A full day trackside on Saturday actually started Friday after school. I finished up classes at noon and almost immeadiately headed for Reading. The weather was nothing short of perfect but naturally NS would not cooperate and run trains. They were nice enough to run a few trains before the sun went down and I managed to catch 16T coming into CP-Tulp. Later that night, 18N comes off the why for a meet with 11K.

Saturday morning brought rain and snow. Fortunately for us it seemed that NS was having some problems which brought a few trains through Wyomissing later than they normally would run. This allowed us to get photos of normally nocturnal movements. The snow also helped us shoot morning westbounds that would have been severley backlit if the sun had been out. Below are 507 and 11J splitting the eastbound signals at CP-Wyomissing Junction in a wonderful mix of slush.

Shortly after 507 and 11J were gone, 14G and 10A showed up eastbound. You can see a few of the group from Wyomissing in the first photo. I'm not exactly sure where either lead engine got snow plastered on them but it made for something different in a sea of black power.

A few more went by Wyomissing before a few of us went exploring a bit and found CP-Dunkle and this view of westbounds heading up the connection to CP-Wyomissing Junction. Witness 34A starting up with a decent amount of exhaust from the leader and a SD40-2/RPU6 mother/slug set from Allentown. Following 34A west would be 21M, who we caught crossing the Tulpehocken Creek.

Back to CP-Dunkle we went to catch NS 503 continuing his trek west behind 21M. Harrisburg East had sent NS 507 through town to follow 503 west. We motored back to Wyomissing after shooting 503 to meet up with the rest of the gang and to catch 507. Look at all those foamers with cameras, tripods, pens, pencils, and paper.

There were no trains in the immeadiate future so we packed everything up and headed for some lunch and CP-Laurel. The heads-up had been passed to us that 213 was hosting a UP SD70ACe. This exited the gang as, with the exception of a few ex-Conrail units, the power for the day had been strictly black thus far. After 213 came west, roadrailer 262 went east. After he cleared Blandon, 38G came west. Witness more buffs taking pictures as three GE "fatheads" grace our presence.

Our next move was Sinking Springs back on the Harrisburg Line. I managed to shoot 10N with a sweet ex-Conrail SD60 trailing but missed the real gem, 20W with a pair of ex-Conrails still in blue on the other track. Harrisburg East had both trains running eastbound side by side. I had crossed the tracks to set up for the wide angle shot of 20W but in display of true railfan luck, 10N arrived first. Not before his hind end passed 20W came racing by doing every bit of 50MPH speed limit. A little while later 19G finally came west with an ex-LMS C40-8W trailing.

After 19G we moved west again to Wernersville for dinner and a some new scenery. During dinner NS Y00 came east with two ex-Conrail C40-8Ws leading an NS Dash-9. We finished dinner and no sonner had we paid and got out to the cars than 261 graced our presence with 262's power from earlier in the day. 16T came before we left Wernersville and returned to Wyomissing.

This marks the end of my sightings. A few of the guys hung around to try and catch a few more trains. All in all it was an enjoyable day of railfanning with a good group of friends. For a complete run down of the trains, times, and engine numbers, check out the 2008 Train Log. Thanks for looking and please enjoy the rest of the site.

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