Two SD40-2's shove hard on the rear of a mixed freight to lift it over the grade. With the sun on the nose of the locomotive Conrail Quality has never looked better.

So the Conrail on the nose may be faded but this SD50 still has its stuff as it brings an autorack train downgrade through Cresson.

With the eastbound signals at MO showing stop, NS 8389 bursts out of the fog as the sole power for all autorack 11J.

NS 3337 and NS 3380 both in blue sit in the engine facility after arriving a few minutes earlier. It is great to still see and all blue set of helpers in 2005.

NS 3380 sits facing Arch St. on this foggy Columus Day morning.

As fog starts to engulf the mountain, NS 3357 and two SD40-2 sisters find a little pocket of sun as they pass under the Route 53 overpass one mile north of Cresson.

Woke up earlier than needed to shoot the "40's" in the fog.

Helper sets gather at the Cresson Engine Facility to get some TLC before going back to work, helping trains up and down the mountain.

The 80MAC's light up the scenery as they wait for this westbound the pass before reversing onto Main 3 and heading west themselves. Can you find the NS logo of the SD40-2 helper in the photo?

Helper units eastbound through CP MO.

An increasingly rare all-blue helper set rolls through Cresson on the way to its next assignment.

After waiting for the westbound Amtrak to pass this intermodal clears out the stacks and heads west.

RJ Corman brings empty PPLX coal hoppers past the Cresson Engine House westbound to be loaded at one of the local mines.

An SD80MAC and SD50 await service at Cresson. Wade Massie shot the same units 12 hours earlier (see image 120419).

7208 and an SD50 occupy the engine terminal as a PPLX coal train streaks past on the main.