Railfanning and Benching

Rocky Jackson
Aug 16
4 min read

This was originally written on January 26, 2020.

Whether it be kids or adults when they ask what do you like to do for fun (or what hobby do you have) and you say railfan the typical response is hugh? What in the world is that? I like to go out by railroad tracks, find a spot in a parking lot or on a sidewalk and take pictures of trains as they go by.

Design with Ease

What is Benching?

I had never heard the term benching before I discovered a really cool book in a used bookstore. Railroad cars get tagged all the time. When one photographs these cars it is said that one is participating in the hobby of benching--taking photos of graffiti.

The Art of Railfanning

Many railfans will photograph engines. Others will pick out a particular type of engine only to photograph. I like to take pictures of not only all engines I see, but cars that are tagged, as well as other cars that interest me. Sometimes that interest can be in the form of an industry like the cars owned by ADM (Archer Daniels Midland).

Below you will find a list of just some of the engines and cars I have captured on film. If you ever would like to see an image of one of the cars I captured because of a project you are doing (i.e. model railroading) or because of a particular interest you have, please contact me and I will share the pictures I have taken with you.

Sharing the Love of Railroads

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)

Some railcars that ADM uses are labeled with the logos of ADM, ADM Corn Processing Div., or ADM Milling Company. Sometimes there is no logo on their cars. The reporting marks are ADMX.

100 15017 15447 15621 15772 16320 16343 16456 16811 16945 16987 17229 78389 19180 25632 25734 25877 25912 26038 26040 26126 26443 26452 26520 26534 28078 28106 28368 30109 30121 30181 30282 30363 30388 30423 30701 30746 31061 31306 49038 4905 49103 49107 49123 49236 49256 50055 50196 51190 52148 52153 52168 52257 52278 52562 52605 52689 52714 54088 63148 63543 36208 63880 64575 7039 7050 7159 7247 90025 90079 90104 90117 90143

Andersons

The Anderson's is a privately held company that are large grain processers too. Their reporting mark is AEX.

012533 10513 12378 12479 13873 14127 14550 14863 14909 14942 21361 5015 7404 7534 7800 7805 7956 7968 810072 8114 8179 9001

Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)

Warren Buffett purchased this historic rail line. It's reporting mark is BNSF.

211164 A 211164 B 211164 C 252122 A 252122 B 252122 C 253614 A 253614 B 253614 C 253992 A 253992 B 253992 C 254268 A 254268 B 254268 C 255499 A 255499 B 255499 C 26010 26184 26292 270666 A 270666 B 270666 C 270666 D 270666 E 450376 450660 451221 451242 451378 6367 8799 9399 9962

Cargill

The largest privately held company that competes with ADM and The Anderson's for grain is Cargill. They have two reporting marks (CAGX and CEGX). The cars that I have captured with CAGX reporting marks are as follows:

9092 9638 9795 9127 9131 9173 9176 9242 9273 9320 9321 9364 9406 9412 9476 9492 9530 9547 9559 9561 9562 9569 9575 9610 9638 9642 9651 9677 9679 9692 9697 9720 9723 9727 9729 9736 9743 9745 9754 9756 9757 9787 9788 9804 9809 9823 9833 9844 9845 9855 9857 9861 9868 9870 9874 9896 9899 9912 9925 9939 9940 9942 9951 9956 9973 9974 9986 9995

Those with CEGX are as follows:

1064 1079 1177 1237 1271 1543 1596 1631 1637 1926 1952 1986 20300

Conrail

Conrail was one of the few government programs that was ever successful. The government intervened in the disaster of Northeastern Railroads almost all of which had gone bankrupt. From the ashes of this disaster Conrail emerged. Eventually the government put it back into the public sector. Several years later a huge battle emerged and a portion went to Norfolk Southern and a portion to CSX. There were a few areas where they created the Conrail Shared Asset Area. For the most part CSX relabelled the equipment they acquired as NYC (former New York Central) reporting marks. I have been able to take some pics that still have the Conrail reporting mark of CR on them.

581431 581713 581790 581894 581933 581966 582047 582050 582061 582081 582094 582114 582135 582229 582326 582387 582514 582581 584826 584942 584949 584956 588075 588193 588565 601858 608605 611000 623697 628785

CSX

CSX was a combination of the Chessie System and the Seaboard System. Using the CSX reporting mark the following cars I have taken pictures of:

2206 2313 2506 3021 3183 3206 3296 3403 5325 5390 5407 559 6142 633994 6420 6468 6913 953 981

Using the CSXT for CSX Transportation reporting mark I have taken pictures of the following:

129828 138688 141628 141919 142902 143070 150092 151333 164166 199719 481697 481824 493116 493178 493446 493462 495070 495179 495199 495636 495661 495664 495699 495706 496031 496057 496094 496106 496414 498054 498070 498092 498409 498465 498498 498578 499020 707317 708191 708685 720256 900045 914841 B11466 630853 632129 632840

J.B. Hunt

Yes the truckers. They are actually one of the largest users of America's rail network. In fact years ago I read an article that said they were responsible for helping the railroads come back from the brink of extinction because of their heavy use of intermodal for longer distances. Their reporting mark is JBHU.

Norfolk Southern

One of the two major eastern railroads in the country is Norfolk Southern whose reporting mark is NS.

Norfolk Western (NW)

It's one of the two principal predecessor railroads that merged to create Norfolk Southern, the other being the Southern railroad. Norfolk Southern still allows the use of the NW reporting mark.