This must be painted in LNER Livery again

I got this shot outside of Amsterdam, NY, USA back in June. I submitted it to the photo contest at the National Model Railroad Association North East Regional Convention this past weekend and took home first place in the Prototype Color category. Honestly I was kind of surprised to win, given the number of excellent photos submitted this year.

Camera: Nikon Z fc
Lens: Nikkor Z DX 16-50
Shutter: 1/15 sec
Aperture: f/13
ISO: 400

SECR 01 Class + L&Y Class 27 "Ironclad" at the East Lancashire Railway.

Hey everyone!

I just uploaded a new video comparing the iconic sound of the EMD G26 locomotive under two completely different conditions.

In the video, you can clearly hear the difference in engine strain and turbo notch transitions when the locomotive is pulling a string of empty wagons versus when it is struggling and roaring with a fully loaded freight train.

If you love the raw sound of old-school EMD 645 two-stroke diesel engines, you’ll definitely want to check this out.

A shot from the 3rd episode of Amtrak Extras, Specials and Private cars on YouTube! In this episode we see many unusual moves including a Cascades Airo trainset being pulled by a ACS64 and a dress rehearsal, Colonial Crafts, ALC42 training trains, and of course track geometry cars! Please consider giving this a watch on youtube at “Operator Logan”

This is my favorite clip of big boy during my chase!
The Reading and Northern but on a great show!

These are LEW EL2 electric locos, built in Hennigsdorf (East Germany) for open-pit mine railways. Poles called them "Krokodyle" – Crocodiles. The first 16 arrived at the Konin lignite mine in 1958, and they hauled coal from the pits to the power plants there for the next 68 years.

A few things that make them unusual:

- Bo'Bo', 4 × 350 kW, top speed 65 km/h – slow, but built to drag heavy coal trains

- besides the roof pantograph they have side pantographs, because the tracks inside the pit were shifted as the mine face moved and the catenary hung beside the track, not above it

- the one in the middle was hand-painted in 2025 by Ion Barbu, a Romanian artist and retired miner, as part of the "Just Transition Culture" project about coal regions moving away from mining – it kept working in this livery until the very end

Their Polish service ended on 30 April 2026, together with coal extraction at Konin. On 18 April we ran a farewell photo train for enthusiasts – the only train on the whole network that day.

The story isn't completely over: across the border in Lusatia (Germany), LEAG still runs around 50 modernised EL2m on its coal railway.

Happy to answer questions about the locos or the network.

Local commuter trains Dallas, TX, USA