Last Photos and Top 10 of 2011 - 12/31/11

I took a drive up to Baltimore this afternoon to snap my last railroad photos of 2011. It's been a good year for my photo wise, both railroad related and otherwise. 2011 marked the first time since my daughter was born in 2008 that I really did a serious amount of railfanning (a trend I hope to continue). It was sunny most of the day, but the clouds decided to block it out by the time I got to Baltimore.

Q439-30 heads westbound through Bailey's Wye led by ES44AC #827.


A pair of ES44DCs lead an eastbound Q438-30 through Bailey's Wye.


A pair of Canadian American Railroad boxcars in the consist of Q438-30. This is the first time I can recall seeing boxcars from this railroad.


AC6000CW #5010 leads a train (symbol unknown) full of large pipes eastbound through Bailey's Wye.


That's all she wrote for this year! Now it's time to take a look back at what I consider my top ten railroad photos for 201l. These are in no particular order. They are simply the ten I thought were my best.

1. Lancaster & Chester SW900 #91 rests at the Circle S feed mill in Fort Mill, SC


2. MARC train P870 streaks eastbound from Point of Rocks in the early morning.


3. This former Baltimore & Ohio observation car harkens back to the days when passenger railroading in the US had a touch more class than it does now. This car is on display in the North Car Shop of the B&O Railroad Museum.


4. Former Norfolk & Western and Chessie GP9s lead a string of empty coal hoppers on the Hampton & Branchville Railroad through Miley, SC bound for interchange with CSX at Hampton.


5. Another shot from the H&B. HB GP9s 6249 (Chessie), 5943 (Chessie), 859 (NW) and 667 (NW) pull across SC Route 61 into the SCE&G Co-gen plant to pick up empty coal hoppers and bring them back to Hampton, SC for interchange with CSX.


6. MARC P871 drops off commuters on a Friday afternoon in Point of Rocks with GP39H-2 #73 on the head end.


7. A Delaware Coast Line train crossing back over the bridge heading back to Georgetown from Lewes, DE. Alco RS36 #2 is providing power.


8. CSX Q249 heads west off of the Curtis Bay Subdivision led by C40-8 #7587. With the painting of 7509, 7587 is the last C40-8 to wear this paint scheme.


9. Amtrak's Capitol Limited makes its way westbound through Point of Rocks, MD on CSX's Metropolitan Subdivision.


10. A Kansas City Southern local led by by a pair of GP38-2s crosses over the CSX diamond and past the derail signal on its way to the Port of Mississippi.


I thank everyone for looking and I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years. Here's to a lot of railfanning in 2012!