Rutland Red

Upon learning another Providence, RI bound ethanol train was being delivered to Vermont Rail System at their Whitehall, NY yard by CP, and then hearing the train would move overnight to Rutland, I decided to try my luck at catching it in darkness. My plan was to shoot the newly painted leased CITX SD 90MAC 125 leading. The attractive blue & white paint scheme would contrast well with the yellows of the Howe Center in Rutland. The drive down from the compound is one and a half hours on a good night, and I meet maybe only a half dozen cars the entire trip. Arriving on location it looks excellent, better than I had hoped! No cars parked on the adjacent tracks which would interfere with lighting the train. Walking the scene, water is everywhere after we received three quarters of an inch of rain on frozen ground! Flood warnings are issued for the area which discourages me from entertaining ideas about shooting photogenic Cuttingsville Bridge with the SD 90MACs crossing it. I can imagine what the little Swift River looks like tonight going under the bridge, and I don’t want to be near it thank you! Monitoring the D&H North End dispatcher “Sandy” on the scanner, she is trying to move a 609 train north and needs the running track in Whitehall to do it, the trouble is that track is where the VRS ethanol train is sitting! So I know exactly when the ethanol train departs out of Whitehall, along with a happy dispatcher! But, the lead unit is 308, not one of the pair of SD 90MACs! I’m trying to remember what the 308 wears for paint! LOL! It’s been a long time since I’ve visited the line. I conclude it must be one of the new “kitbashed” paint jobs which does’nt look all that bad, grey top, red long hood w/VRS lettering. Little do I know what really is headed my way for a paint scheme. SO I start to set up the lighting when they leave Whitehall, and I have finished tweaking the lights (for the most part.....) when I hear a train blowing for a crossing off to the west. Fifteen to twenty minutes later headlights are sighted, and slowly the head end of ten thousand tons of ethanol comes my way. The EMDs sound good closing in on me, they are hardly idling even though they are in yard limits, with all that ethanol in tow! The sight of 308s cab brings a silent curse, where is that newly painted blue & white CITX SD 90MAC that usually leads these trains eastbound? Looking out from above the camera, I’m watching as 308s pilot slowly rolls into position in front of the Howe Center. Firing off the lighting the 308 with its glamorous Vermont Railway red & white paint scheme reflects back brightly, in an instant the dark ambient lighting returns. Holy Cow! I was wrong! 308 is painted in the VTR scheme! This is the best. From atop the stepladder I give the conductor passing by a wave and a happy smile, then watch as probably three quarters of the active VRS locomotive fleet passes by on this job. Ha,ha,ha! The trailing ex-CN GP 40-2W 311 featuring its faded speedstripes and primered cab provides an accent to the 308! Ha,ha,ha! While the crew stops on the south side of town to split the train and motive power prior to tackling the grades going over and back down Mount Holly, I happily collect the lighting and head north, homeward bound. Shot in Rutland, VT at 04:20 on March 13, 2013. Special thanks to Kevin Burkholder and Richard Wingler in obtaining this photo.

 

All The Best In 2013;

Gary Knapp