...my location at the LEHL's Valley Road grade crossing in Hillsborough there was NS 22V with NS 2682 and NS 7504 coming east through Manville's 13th Street grade crossing.
About 10:00, I got a call stating that the Blue Unit's circus train was calling signals at Port Reading Junction. Ahhh... it won't be long now so I can snap some photos of the circus train and get out of this cold to thaw out. It was frigid being track side on Monday morning and a steady breeze made it feel a whole lot colder. But wait, the circus train is slowly making its way up the Roycefield Runner, now designated as Main 1, and has stopped. The signal governing eastbound traffic showed a blinking amber over red, an indication that something was coming east. That eastbound train would be NS 212. Its leader was UP 7392 followed by NS 2648 and NS 8377.
Once that cleared, the circus train was given permission to proceed west. P047's motive power of NS 2731 and NS 2704 would bring its consist of sixty-one cars that weighed in at 4,490 tons and was 5,409 feet long off Main 1 and on to Main 2 to continue its 822 mile trip to Columbia, SC. The Blue Unit's next trip through this area will be around May 12 and 13 when it makes the trip from Hartford (CT) to Trenton (NJ). By then it should be warmer for being track side!
