Clinchfield At Church. On the night of Saturday, November 18, 2017, a very special "post ending" to the day of the CSX The Santa Train was arranged in Huntdale, North Carolina as Clinchfield 800, on loan from the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum was posed for a final shot. In between driving rainstorms, a few dry moments were found to light up the Toe River Freewill Baptist Church for one of the classic shots of the line with the first new diesel purchased by "The Clinch". Like many places that are visited by railroad photographers, a special train will bring us to an area that we have never previously considered visiting, and this is a frequent story heard amongst people who travel to shoot The Santa Trains regards the areas of Appalachia that it passes through while delivering toys and food on one very special Saturday of the year. While mountains may have protected this particular section of the line from the worst of the flooding of Hurricane Helene in 2024, adjoining sections are completely washed out and the damage to the communities is still being assessed.
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
A recent spike in a personal interest of the skill and work it takes to create and ultimately nail a shot in the dark using flash technology, leads to this album.
