As I left my mother's today, I decided to head east on RT. 78 and go to Powhatan Point to see if I could find NS' Captina coal train being unloaded. An impulsive turn to the right, instead of the left, paid off!
As I headed North on Rt. 7, what did I see looking back at me? A NS thoroughbred!

This is the "rear end" of the train or is it the front end? For today, it is the rear, as the train was slowly moving northward as it unloaded its coal at the transloading site along side the Ohio River. In this rather distant view, you can see the "front" of the train as it slowly advances through the unloading bay. To the left of the photo is the fuel point for the engines.
I decided to take Rt. 148 west towards Barnesville, just to see how the tracks followed the twisting hills of eastern Ohio. And what, to my surprise, I find another train heading back to the mines! Here it passes a farm on its way west.
NS uses a push-pull method to get the trains to and from the mines. Here is the engine at the rear crossing a bridge on its way to the mine. It is crossing Captina Rd and creek.
Here it is, peeking around the turn at Armstrongs Mills, just before the crossing.

Here it comes! Just before the crossing and as it comes across the highway. As you can tell, daylight is fading fast!
Just past the first mine you come to, the highway passes over the bridge. I just got a shot of another drag heading back to Powhatan Point! Wow! Three in one day!
Evening comes quickly down in the hollows of eastern Ohio and light is fading fast. I have one last shot to take. Hand held, slow shutter and I think it came out just fine. In better times, I would have had set up my tripod, taken some test shots, and been ready. Instead, its out of a window hoping no one rear ends me on the highway,since there was no place to pull over on the road.
Well, this was quite an adventure! I am glad I took a different route home!