The Trains Of Ashland Train Day 2025, Part IV: Last Call

#train #railfan #travel

As the pleasant weather continued and the sun sank lower on April 27th, I switched cameras to capture a few more trains on the last day of Ashland Train Day weekend.

0:00 - Northeast Regional 195
Northeast Regional 195 rolled into the station with ALC-42 305 on point, one of 8 units to wear Amtrak's Phase VI paint scheme. A couple of fellow railfans raced to get another shot of the rare unit prior to the train's departure for Richmond.

2:21 - Northeast Regional 157
Northeast Regional 157 arrived a few minutes later, led by plainly-dressed Phase V P42 19.

4:00 - CSX M410
One might say things were looking up as northbound manifest M410 rolled through town - tucked in behind home-road ET44AH 3411 on the head end was Union Pacific ES44AC 8094. The pair were assisted by ES44AH 3094 on the rear.

8:30 - CSX M415
There were no foreign power surprises as M415 headed south 12 minutes later. However, lead unit AC4400CW 431 still sported its as-delivered YN2 colors; a scheme that is rapidly disappearing from the roster as units are either rebuit and repainted or simply retired. Assisting the 431 in its labor was ES44AH 892.

11:38 - Northeast Regional 99
I was hoping to score a CSX hat trick to wrap up the evening and the weekend, but it was radio silence until Northeast Regional 99 reached town, led by P42 150. In the absence of any freight I planned to at least hold out for the Silver Meteor, but it only got later as the evening progressed and I finally called it a night. A wise decision as it turned out - the next freight didn't pass until shortly before midnight, and the Meteor showed up about 30 minutes later.