Memphis Train Watching (and photos)
On occasion my work takes me to Memphis, TN. I have been fortunate to meet some nice rail fans down there. There are few things to keep in mind when train watching. DO NOT Attempt to get near the bridges to photograph trains. Since 9/11 this has been a no-no. There are two safe areas to watch trains from. Kansas Street and Kentucky Street. They are a block apart but give you access to both sides of the tracks. This area is a rough part of town and the local railroad police will sometimes come by and check up on you. If you stay to these designated areas you are safe. Do not rail fan alone done here. Chances are if you go down there alone you might meet up with more fans, but don’t stick around by yourself. You are only just a few blocks from some of the worst crime areas in Memphis. Also do not attempt to cross the tracks on foot here. Too much traffic.
The trains you see here were taken in one evening in about a two hour time frame. I also did not have my normal slr camera but a small point and shoot instead, where I had only a display screen to frame the shot. To steady myself I used a small pocket size tripod resting on a roof of a car.
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Enjoy the pictures from Memphis!
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A Union Pacific freight has just crossed the diamonds and is pulling west for the bridge. Look at the number of trains in the background. This place can get busy.
The view of this train was blocked by the UP train. This is the local shuttle run that CSX uses for interchange. It is a slug set.
The sun was not working with us so we headed to the other side of the tracks. On our way over there we passed this piece of UP MoW equipment.
Another UP Train gets into the mix.
Finally the NS train (now UP since it is now crewed by UP and on their tracks) got a crew and is heading west.
BNSF finally gets its coal train into the actions. It looks like this locomotive had an engine fire in the past.
Another shot of the coal train looking east.
This was the first BNSF "Nike Swoosh" paint job I caught with a camera. DPU on this empty coal train.
Another shot of the helper unit.
Actually favorable light made this picture come out better than I thought. This was the last train of the night, it was coming of the UP to be handed over to CSX. After this shot, it was just too dark and the signals were not favorable.
