Told my brother I wanted to get some shots of the Ringling Brothers train in Greenville, SC. He volunteered to drive, since he has a rental while they figure out what to do with his wrecked truck. I told him we needed to get there early because the afternoon sun would be bad for taking pictures. He finally shows up at my house around noon and we head down the road. So I’m already kicking myself for letting him drive. I should be in Greenville already. He then informs me he want’s to follow the rail lines in. Usually not a problem, but we’re heading north when we should be heading south. So we spend the next 2 1/2 hours driving every back road between Gafney, SC. and Taylors, SC. Finally around 3:00pm we arrive at the Norfolk Southern yard in Greenville, which is about a 45 minute drive from my house. Of course, the sun is awful and I’m seriously considering choking my brother at this point. We found the head of the train along with the animal cars. Two pretty dirty CSX units providing the power.
There was more security than usual, making it impossible to get in close for pictures. And, shooting into the sun didn’t help.
So while we’re taking a few pictures, I notice another train heading our way.
This was a mixed freight, and it was stopping. So we headed over to the station to get some pictures of the locomotives. When we got to the station, I felt like I hit the lottery. Four locomotives, including an ex BNSF, a Kansas City Southern, a former Union Pacific and the Norfolk Southern head unit.
This train also had a heavy duty, double truck flat.
Also at the station, two GP-38-2’s.
On the nearby CSX track we found them doing a little switching.
Earlier on my “tour” of SC we came across this train at the Spartanburg yard. The crew was dropped while we were there and I shot some video when it pulled out. Ralph
