Railfanning 12-2-10 - ATN, Norfolk Southern

12-2-10

My intentions for this day were to set out early and do some serious railfanning. Cold temperatures outside and a warm bed made me decide otherwise. LOL Oh well it was nice to be able to sleep in for a change.

My afternoon of railfanning started out with catching the M715, with the crew's daily duties done, on it's way back from Guntersville and heading through Boaz at the intersection of Al HWY 205 and the newly reopened Main Street. The "Blues Brothers" (GP20 FCR2002, with it's beautiful Leslie RS5T, and GP38-2 HBR2001) lead the train today. I need to remember that this street is open to traffic now and my shot can become blocked..as it did today. :(

Next I headed down towards Attalla and to a secret location for a shot of the train coming off grade with smokey brakes! Gotta love hearing that RS5T echoing off the surrounding mountains!

And a parting shot of this train as it crosses the old L&N bridge over Cleveland Ave in Attalla (still marked for the Seaboard System.) The old track 1 has been abandoned for quite some time now, but evidence of it's existence still remains. This line was once double track from the yard, which is just beyond the interstate, to the diamonds at the AGS.

Now the action transitions to Norfolk Southern and the Alabama Great Southern (AGS.)

A pair of leased SD40's were just arriving at the station/yard in Attalla as I got set up near 3rd Ave. CEFX SD40-2s 3159 and 3180 brought a string of cars up from Birmingham to drop off in the Attalla yard.

Action on the line was painfully slow this evening with only the CEFX units building up a train to take back to Birmingham. This process took about 3 hours, with another half hour used to wye the train just North of town.

Finally, just after dark the train heads back South to Birmingham with a load of scrap and various other cars. It is nice to see and hear a pair of EMD 645Es doing what they do best!

Our last train of the day is one that managed to sneak into the Attalla yard without me knowing. NS 7004, a solo former Southern GP50, leads a string of 4 reefers to past Fairway Dr. and into the darkness toward Birmingham in true Southern style... Long hood forward. :)

I wish I could provide some IDs on the NS trains, but my scanner is crap. The IDs according to it are "Shhhhhhhhh!" LOL

Thanks for watching!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Alabama
• Tennessee
• River
• Railroad
• ATN
• Norfolk
• Southern
• NS
• Great
• AGS
• Electro
• Motive
• Diesel
• EMD
• General
• Electric
• GE
• Train
• Rail
• Railfan
• Albertville
• Boaz
• Attalla
• GP20
• GP38-2
• GP50
• SD40-2
• BamaRailfan

[nikosjk1]

That RS5T sounds spectacular! Great video!

[BamaRailfan]

@nikosjk1 Thank you Nikos. Love your videos and thanks for the sub!

[NS3210]

Nice video!

[BamaRailfan]

@NS3210 Thank you!

[TommyBNSF]

Awesome horn!!

[BamaRailfan]

@TommyBNSF My favorite! :)

[BamaRailfan]

@JgordonAmtrak1 Thanks Jeff! Yeah the ATN line is in disrepair in a lot of areas and that sets the train to rocking!

Also, that was actually S5T rather than a S3L. :) Not sure what was on the SD50 at the end, but I think it was a K3LA, slightly fouled. Sounded good though!

[JgordonAmtrak1]

Dam nice stuff, good old s3l! Nice train that is, and interesting old bride and lines, woah he was rocking over pass those crossings. Nice CEFX Leasers, Ive seen a few on NS trains lead and train in Irondale, what kinda horn was that on that NS unit at the end, its hard to tell but it was nice