Teen Railfan Place

[EJE818]

The mechanical failures and the possible layoffs is why I don't want CN to ever get ahold of the EJ&E. I know someday that either someone will buy EJ&E or it will turn into a IHB/BRC type railroad where more than one class one will own part of it. I think the second option is more likely as if one class one took over the entire railroad, two of them would lose connections and alternate routes around Chicago instead of through it. Losing the EJ&E connection would possibly cause even more congestion in the Chicago area then there already is now (IHB, BRC, an the B&OCT are already very congested). The EJ&E is just too valuable to sell to one railroad due to all the connections. I really hope it doesn't happen as I would hate to see the EJ&E go and the rest of the Chicago railroads come crashing down due to congestion along with it. I see enough trains stopped in this area already.

[B.Erdmann]

did some railfannign early this morning in neenah,

 

first train isee comes through w/ 3 units

CN 5513

WC 6930

WC 2500

IC 6058 switching the north ed of the yard

GTW 5859 & CN 4705

Brown & white SOO boxcar i came by

& yes WC 6006 is on its way south. prolly gonna get takin to homewood or shops where ever they can handle it. i hope shots cause homewood isnt a nice place.

[alstom]

Depends on where you're going in Wisconsin. Southern end of the state, I'd recomend you find your way to the Mississippi River South of the Twin Cities, and do some railfanning on either the BNSF (which runs on the Wisconsin Side of the River) or the CP and regional Railroad Iowa, Chicago, and Eastern (which runs on the Iowa and Minnesota Side of the river). And down near Dubuque you also have CN/IC too (although no CP down there). I'd consider the scenery on the River to be the best photography spots avalible around here, if that's what you're most interested in. And both the BNSF and the CP have a high volume of traffic (20-30 trains a day on Both lines). My favorite stretch of the river is the BNSF between La Crosse and Prairie Du Chien, and the CP between La Crosse and the Twin Cities. But really it's hard to go wrong anywhere on the River.

Over near Milwaukee, Duplainville, Wisconsin is a good place to go. It's a at-grade crossing of the CP and the CN, good a for a decent amount of trains if you're willing to wait. Not much for photos though.

Regional railroad Wisconsin and Southern (WSOR) now operates quite a few of the branchlines in the Southern Wisconsin area. They have yards at Janesville and Madison, as well as Horicon (Between Milwaukee and Green Bay). Janesville has a roundhouse, turntable, and a decent size yard, and usually has something going on. Madison is a little quieter, but there are three trains a day around there most days. Problem is pretty much the whole WSOR system is unpredictable, and it's hard to tell exactly when trains will be running. There are general times of day when you're more likely to see trains in some places though.

The Stevens Point/Wisconsin Rapids/ Junction City/ Fon Du Lac area is okay if you're looking for CN action. Decent amount of trains, though not much extra special for photo locations either (there are lots of decent shots to be had though).

The UP has a mainline across Wisconsin (known as the Adams Line), but traffic there is hit and miss. Never know if you'll see anything or not.

The CP main across Wisconsin is the same one as on the Mississippi River, and sees a good amount of trains a day.

Northern Wisconsin is almost completely CN (former WC) territory. They've got a main line to Superior that sees a good deal of trains, but other than that I don't know much about their operations up there.

Northern Minnesota (north of Duluth) has the Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range and the ore mines. Lots of good railfanning to be had up there too, especially if you're into ore trains. And the Missabe is starting to be Canoodled slowly but surely, so if you're interesting in seeing them, I'd do it sooner rather than later.

I really don't know much about the Twin Cities area, never done enough railfanning there. Alec would be better source of knowledge about that area.

If you know specifically what part of Wisconsin you'll be heading through (I'm guessing you'll be taking the Interstate from the Chicago area to Duluth, right?) or if anything specific above interests you I can give you more details. But that's a quick over view.

Noah

Thanks for the help. As of now, we don't even have a mapped route, but our trip to Duluth is definitely up in air. I'd like to get some last Wisconsin Central photos and alot of Canadian Pacific photos. For some reason, the Canadian Pacific seems to have canceled all of their CSX-in-Ohio runs ever since I really started getting into train photography. So now CP is harder for me to get. Anyhow, here are some of my best recent photos.

CSX X138 (I think) approaching Meyersdale, PA along the Casselman River:

CSX Q368-14 heading up Sand Patch Grade at Glade City, PA:

Pusher on the rear of Q389-14 heading for Sand Patch, taken at Ellerslie, MD:

The elusive "One Spot" of CSX, resting at Grafton, WV:

NS 5101 and WNYP 430 resting at Olean, NY:

CSX X138 (I think) again, this time in downtown Meyersdale, PA:

CSX 1 and 6 posing for me at Grafton, WV:

Enjoy! 

 

[EJE818]

Brent, great catch with the WC 2500. That is one of the engines I want to catch. It has made periodic trips to Homewood so maybe some day I will catch it. I was going to go to the Illinois Railway Museum yesterday but it was raining too hard. Good thing I didn't go, because the museum was shut down yesterday because it was flooded and is closed again today due to flooding. If you look on the webcams at www.irm.org you can see the water is still pretty high. It was even worse and covering some of the tracks yesterday. I wouldn't be surprized to see IRM be shut down for a few more days. On one webcam you can see the UP DDA-40X, the MN&S centercab and the MARC E9 along with other diesels. These engines were moved to the mainline to be moved to higher ground. I wouldn't be surprized if they were moved back to where they usually sit now that the water is receding. Lets hope none of the running enginjes got damaged as I didn't see any sign of the CB&Q E5 (its probably in Barn 9), CNW 411, Minnesota Transfer 200, BN 5383 or many operating diesels on the webcams other then the CB&Q SW9, so they (except the E5) are probably stored in the shops. Other then the area in southern Wisconsin from Janesville to Wisconsin Dells, I really don't know much about Wisconsin or Minnesota. I'd recommend Wisconsin Dells as there is a nice bridge over the Wisconsin River on the CP mainline. A neat thing about Wisconsin Dells is that if the line is ever slow, there are tons of things to do within walking distance of the bridge, plus there is the Mid-Continent Railway Museum about a half hour away, another neat place even though there is no steam currently running. There is also a narrow gauge steam railroad a few miles north of the bridge that you can visit during the summer months. Janesville is also a great spot to go. WSOR and UP both have yards there, and the IC&E also runs into Janesville. You never know what will be at the WSOR yard as sometimes engines going to and coming from the Horicon paint shop can be found there in transit, plus you never know when the WSOR E9s will be parked there.

[Noah Hofrichter]

Thanks for the help. As of now, we don't even have a mapped route, but our trip to Duluth is definitely up in air. I'd like to get some last Wisconsin Central photos and alot of Canadian Pacific photos. For some reason, the Canadian Pacific seems to have canceled all of their CSX-in-Ohio runs ever since I really started getting into train photography. So now CP is harder for me to get. Anyhow, here are some of my best recent photos.

Nice shots. Some very neat stuff. I always like the CSX Dark Future (I think that's what it's called) scheme.

Wisconsin Central Stuff is getting harder to find, but there is still some out there. The classic WC spot to go to  is Bryon Hill, on the south side of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. Good photos to be had pretty much all times of day there:

http://wsor3807.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=556345

Fond Du Lac has the old WC shops, though it's harder to see things from the road there, and they aren't too friendly to railfans. Stevens Point has a yard that's can be seen from the road along with a smaller shops area. Seems like WC power often hangs around at both yards quite a bit. From what I've seen road trains thought tend to be mostly CN power, with some IC thrown in, and then the occasional WC locomotive.

For the CP, I'd recommend working your way along the main line from Watertown, Wisconsin (or at Least Portage, WI), to Tomah, Wisconsin. The CP has a division point at Portage, as well as a yard there. Amtrak Depots are found at Portage, Wisconsin Dells, and Tomah, with a train each way (numbers 7 and 8) per day. Good shots can be had pretty much anywhere on the line here, and the tracks follow the road (or is it the other way around?) pretty much the whole way. Wisconsin Dells is one of my favorite areas, as there is a good morning bridge shot, a real nice afternoon S curve shot, and several other decent shots in the area (not to mention it's all about 20 minutes from my house, so it's convenient). Just to the West of Tomah at Tunnel City, Wisconsin is the only railroad tunnel in Wisconsin that is still being used by a railroad. It's not the easiest thing to get to though (requires a short hike to the only good shot), but the east face of the tunnel can be seen from a nearby road.

It's hard to go wrong anywhere along that neck of the world though. There are several sidings and so meets often take place. Having a scanner comes in handy for knowing when things are moving. If you've got one, I can give you frequencies for the area Railroads.

Big GE's are the common power on the CP, with AC4400s and ES44s being most common. Quite a bit of SOO power can still be had though, as well as some older CP engines.

At Tomah you can also get on the interstate which would take you right to Duluth if you do decide to go that way.

If you just want to go to one place to watch both the CN and CP action, then I'd really recommend Dulpainville, as I mentioned before. There are decent shots to the North on the CN trackage, and a decent shot of CP trains right at the diamond. The local regional, the Wisconsin and Southern, also runs a train a day each way on the CN, (early morning southbound and late evening northbound) so you'd stand a chance of seeing that too. You can sit right near the diamond if you just want to watch trains, and that's about the best spot for CP photos without driving very far, but for CN shots you can drive north about a mile and you'll find a bunch of different angles. Some people say that between the two railroads there are probably about 40 to 50 trains a day on that line, but when I've been there I've never found it quite that busy. Usually I see at least one or two trains in a couple of hours though.

Noah

[WCfan]

I agree with Noah. I see alot of WC at Stevens Point, I have usualy see at lest 4 WC locos there. Mostly GP40s and SW1500s but I have seen a SD40-2 once.

BTW: I like your shots Brent. I really like the brown SOO boxcar. I have only seen one but it was in SOO reporting marks.

[B.Erdmann]

happen to find out frmo my newest resource,

 

the train w/ CN 5513, WC 6930 & WC 2500 was A407. the Fond du lac to wausau freight. i saw it go through neenah at 8:30 this morning, 10:43 it arrived at point & ended up in wausau at 5:46.

 

so jordan you better hurry if its not gonna be their for long. you might see it on your trip tomorrow but just to give you the heads up.

[WCfan]

Man that SUCKS!!!!!! Well maybe there's a good side to it. MAYBE 2500 is the switcher in town. It also could of been droped off at Point or Neenah. But I hope she's at Point OR the Wausau switcher.

BTW: I'm at Still at Winona.

[EJE818]

Also for your trip, don't go to the Wisconsin Dells Amtrak station. The two operators there are very rude to anyone who isn't riding on Amtrak and will demand you to leave. They also put a rope over the parking lot so you can't get in when Amtrak isn't coming. Go to the bridge or anywhere else around there but stay away from the station.

[wctransfer]

Ya, Rich, if your coming here then I can help you out on good places to go.

Alec

[B.Erdmann]

2500 & the rest of the engines headin north out of wausau last night. 2500 sill shows it at tomahawk while the other 2 left mellen this morning.

 

also the SOO boxcar WC 18180 left neenah at 1:00 this morning & landed in WIS Rapids this morning.

[EJE818]

I went on a trip to Indiana Beach last week and I did get some photos on the CSX ex-Monon and the TP&W, plus made a stop at the Hesston Steam Museum. Unfortunatly, rrpicturearchives is down for now. When it comes back up, I'll post some photos from the trip, plus a shot that proves that you can still see all IC consists on the Mainline of Mid-America. I'm trying to get as many shots of real IC, WC, and GTW engines as possible becuase some day there won't be any of those left on CN. I've seen more fake IC Dash 9s and the fake IC ex-LMS C40-8Ws lately. Believe me, its even worse then seeing fake WC SD40-3s seeing that the IC didn't even own any GEs or widecabs at the time they merged into CN. They did own GEs (and even ALCOs for that matter) many many years ago but the IC hated anything except EMD right until the merge.

[EJE818]

 

Yay, RRpicturearchives is back up so here are the photos from my vacation.

Darn, if it weren't for the CEFX patch CEFX SD45T-2 9395 would still be unpatched!

Monon caboose 81579, actually a ex-Reading caboose, sits on display in the Monon railroad's home town, Monon, IN.

CSX caboose 16431 sits at Monon, IN.

[EJE818]

Two more, two from the Indiana Beach vacation. There are a couple more I haven't put on any sites yet from the Hesston Steam Museum, but once I do, I will put them in a post as soon as time warrents it.

CSX GP38-2 2689, in need of some paint, sits at Monon.

This one isn't from the vacation, but is certainly worth mentioning the Main Line of Mid-America looks like it did back in the late 1990s before the CN takeover briefly at Homewood.

 

[WCfan]

Well I just got back from Winona. No CP at all. But I got some WC, IC, and CN. We took a way back so that we would follow the CN main to Stevens Point. I caught 3 CN frights, 2 of them are on my camcorder. The last one I got pictures of. Well I saw my first WC consist today. lol, well if you want to call it that. 4 WC SW1500s where hanging out at point! No not 1, 2 or even 3. But 4 WC SW1500s. Alec, also a Heads up for you, you may see some SD40-3s your way. Or a SD75i and a CN Dash 9. Both where heading in your direction so, you never know. I really wish I could of got video of the SD40-3s going out of Point. Man was that SWEET! I don't think I will EVER see that again. WOW. Anyway here are my photos.

GTW Grey Ghosts 5956 waits to get clearance from the Dispatcher. This consist include 2 WC Grey Ghosts, this train fit's perfectly with the over cast day.

Well this is rare, for me. This is the first ALL WC consist I have seen, well if you could call it a consist. These guys are starting to show there "battle" scars on them. Working on CN has took there tole on them. The "Wisconsin Central" had faded off and 1562 has gotten a new number in CN red. The WC shields have faded off, but you can see some what of what's left of a shield on 1563.

Unlike the other 2 1500s in the picture above this one looks WAY different (No DUH!). She's shiny, and some what clean. One day 1563 and 1562 will turn into this, sadly

On CN most of the IC SD40-2s have kept there heritage. They probably will for a long time too. This guy has seen allot. roaming all over the system. She is starting to show her age a little, but not much. Unlike the WC SD45s the IC SD40-2s will have there day for a long time.

Most of the CN SD40-2s have received the Wide Cab. This is no exception; Only a few CN Standard cab SD40-2s are left. One of which I caught at Point not to long ago.

This old Warrior has seen her years. Probably one of the last WC "tree" schemes left. One day she will be in CN paint unfortunately. This picture represents the reason why I rail fan. Sadly, WC won't be around for ever. I'm here to catch every last bit of WC, while she is still around.

As the fog settles this will be my last picture. The WC sanding tower. Even thought all the WC equipment will be gone, there still will be WC. As long as there's people like Alec, Brent, EJE818, Noah, and every one else, there still will be WC

BTW: EJE818, I like the pictures! Nice job. I really like the IC one!