I went out to Naperville two days ago to shoot photos in a snowstorm. Surprizingly, I wasn't the only person there. In fact, I was far from the only person there! Five other people showed up throughout the day, and at one time, there were five of us there getting photos at one time! Everyone else that showed up lived in Naperville or in towns right next to Naperville, but I'm still surprized given the weather conditions. Included in the mix was a BC Rail second out on a manifest. I still just can't get a darn BC Rail to lead it seems!
Here's my, uh, trip report...I took less than 30 train photos on the entire trip! While riding the subway I shot video.
The night we arrived in Stamford, CT, I explored the hotel looking for a good view of the tracks, found a hallway window, and took this video of a pair of Metro-North trains meeting.
Stamford, CT (12/23/09)
The next morning, a Metro-North train behind one of those pug-ugly BL20GH units heads North past the hotel room window.
Then we headed into the city, by train of course. The MU set was packed when we got on, so I didn't get my usual railfan-window seat for the 90 mph ride into Grand Central Terminal. I didn't take many photos in Grand Central itself, so let's fast-forward to the top of the Empire State Building.
Here, a Northbound Regional briefly passes through fresh air between the Hudson River Tubes and Penn Station. The parking lot off to the left was where I was standing (with permission) when I took this shot back in April.
And finally, here's a video of the New York Subway. We only rode two trains that day, but I did get some video of other lines while we were waiting for a "B" train to the Museum of Natural History. (For those not familiar with the New York subway system, many of their trains share track with trains of other letters and colors)
The New York City Subway on Christmas Eve 2009
I don't know if I would call the BL20s ugly. I'm not exactly sure. They look cool, but really wierd at the same time... kinda like the MP20B-3s But I'm liking those Comet IIIs (or Shoreliners, whatever M-N calls them, although they're exactly the same as CIIIs) with the blue window bands. I remember, way back in the day, when the Metro North CIIIs were still used West of Hudson with NJT. They had the black bands and the round two-tone M symbols. You can see the signs of that in this picture (not mine) (That was taken after that car was sold to NJT, but before being sold back to MN). Now I feel old...
And I saw the ESB last night from Morristown! As we were going down this huge hill, you could see some green thing lit up above the treetops. Crazy how you can see it from that far away
Well, I'll be in Boston till New Year's Eve. I'm leaving early tomorrow morning. I'll see what I can catch from in the car tomorrow. And we're spending Wednesday in the city, so I'll see what kinds of MBTA stuff I can catch.
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
Hey guys,
I went out railfanning today, got some really good shots along the CN between Montreal and Quebec City. I won't forget to post them here this time!
I also stuck around after dark to get a shot of the multilevels for Joe and Ty. Personally, I think they look very good. They are good for video, light reflects off of them really good, which means you can shoot them in a station at night with ease.
Alex
Omg thank you Alex!!!!!! Theres like nothing out there of AMT MLs...
And yes, the stainless steel reflects A LOT of light...Your MLs look really cool! I like the wave pattern a lot!
Related, I hear that a second Multilevel set has started out of Bay Head, on 2306/2305 (yes, 6 comes before 5, because all the NB [EB] trips are in the morning, and the SB [WB] are in the afternoon...) in addition to the one already one 2302/2309. I MAY be going down the shore this weekend, so maybe I'll catch at least one of the sets in the yard, as well as the stored CIIIs. I'm not sure if the MLs are used on the weekend shuttles, so I won't know until I get down there...
Neat video Joe. I wish CN still ran the Santa Train up here to Wausau.
Nice pictures Tyler, gotta love that NH inspired scheme!
Here is a short trip report that I have. It's a combination of 12/28/09 and 12/29/09.
Eventually I did end up getting coal for Christmas...
On 12/28/09, Brent came up to Wausau. He had just come up to get some DVDs converted, but we decided that it would be worth our while to go to Point.
At Wausau, the South Bound L598 (I think that's what CN still calls it) was extremely late. They arrived in Wausau around 1030 hours, when its normal arrival was around 500-600 hours. Nothing too special on the 588, so we headed south.
We were hoping on a North Bound loaded coal train, as Brent had heard an authority given to them from Wisconsin Rapids to South JO. Before Brent came up here, he photographed a Coal train getting ready to depart Weston. To us it appeared it was going to be a light power move to Point (We would find out later it wasn‘t to our dismay). We knew the NB coal would have to wait at JO for the south bound “Light Power Move“. We took our time driving down to JO.
Getting closer to Point, we heard the L516 (WC Transfer) heading out of Point. The "Light Power Move" would be following behind it. At JO, we realized that it wasn't a light power move, and that it was the C704, an empty coal train from Weston. We were just about to turn around and head to Rocky Run, but we missed a turn around, and got stuck in traffic. The dispatcher told the C704 to hold at Clark Street when they got to Point. So we decided to wait for the NB loaded coal train, CP 884.
I knew the 884 would be terribly lit, so I tried for a glint shot. I got a little glint, but not exactly what I wanted. I'll have to work on it.
Since Brent was on the other side of the tracks I decided to shoot some coal cars. I should have had a lower F stop, so the field of depth would have been bigger.
After 884 cleared, we wanted to get to Point ASAP to get the C704. They were no longer holding at Clark Street, and were now going to head down to Orchard. I had high hopes that the C704 was going to hold there while a NB train passed.
At Orchard I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the C704 was still sitting there. But I was puzzled when I saw that there was no power on the head end! Driving up the road we saw that the power had cut off ahead of the train.
After a little while we found out that they were going to cut off the 9983, and slap it on the back as a DPU. This was a little confusing; why would you need a DPU on an empty coal train? Well earlier we heard that the C704 had no EOT. In order to go track speed you need an EOT. So the crew was going to use 9983 as one.
Here they are after they cut the 9983 off.
Now the main power, 9914 and 8944, would back up to their train.
We had some time to kill before the C704 had left, so we checked out Point. Just a set of WC SW1500s, and a Slug Set switching (Oh how we hate that slug set). But at the engine tracks, we found the real surprise. IC 1010 and IC 6126 were sitting there! It has been ages since I have seen an IC 61XX SD40-2.
The dispatcher was quite, and they were talking about some foremen out west. So we figured that no more CN trains would be coming. We decided to try our luck with the C704s DPU in the day’s last rays.
As we arrived at Orchard, the C704 was pulling out. But they had to drop the crew man off who was in the DPU. They cleared the crossing and the crewman hopped out. The C704 then blasted out of Orchard. Never would I have thought that a SD70MAC would sound so good!
After heading back to Wausau, Brent left to go home. He gave me updates on the power down in Point. The 588s power from Wausau would be heading all the way to Fondy, and the IC 1010 and IC 6126 would be heading north on the 589.
On 12/29/09 I headed into the Wausau Yard in hopes of getting the 6126 and the 1010. Sure enough I caught them just as they were tying up.
The last time I saw an IC SD40-2 was on 11/23/08, with a similar IC SD70 and IC SD40-2 consist. This was a welcome sight!
It looks like the 6126 will probably be set out at Point, as the Speedometer wasn't working. So it was nice to see it work around here, 6126 brought back many good memories.
Tomorrow I might try for a chase on the North Valley Sub. I might just be able to get a train in good light up there, let’s hope it all works out!
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
Thanks Jordan. I love how they're painting units in the McGinnis scheme - units in that scheme include the now work-train-only FL9s (WAAAAAH! ), the BL20GH units, and the Shore Line East GP40PH-2 units as well.
Nice shots, by the way. I wish I could get coal for Christmas!
Nice report Jordan! I really like that shot of BNSF 9963 at Orchard, it has become my new desktop wallpaper.
Now onto my "trip report" which is going to be split into chunks as I slowly edit my videos. Bear with me, as this might take a few days or so to finish up this one trip, depending on how much editing time I have.
We started our day at 6:00AM, and started heading East out of Montreal. The plan was to catch Via Rail train #615 (which was formally known as the Ocean) at sunrise. This train travels between Halifax and Montreal and is supposed to arrive in Montreal at 9:12AM. That makes the trip just under 14 hours long. For the past two years, this train has been running with Renaissance equipment and one lone Park car on the end.
Around 7:15, we were close to Drummondville and we called Via's 1-800 number to find out if they were running on-time. Turned out they were running an hour behind schedule. That screwed our original plans since the sun was already popping out, we couldn't get him in sweet, early morning light. We decided to shoot at the nice station located in downtown Drummondville.
We were only there for an hour, but 4 trains went by on the single track main.
First was #21, a Quebec City-Montreal westbound corridor train at 7:52AM. Note it had one of Via Rail's rebuilt F40PH-2's. They look sharp in the new paint. The only thing that ruins their overall look is the "doghouse" at the rear of the locomotive where the HEP generator is located.
Second was a westbound CN mixed freight. I think this was 305 (St. John's-Toronto). I was in the station warming up when the defect detector just east of Drummondville went off on the scanner. Well by the time I got outside, the headend was coming thru the station. No shots taken. #21 arrived in the siding while 305 was going by.
Third was #21's counterpart, #20 (Montreal-Quebec City). Train arrived at 8:12, 15 minutes early. We had a chat with the crew, they were really nice and they gave us a few cups of coffee.
Lastly, it's #615 finally showing up, an hour late. Turned out he made up some time before Drummondville, but had to wait in the hole for #20 at Aston Jct. The train is too long for any platform so it makes 2 stops. In the summer when the train is really long, they sometimes have to make 3 stops per station. It also has one of the new F40PH-2 rebuilds.
Finally, here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5FY5mxNS4Y
Thanks Tyler! That EMD sure sounded good throttling up! Yeah, it was pretty nice to get two coal trains in a day. Around here that isn't very common.
Alex, I can't wait to see your videos! Was is the 9983 at sun set shot that you liked? If you want I can send you over a larger size on Skype.
Well I have another trip report. I'm not too fond of all my shots; they didn't turn out exactly how I wanted them to.
On 12/30/09 I wanted to go out and do a chase on the North Valley Sub. The 588 has been running extremely late recently, so I wanted to take the opportunity to shoot North of Wausau while it was still light out.
First we were going to check out the yard to make sure the 588 wasn't there. IC 3110, the Wausau switcher, was just getting a warrant when we crossed over the river. I choose a spot to do just north of us to catch them at. Before we got to our location, 3110 blew right past us. I assumed they were just going to go up to Brokaw to pick up a few cars so I headed up there.
It is a round-about way to get to Brokaw, as the road doesn't follow the tracks for the last couple miles. I managed to beat them, just barely. I reeled off a horribly dark shot.
I had to go back into Wausau to do some chores, but after 15 minutes I was back on the road. I decided to go up to Merrill. I assumed that the 588 was still up north, since the Wausau switch job hadn't cleared their authority. I noticed at Merrill that the tracks didn't have much snow on them at the crossings. I figured that I had missed the 588 between Merrill and Wausau. Instead of turning around I just decided to keep heading north.
Not much longer the North RTC came on. IC 1010 had just cleared its' warrant, and IC 3110 also did the same. It didn't make sense at all. They were both clearing Warrants at MP 121, which was 30 miles from Wausau! I just decided to keep going north since my day was shot anyway. Along the highway, I noticed a track off in the distance. I made a quick turn-around, and headed back to Merrill.
I went on the East Side of Merrill and beat them with plenty of time to spare. I wanted to get the Station sign in. After uploading the pictures I found out that all the Station sign shots were blurry, but the other ones without the sign weren’t. This shot wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I'll post it anyway.
Looks like the yard switcher went up to save the 588 from something; I wasn't sure at the time.
I headed down farther south. I wanted to a little north of Brokaw, where there is a fairly steep grade. The North Valley Sub has numerous wooden trestle bridges. On accident I incorporated one into this shot.
I wanted to get a shot at the old Wausau Depot. I also wanted to get a few shots north of Wausau too. Because of the many stop lights I would have had to go through at Wausau, I didn’t risk it. At the depot I couldn't find a composition I liked. So I just took what I thought was best. The shot didn't turn out so well, so I cropped it down to a normal Wedge.
Later I found out that IC 1010 had stalled on Irma Hill, and the Wausau Switcher crew went north to rescue them.
I didn't really like how the majority of my shots turned out. This camera is going to take a while to get use to. I also found out that I could have had a lot more luck south of Fondy, some nice consists went by...
Well heres my share of Monday's Pic
199 NB
The rest are the same as above pretty much
Thanks Jordan. No need to send a bigger photo, looks good as is for a desktop background. Also, nice to see a bit of IC power in IC paint! There was alot of IC power on CN trains around Montreal this summer, mostly SD70's. There isn't as much anymore. More BCOL power is making it's way around and CSX power is running through from Coteau now.
Brent, nice shots as well. You also have a really nice photo of 9983 at sunset!
-------------
So the next part of my little report is brief, I didn't have much time to edit today.
After grabbing some breakfast in Drummondville we continued heading east. We decided to go look for new locations to shoot from, Sean showed me a couple he found a few years ago, one was a really cool bridge shot with a grain elevator in the background. But the sun was no good at the time, its a late evening shot. After about an hour or so of driving up and down little roads looking for possible shots, we stumbled apon a nice bridge shot at Saint-Léonard-D'Aston that crosses the Nicolet River. As soon as we set up, we heard a K3H in the distance. Perfect! The only thing missing from this shot was a bit of sun and some light snowfall. That would have made a great shot! But you can't have it all...
The train is believed to be #120, Toronto-Halifax hot intermodal.
This is definately my favorite shot from the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0CBlbthMn0
Here are my pics from my last trip of 2009 Took this to Southern Wisconsin. i Was still af ew miles out when i Heard CP' 108.2 Detector go off, come to find out & i made it in time it was 486 \after that i heard that BCOL 4643 was heading north on the CN so i get ready to fly up the rd a bit & look what happens CN A447 NB The CP local G67 came next running light Next the CN local L504 rolls by Next was M336 w/ a BNSF ES44AC trailingQ198 was right behind themG67 againAnother CN SB this time we got a IC SD70 trailingCP EB 298 CP 888 was right behind him Now the CN detector 6 Miles to the North goes off 340 is going in the siding & 346 is right behind him & is going to pass himwow getting another interesting find on the end 346CP 198 was nextCP 280 after thatSD60M CN 342 now gets to go 3rd CP EB CP 281 west SOO GP38-2 in the middleCN 341 NB& some NS power to close the year out
it was a good year, now i have to organize my Favorite shots of the year
Edit: fixed some duplicate links
I'm definitely behind on reading posts around here. This place has been busy in the last few days. You can tell everybody has been on Christmas break.
Looks like a good trip to NYC, Tyler. I've actually always kinda liked those "pug-ugly" BL20GH unit, though maybe it's just the New Haven paint that I like the most.
Nice videos Alex! The one with the intermodal train on the bridge is a cool location.
I've got another trip report from an adventure a few days ago to the CP M&P sub and the UP Adams Line to post at some point, but I haven't gotten around to processing the pictures yet. I'll probably wait until we get a new page to post them too: this one is getting rather picture laden as it is!
Noah
Well, we have about 3 minutes of double 0 9 left here...
Nice trip reports, everyone.
Tyler, that's not a REAL GP40PH-2...
Well, my Boston trip was kinda a flop railfanning wise... Only saw three commuter (Tyler, I know, "Commutah Rail") trains, three Green Line trains, one Red Line train, a bunch of CSX stuff, mostly intermodal (saw 5430, a Gevo, and some other stuff, notably a standard cab Dash 8!), and that's about it, and the camera took a dump, so I REALLY need a new one now...
Happy New Year!
EDIT to add: I also saw the Waterbury depot on the way home throught CT. For those of you MRRs, you probably remember David Popp's layout (the NH in Waterbury) in the April 06 MR. Even by seeing the clock tower and not the rest of the structure, you can easily see why he had to selectively compress the depot- fully to scale, it would be over 18 inches tall, in N! (So If I were to model it in HO, it would be over 3 feet tall! [now I feel an urge to scratchbuild this, jsut for fun...]). This thing is massive!Next time we go up there (we're thinking over Easter break, maybe? IDK...), if we take I-84 through Waterbury (as opposed to the Merritt, which is south of there [and a very, um, interesting road... the ramps are often compared to landing and taking off from an aircraft carrier...]), I'd like to stop and see this thing up close. And I'm sure that, for once, my dad wouldn't mind making an extra stop, since he's an architect, and would love to see something like this...
Thanks for the compliments!
Noah, can't wait to see the pictures!
Well it's a little late, but Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2010 provides some great catches, and some great pictures. 2009 was some what of a depressing year to me, with all the SD40-2s stored. But I think I made out pretty darn good! I'll have to post a 2009 year in review sometime.