The Color of Crude

     Even though Western PA has been cloudy forever, the continuous updates of at least three Heritage units that headed west onto BNSF and CP along with their impending return was enough to finally get me trackside.  It started with Savannah & Atlanta 1065 heading an earlier 64R on March 6th.  After a few days it returned west on a 65R which was handed off to BNSF in Chicago.  Within a week it was heading back east after loading 100 cars of "North Dakota Nectar".  Even though the train left Elkhart with an Elkhart-Conway "super pool" crew, it only made it to Cleveland before being re-crewed.  

  

     At 1036am on Sunday March 17 (St. Patrick's Day), NS 64R-16 roars through New Galilee, PA with 1065-1051-8018 leading 102x0 (100 crude oil w 2 buffer) and DPU 1056.  This train originated at the Bakken Oil Express loading facility at Eland, ND as BNSF U-ELUNSD0-17T.  Destination, is the recently expanded rail unloading loop at the  PBF Energy Delaware City refinery at Reybold, DE.

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     Ok, so what does any of this have to do with color?  While catching my first DPU powered oil train was exciting, the lousy weather had me determined to only video tape the action.  Alas, I did decide to shoot some photos.  While previous digital attempts to Photoshop in "sunshine" were always marginal, this time I decided to focus more on adding color instead of light.  The result speaks for itself.  From now on, I won't be so quick to dismiss going after an interesting train just because the sun isn't out...Did I really just say that?

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