Railway Historical

Ubiquitous

Crossing the north/south rail line in Seymour, Indiana, I noticed a headlight. I pulled over and set up for this northbound train, which can be seen with a connector track to the east/west line in town.

The train is on the Louisville & Indiana (former Pennsylvania) with the unseen line being CSX (former Baltimore & Ohio). I was hoping for some spiffy-painted L&I units (which take after the old Pennsy), but instead got yet another dose of the ubiquitous Union Pacific.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken November 15th 2024.

Dead Soldiers, Part Three

Continuing a short, sad series of posts documenting the demise of color position signals along the Baltimore & Ohio line between Cincinnati and St. Louis. These images were made two days apart.

Currently the line is operated by CSX, but was built as the Ohio and Mississippi—the location is Brownstown, Indiana.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken November 13th and 15th.

Dead Soldiers, Part Two

Continuing a short, sad series of posts documenting the demise of color position signals along the Baltimore & Ohio line between Cincinnati and St. Louis. These images were made two days apart.

Currently the line is operated by CSX, but was built as the Ohio and Mississippi—the location is Ewing, near Brownstown, Indiana.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken November 13th and 15th

Dead Soldiers, Part One

Today I returned to Shields, Indiana, along the Baltimore & Ohio. Based on info from a knowledgeable source, I was hoping a train would come along to grace my previous shot (of two days ago, showing the signals alone).

Instead of this all coming to fruition, I was instead confronted with this scene: the signals cut down and resting on the ground. (CSX took down the old, then activated the new signals which stood behind my position.) I suddenly lost interest in any train, or photography thereof.

These ancient signals, and others, such as semaphores along the ATSF on the Raton Division, are all being replaced after serving for more than a century. Of course this kind of thing has been plaguing rail enthusiasts for forty years or more—loss of more than 30 class one railroads, loss of charismatic motive power, loss of street running, and ultimately, loss of any idiosyncratic charms whatever.

After a pause, I decided I'd check on the other signals I saw two days earlier: please look for subsequent posts.

Two image by Richard Koenig; taken November 13th and 15th 2024.

Madison Incline

This railroad was the steepest non-cog railroad in North America (5.89%). Located in Madison, Indiana, the railroad was known as the Madison, Indianapolis & Lafayette Railroad.

It was built well before the Civil War—construction began in 1836 and the line was operational in 1841. Please go to this source for more information on this intriguing spot.

Later this line would be part of the Panhandle, then Pennsy, and later Penn Central. The Madison Railroad operated it for a period beginning in 1978, and is still a working road between North Madison and North Vernon, but have not used the incline since 1992.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken November 13th 2024.

Brownstown Memory

Here are some shots from today—juxtaposed with a couple from the late 1970s (as teased in the previous post).

We're along an old railroad: built (in broad gauge no less) as the Ohio & Mississippi prior to the Civil War. It became the Baltimore & Ohio later, and was still so, though becoming the Chessie System, when I photographed it as an adolescent. This siding is called Brownstown, though it's removed a bit from the burg itself.

I was looking west for the first two images (that is the same curve in both shots, though difficult to tell). I turned for the going-away shot and have a pretty good comparison capture made today.

Five images by Richard Koenig; two from October 22nd 1977, and three from November 13th 2024.

Color Position Lights

This is the second time, in the last few years, that I've ventured down to see the Ohio & Mississippi in southern Indiana. I photographed a fair amount of action on this line (as the Baltimore & Ohio) when I was a teenager back in the late 1970s. I'll try to illustrate that soon here.

I scouted a couple of spots today, but seemed to have missed the one train per day that rides these rails. We're between Seymour and Brownstown, Indiana, and I believe this particular spot is called Shields, not far from mile post 94 (measured from Cincinnati).

One image by Richard Koenig; taken November 13th 2024.

Happenstance and Heritage

While on the road today, I saw a diminutive train along an unknown line and made chase.

I got ahead of it and pulled into what turned out to Plymouth, Indiana. There I saw another line running more or less perpendicular, supposed a crossing to exist, and made for that. I was able to set up so that I could showcase the ancient Pennsy home signal, still doing its job after what I would suppose to be greater than a century.

I'm standing on what was once the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, which was part of the Pennsy of course (and now operated as the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern). Our little train is on what was the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, which became part of the New York Central and later the Nickel Plate (and is now operated by the Elkhart & Western).

The little train appeared to be powered by one Paducah geep on each end, with but a few cars in between. After it trundled away, I took an additional shot of the decaying station along the Pennsy, which can be seen lurking in the background of the first few images.

To add to the rail history in this spot, Rail Guide (a fabulous website where one can track down the heritage of any rail line in the US) says the the Panhandle (also part of the Pennsy) crossed here as well, creating a triple crossing. Go to the pull down menu under "maps" and click "early owners".

Five images by Richard Koenig; taken November 13th 2024.

Meet at Kalamazoo

Here we see a couple of Michigan Service trains meet just west of downtown Kalamazoo. This line is former Michigan Central (NYC, PC, Conrail), now owned by Amtrak outright.

On my way to work finds number 350, an eastbound Wolverine, sitting still. I figured it was waiting for a westbound to clear the station so waited just a bit. It soon proceeded and rolled toward town.

I'd already heard another train whistling in town, and thus appears number 365, the westbound Blue Water. They pass each other in the distance, the second train passes where I'm standing, and I shoot it going away as it accelerates toward Chicago.

This spot is adjacent to both Kalamazoo College as well as Western Michigan University.

Nine images by Richard Koenig; taken November 8th 2024.

Park Place Hotel

We're in Traverse City, Michigan for this image. Tim Walz was speaking in the Park Place Hotel Friday night, but it was a full house when I strolled by and no additional folks were being admitted. The building itself is intriguing though—it's the tallest in Traverse City, ten floors, and will remain so due to building restrictions. I like to say this is akin to the area around the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin.

Replacing the Campbell House from the 1870s, this building was finished in 1930; the top resembles a light house beacon.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken November 1st 2024.

Comet A3

This is my second try at photographing this comet (C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS). I happened to be in New Harmony, Indiana, when I saw it this day.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken October 17th 2024.

Comet A3

Last week I went out to try to see Comet A3 (C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS). I wasn't thrilled with the results, but it was an interesting experience just the same. The location is West Lake in Portage, Michigan.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken October 16th 2024.

Waxing Gibbous: Hunter's Moon

This stunning specimen was seen in Portage, Michigan. Sometimes I do some composite work in this situation, but this is a single capture.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken October 16th 2024.

Northern Lights over West Bay

This was seen in Traverse City, Michigan, over Grand Traverse Bay West Arm. This occurred five months to the day after another big show of the aurora.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken October 10th.

City as Metaphor

A diptych from my project called City as Metaphor, a re-photography project spanning 40 years: 485 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken in 1981 and 2021.

City as Metaphor

A diptych from my project called City as Metaphor, a re-photography project spanning 40 years: Midtown from The Lake, Central park.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken in in 1981 and 2021.

City as Metaphor

A diptych from my project called City as Metaphor, a re-photography project spanning 40 years: 62 Cambridge Place, Brooklyn.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken in 1981 and 2021.