Homecoming Day – Part 1 of 4, Chattanooga

[Jimbaux cannot wash away your verbal defecation despite himself.  You’re no Jesus Christ!]

(What, you were expecting Glenn Miller?)

This is Part 1 of 4 of Jimbaux’s homecoming day that started in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with plenty of pictures of mostly trains, many of them admittedly lame, and which will end in a most spectacular and soulful fashion in Part 4.  Please stay tuned!

I spent Thursday driving from DC, a place I still love but with which I’ve become increasingly jaded, as I recently explained, to Chattanooga, and you can see those pictures here.

Chattanooga

Thursday evening was spent with my friend and host in Chattanooga, as we caught  up on old times and talked of our life issues since we last saw each other.  Just like the night before, I got only a couple of hours of sleep that night, as I was so busy and preoccupied with so much.  My friend and I both awoke in the darkness because she had a 06:00 departure time for some place she had to be, meaning that Jimbaux would be out the door early and taking pictures, ultimately making his way southwest out of town.

Prior to this visit, I had only been to Chattanooga once as an adult (in 2009), and I wasn’t even in my own vehicle (nor driving any other vehicle) then, meaning this was the first time I really explored the place on my own.  Thanks in some part to Mick Nussbaum’s pictures from Chattanooga, the link to which I just found for the first time since looking at the pictures more than a year ago, I knew that the Norfolk Southern Railway had a large presence here, including in the form of a large yard, and I set out to document this photographically.  The one problem is that I really didn’t know where to look, as I had not had time to look at any local maps before coming here.

So, as the dark sky started to brighten, I went from my friend’s house in search of railroad tracks, and the first thing I found at 06:37 EDT was this:

I didn’t realize at the time that this coal train was a TVA train, but the reporting marks on the one visible hopper indicate that.  Notice the parked stack train behind this.  I didn’t realize it at the time, and I’m still not 100% certain, but this seems to be the CSX here.  Does anyone know?

Dawn From Lookout Mountain

While I was out looking for the NS, somewhat by accident, I went up the road to Lookout Mountain, which was an interesting experience.

Keep in mind that Chattanooga is at the western fringe of the Eastern Time Zone.  Below, we see the sunrise at 06:59 EDT.

Well, now it’s time to get off of this mountain, and that’s what I did, using some downshifting techniques that would be useless to me by the end of the day!

I then went west of town and found the parallel NS and CSX mainlines.

I’m Really Hungry

Not only was I really hungry, but I had a particular desire to find a Murder King because I hadn’t eaten a Bravo Kilo breakfast in a really long time, probably since 2009.  I went and got my two sausage, egg, and cheese croisannwiches and some sweet tea.

Well,  that was certainly satisfying.  I wasn’t at all in the mood for MCD.  Anyway, as we will soon learn, I wish I had bought at least one more sausage, egg, and cheese croisannwich and taken it “to go,” but not for the reasons that you’re probably expecting.

I Found The Yard!

As I was getting text messages from a few knowledgeable friends on the matter, I kept going east, following the track, and finally found the NS yard, which at the time I had forgotten was called DeButts Yard.

You’ll see this power set plenty later on.

A Reminder Of My Own Great Fortune

Right at about the time I was taking these pictures, I could see out of the corner of my eye some slightly rough-looking woman approaching me from the south.  Oh, boy, here comes some local dirtbag giving me crap for taking pictures of trains.

“Get lost, you worthless dirtbag, because not only do I have the legal right to be here and taking pictures, and not only am I not even remotely a terrorist threat, but there are plenty of other problems in the world you can address,” was about to come out of my mouth (well, not really), when she kindly asked about the pictures I was taking and talked about how much she was entertained by the passings of the the trains here.  Well, that was not what I expected, and looking around me and only seeing a parking lot and an overpass, I was wondering where exactly her vantage from which she observed trains was.  I would soon learn the inconvenient truth.

In the above broadside shot, you can see the other approach to the overpass to the far-left, which I purposefully left in the shot when I would often otherwise crop it out of the shot.

I told the woman that I was just passing through town and that I liked trains.

Does anyone know what the story(ies) is(are) behind these things with what appear to be ALCo hoods?  Are they slugs of some sort?

Do you see Lookout Mountain through the haze in the background?  That’s where I was earlier.

“We were wondering if you could help us with something to eat,” was what emerged from her mouth when we were done talking about trains and photography.  What?  Actually, I had halfway been expecting this, but I still didn’t know who “we” were.  Even if I didn’t have qualms about merely handing cash to the needy, I don’t really have any cash to spare.

Still, it was at this point that I had wished I had bought at least one more breakfast sandwich where I was.  The only thing edible, ready-to-eat, and within reach in my truck was a cold bottle of water and a granola bar that my friend had given me, and I gave it to her, wishing I could do more for her.  She thanked me and went on her way.  I continued to take pictures for a few minutes more.

When Did I Become A Roster Shooter?

These photos that I present here are not the typical train photos that you’ve come to love and expect from Jimbaux.  I was happy to be here, but, if I lived in this place, I wouldn’t spend much effort just shooting pictures of locomotives.

A Bright Future?

This CSX locomotive in the railroad’s relatively new “Bright Future” paint scheme provided the only exception to the overpoweringly black-and-white world that a place with dozens of NS locomotives is.

I had mixed feelings on seeing this.  Certainly, in the six months preceding this, I had grown weary of seeing anything related to the CSX, which had already, in the first place, been my least favorite of the “Big 7” railroads.  (That would change if the railroad would rename itself “Chessie System” like its predecessor with the yellow-and-blue paint, paint its locomotives in that scheme, and switch to the much more sensible alpha train symbols like BNSF uses.)

A Couple More Roster Shots, Then A Wave Goodbye

I’m not even sure why I bothered processing the below shot, but let’s get through the lame stuff before we get to the good stuff, okay?

The picture below actually does have some redeeming qualities for me, as even though it is primarily a lame picture of a very common locomotive, the house on the hill in the background is something I can’t do back home on the pancake-flat lands of southern Louisiana.

After that, I got into my truck, turned the air conditioner on, and drove out of the parking lot.  It was then that I looked up under the bridge and saw the lady who had just talked to me and a man consuming what I had just given them, and waving at me.  As I waved back at them, in my air-conditioned truck, I wished that I could have done more for them than give them a cool bottle of water on what was already a very hot morning.

From The Bridge Itself

Now, it’s time to climb the bridge itself and try to get some shots, but what is there on the bridge other than some fences?  Dammit!  I’m sick of these fences!  Taking the lens hood off, here’s what I was able to shoot through the fence with my new 70-200mm/f2.8 lens.  I didn’t realize at the time that this was a hump job because I didn’t realize at the time that DeButts Yard is a hump yard, but I’d soon learn how enormous this facility is!

Yes, it was hot and hazy, and when shooting backlit shots of NS stuff, one might as well go greyscale.

Here’s a shot in the other direction of a power set you’ve already seen from ground level.  You can compare the two pictures if you like!

To my eyes, it seemed I’d be able to find something more interesting if I headed east.

Roadwork

As I walked down the bridge, knowing some less fortunate people were living below it, I did shoot this picture.

That’s certainly entertaining, now isn’t it?

The Better Vantage

A bridge farther to the east and closer to the hump and the tower proved a much better vantage point, as you will see here.

I hadn’t realized it, but Vestas has a facility in Chattanooga, and I was able to photograph some windmill loads here.

Neat, eh?  I think so.

Recognize This Guy?

As I later realized, the first shot I did in the yard this morning (see above) was a hump job building a cut to shove over the hump, which you see here, along with the tower.

Neat, eh?  I think so.  In fact, I think it’s my favorite shot of this post (which will be outdone in Parts 3 and 4, I say with some hesitation since I’m the king of low expectations.)  Once again, we’re shooting side-lit, hazy pictures of NS stuff, meaning going greyscale puts the little bit of color in the shot out of its misery.  This is probably a cool afternoon shot, but I won’t be here in the afternoon.

Here are some shots of the Vestas loads on the other side of the bridge.

Neat, eh?  I think so.

Here’s the carknocker shed.

Look to the right in the above picture and see the “exit” ramp from the overpass that NS employees (and NS employees only) use to reach the yard.

Lookout!

Do you see Lookout Mountain through the haze in the above picture?  Chattanooga suffers from bad air pollution compared to other places due to its location in a mountain valley.

Far to the left in the above picture, you can seen an empty coal train sitting on the CSX mainline, which parallels the NS here.

This was interesting:

I’m not sure what’s in those gondolas.

The Tower and The Hump

Here are two versions of the same picture, showing the hump with the hump job cresting it, as well as the yard tower.

And here is a cropped version of the above picture.

Neat, eh?  Thoughts?

Here’s a brakeman inspecting a car, mostly likely the brakes, from a switch list.

The truckbed makes the below shot for me!

Neat, eh?

The CSX

So, here we are looking west on the CSX track, which, you can see, is to the left and south of the NS yard.

That’s an empty coal train, probably heading back to BNSF for coal loading in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming.

I’m Not The Only Cagy One!

Check this out.  I didn’t know that the Columbus & Greenville Railway had any cushion coil cars, and check out the SeverCorr logo too.

This was relevant too, as I was considering ending my day and starting my next one near that exact steel mill in northeastern Mississippi, especially remembering the cool shots I got there in 2009.  Yes, at this point, I still hadn’t decided where I was going to lay my head down that night.

The Hump Job

The same hump job arrived on the scene.

Apparently, these things are remote-controlled.  What, then, does one call the man operating this?  He’s the engineer, conductor, and brakeman all in one.

It was carrying one scrap gondola, but to where I do not know.

Do you recognize that  locomotive number?

Another Yard Job

Here came something else.

After that, I had about enough of this.  I went and found the eastern end of the yard and found one more yard job.

Notice the CSX mainline at the far right.

As is customary in situations like this, I get one wide shot and one tight shot.

That is enough of that.

Time To Depart Town

It was about 09:45 local time, and I decided that it was time to leave town and head to the southwest.  On my way out of town, I noticed that the train that was my first photographic subject of the day was still there.

That’s all for Part 1, my friends.  Part 2 will be of pictures in a different state, and you’ll soon notice that each part is of pictures of a different state.

I apologize if this post had more quantity than quality.  That problem will progressively decrease by Part 4!  Stay tuned.

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Thanks, mes amis.

Jimbaux