Railfanning Gets Interesting

I've been out railfanning this week. Wednesday was an outstanding fall day: here's a shot of a train leaving for Texas from the West Colton departure yard:

But look what's farther back in the consist, CSX 3282, a brand new Tier 4 ET44AC:

Things are happening with freight cars, too. GE recently unloaded its rail leasing unit to Wells Fargo. A lot of cars lettered for short lines like HS, LW, AOK, and so forth were part of GE Rail Services leasing arrangements, a holdover from 1970s incentive per diem. Lately, it looks like some of these cars are being relettered for BKTY, a UP-owned reporting mark;

Note that the car to its right is lettered for EEC, which is the East Erie Commercial Railroad, the GE plant switching operation. Whether EEC will disappear as a reporting mark is an interesting question.

Other interesting things are happening trackside. I'll post on these as well.