legacies…On The Rails, as well as on my You Tube channel which is nearing 300 LOTR Fan Videos, and Legacies On The Rails Radio (Podcast), if I had the knowledge, skills, software and time that Delay In Block Productions‘ staff put into their work, there are some sites out there whose quality I  hope to someday see Legacies…On The Rails eventually emulate, and Delay In Block Productions would definitely be in my top 5. They definitely get 5 out of 5 LOTR Railroad Cross-Bucks!

But I think the very best way to share with you their origin and ongoing work is to share some of their You Tube Videos, beginning with Drayton Blackgrove‘s own story.

 

 

 

 

This edition’s Equipment Profile is this boxcar that I recently photographed at the North Kansas City/Avondale, Missouri Norfolk Southern Yard from the “Fallen Flag” railroad of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.

The Illinois Central Gulf Railroad was, as Trains Magazine‘s April 10,2012 edition called it:
The railroad Abraham Lincoln so ardently championed in the 1800’s had changed dramatically in the ensuing century. On a mainly double-track speedway (enhanced with Automatic Train Stop in Illinois), diesel locomotives rushed goods from Gulf Coast ports and farms to a heavily industrialized North. Perhaps most surprising, the mighty Illinois Central by the mid-1970s was a cog in a larger machine — one component in a merged railroad (Illinois Central Gulf) that itself was part of a giant conglomerate with interests in real estate (La Salle Properties), financial services (Benjamin Franklin Savings), consumer products (Midas Muffler shops), and manufacturing (Waukesha Nuclear Castings). The railroad accounted for 31 percent of the income of parent IC Industries in 1973, a year when the ICG posted an all-time high revenue, thanks to strong grain, coal, and chemical traffic.

It ran from the Northeastern US to tthe Midwestern States from 1881-1988.

I am always encouraging you to accept and pursue a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ here on Legacies…On The Rails and hope you are doing that. I started attending a Men’s Study at our local Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (I am not a student, but simply attend a function there now and then) last night and it has me getting deeper into scripture to prepare to participate in the discussion. No matter how often you read God’s Word, you will always get more and more out of it!

I’m John Losh, “The Losh-Man” and until next time, when it comes to trains and everything that is railroading, just keep leaving Legacies…On The Rails!