Hickory NC Yard

Hickory North Carolin was home to this year's Narrow Gauge Convention,  We had arrived a day early and decided to go down town and find the old Southern Mainline that ran from NC to Tennessee.  The yard was located on the east end of town.  There was track maintenance that day.  After talking with the foreman we learned that the line had been closed for a switch replacement and that soon there would be a *&*^^% load of trains going by.  The first photos were of the track equipment going to the west end of the yard and onto the lead thus freeing up the main for action.

 It was quite enjoyable chatting with these folks as they were longtime track workers and could fill us in on what was good to see in the local area.

 This was the end of the Hurricane that had come up through Texas and was now pounding down on Pennsylvania and Upper New York State.  made for some interesting skies.

 here was the second unit in the switch replacement team.

 Parked in the yard lead we now waited for an eastbound mixed freight that had just crosses the Blue Ridge Mountains and was heading for Spencer NC

This train was on the single track main and had to move to the North passing siding as there was a westbound in the south main heading our way.

 The train was moving very slowly and allowed for some very nice photos at the signal and switch

 The locomotives are now in the passing siding and the train looks like a snake.

 I was near the embankment so it was possible to get these nifty low angle approach shots.



Man the ground was shaking.  This is fun

 After the eastbound the head end of the westbound appeared on the south Main and was switching cars into the yard.  He also had pickups for his train.

 There was lots of power on these west bounds as they needed it to make their way up the grades and switchbacks near Old Fort NC.

 Meanwhile the trackgang were doing a little work on this Unit before returning to the yard.

Black and Whites are always fun on the Norfolk Southern

 The sun is out and the train is now moving forward to head west.

 Lela and I hopped in the car and headed west to see if we could catch her at speed.  The train was probably doing 40 miles an hour through town.  I like the abandoned siding in this shot

AC4400's and Dash 9s can smoke as well.