Teen Railfan Place

[Lord Atmo]

slow day today. though i caught a UP AC4400CWCTE, which i enjoyed seeing. shame he was trailing. i'd love to see one of those units lead for once. methinks UP was delivering him to an area that needed the power. as that's usually the case. if not, maybe i'll see him leading on the train back

[K&ARailfan]

Me, my dad, and brother went railfanning in Cartersville from the 1st through the 4th. We saw 41 trains, and all of them (except a GCFX, FURX, & 2 CR/CSX Dash 8's) were CSX's. We saw a unit Molten Sulphur train, a near head-on collision, and a TVRM RDC, and L&N passenger car on the rear of a freight.. 

On topic of sports, the Atlanta Thrashers drop the puck tonight at 7:30 EST, and haha Cubbies, Phils and Yanks!  

[EJE818]

The Cubs' series isn't over until it is over. They may be down 0-2, but they are capaple of taking 3 in a row. Sorry I am off topic again. I should know better considering I am a admin on another forum.  On another note, 41 trains? That is a pretty good day! I just submitted my first photos to "two weeks with the J", the ones of 670 I just posted on here in fact. I forgot to mention I am looking at a EJ&E SD38-2 in the outer belt scheme. Could possibly by the next engine for the model layout. It was a 65X, but I forget which number. I am hoping someone comes out with EJ&E SD38-2 in the newer chevron scheme for either HO scale or MSTS. I would be happy either way. The only problem for it being in MSTS is that EJ&E isn't one of the more well-known railroads. The model might have a better chance because our local hobby store custom paints EJ&E engines, but so far only in the J-ball, as well as the green and brown switcher schemes. No models of the yellow EJ&E switcher, yet, but yellow is now the color EJ&E switchers are supposed to be painted, but with CN coming in and many switchers in fresh green, looks like the yellow 446 could be one of a kind.

[K&ARailfan]

I guess your right, but only the Evil Empire (Yankees) of 03(?), have done it. Go Tribe!

Back on the topic of trains, MSTS has a freeware EJ&E SD40-2, NW2, & SD9, but no SD38-2's. Dekosoft has a payware EJ&E SD38-2 though.

[Noah Hofrichter]

I'm routing for Arizona, Colorado, the Red Sox, and the Indians this round. Anybody but the Yankees (yes, even the Cubs!)!

The Cubs will flop, it's just a matter of time. They always do. It may not be this series, but then it'll be the next. Even if you take my bais out of it, they really are the weakest team in the playoffs. They only won the NL Central because the rest of the division is so bad. My hopes for the world series would be Colorado and the Indians, but I have a feeling that in reality it'll be Colorado and the Sox. Time will tell what really happens.

Back to trains, there's a chance at this point I may be heading back to the River again tomorrow. The Milwaukee 261 is making turns from MSP to La Crosse again this weekend, and the Iowa, Chicago, and Eastern is rumored to be running their fall colors train to LaCrescent this weekend as well. I caught the ICE passenger train out of Dubuque last year, and it was kind of neat. I certainly wouldn't mind chasing it again, especially since it's very unlikely there will be a train next year!

Noah

[coborn35]

There are white chevrons on the back of that Athearn EJ&E SD38-2. Totally inaccurate to have a J-ball on the front and chevrons on the back, plus all of the engine numbers available were sold to DM&IR before the chevron scheme came out. I already have quite a few models of EJ&E including two SD9s (patched DM&IR and Outer Belt), a chop-nosed ex-B&LE SD18, two SW1200s, a NW2, GP38-2 703 in both the outer belt and J-ball logos. The J-ball 703 was the one the EJ&E itself sent me free of charge, and found the outer belt painted 703 for a very cheap price. I also have a J-ball Kato SD38-2, 665, my favorite SD38-2 on the system. I caught another EJ&E train with SD38-2s 670 and 661 leading a rail train. Here are two shots.

Note there are two unique features on 670, it is the only EJ&E SD38-2 to have a B&LE style sand filler hatch on it. It was moved on 671-675 when they came over. Also the position of the ditch lights is unique on 670.

That is an SD38, not an SD38-2.

[K&ARailfan]

Looks like the someone upstairs dosen't want NY to win!

Good luck with the train Noah, hope you get to see it.

[EJE818]

I've been looking at the dekosoft EJ&E SD38-2 but it looks like it is in the J-ball paint. I am looking for something with the white chevrons. I've seen one HO scale chevron SD38-2 but it was brass and not for sale, otherwise I may have bought it. Isn't 261 due in for a inspection sometime next year? Could be the last time 261 runs a fall colors excursion for a while. I am trying to work out a trip somewhere up north, perhaps the twin cities. I haven't had much success in trying to get up there but time around sounds like it is closer than ever to happening. Nothing is for sure yet after RailCamp, but we'll see. On another note, I saw another EJ&E movement at Joliet Yard with SW1200 310. Also saw SD38-2 658, but it was too far away for pics.

[EJE818]

According to EJ&E, 670 is a SD38-2. It is a rebuilt ex-B&LE SD38 that was rebuilt at Gary shops a few years ago. The only unrebuilt SD38s left on the roster are 650 and 654, and I am thinking if any of the SD38 fleet is retired, those will probably be some of the first. I doubt EJ&E is going to rebuild them before the merge, and in some ways that is good because they account for half of the 4 J-balls left, the others being 703 and 662. The other SD38-2s are all in the chevron paint.

[B.Erdmann]

hey guys,

 

im headin over to stevens point in a few mins. hope to catch some good stuff.

[B.Erdmann]

well heres my report,

 

i  had planned to go so i did & i ended up bringin a freind of mine that has no idea what its like  to watch trains & he thinks is ok to play on the tracks but i told him not here cause i dotn want to get yelled at & be told to never come back. well he obeyed the rules well but he just didnt get enthused into it asm uch me & my mom do. now to the trains

i can say a Few weather words. HOT & HUMID

first i see A404 comming into point  from superior & later i got pics o the engines on the engine tracks

first loco was GE Covered Wagon 2444 , later on this will be put on M347

next WC 3027 working one end of the yard & one of my favorite yard workers is seen in the pic he talked to me once when i was here before but today was busy so i didnt bother him

WC 1552 working the other side

now 404's power

L CN 2227 M CN 5266 M IC 3107 M CN 9454 T WC 1563

heres 347's power this worked good on optical zoom!

& that ended m y day since it got too hot. i did see M342 run through the yard but bnoth switch jobs blocked it for a photo opp. but i guess its ok  i didnt get it cuz it had 3 new CN 8000's UGLY!

 

[WCfan]

EJE, nice shots. It's will be pretty rare in the near future to see a double EJE consist.

Brent, nice shots too and great catch on 3027. It's a bad sign that you didn't see any IC 60XX series SD40-2s. Usually you see atleast one sitting at Point. 

[coborn35]

The model is an SD38.

[Noah Hofrichter]

Well, I did make it over to the River today, and it was a pretty darn good day. I actually only shot three train the whole entire day, but I'm still happy. Started out of the BNSF south of La Crosse, and then chased a ICE freight train with the DME annviersary unit on it around for a little while, before spending the afternoon chasing the ICE/DME passenger train with a few other fans in the afternoon. It was quite the day, and lots of great photographs from it. It definitely was warm today, but I've been out in enough 98 degree whether shooting trains that it really didn't seem that bad anyway.

Despite being less than a mile from it at one point, I never did actually see the 261 today, but I really don't feel like I missed much. As Steve Glishinski put it while we were waiting for the ICE passenger train at La Crescent, the MILW 261 will be there again; the ICE/DME train most likely won't be (well, except for when it does the same run tomorrow, but not next year). Pictures to come in the next few days, hopefully

Robby, that's right that the 261 is going to be down for a while for a rebuild. It's got to go in for it's 1,472 day (that's operating days, not calendar days) inspection before too long. From what I'm told, that basically includes stripping most everything down and reassembling the engine from the ground up. The way I understand it, it sounds like it'll take close to a year or so to do, and more than likely there won't be any excursions next year, so this weekend might be some of the last for a while. But I would think the train should be back for the 2009 "railfan season," though I'm sure it'll depend on what they find during the full inspection. It'll be interesting to see.

For you fellow WC fans too, some good news from the Dakotas if you haven't heard it already. The DMVW is saying they're supposed to be starting to get the Ex-WC SD45 7505 in service again. They're hoping to have it running by thanksgiving apparently. For those of you that know these things (A.K.A. Alec or WCfan), does the DMVW have a SD45 in service already, or will this be their first? I know they had aquired a few of them, but I don't remember hearing if they'd already put one in service or not.

Looks like the cubbies are about to go down too, unless they can pull of a bottom of the ninth miracle (and if they could actually get a out in the top of the inning too). Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch...

Noah

[EJE818]

DMVW got 3 SD45s to be exact. I saw 7505 and 7517 at Homewood with the DMVW markings on them. Doesn't surprize me that they are putting one of them in service. At least 7505 will operate again, and in WC paint even though it is patched, and I'm thinking the others will join it at some point. Overall, the news has became quite a bit better with the SD45s lately as I have been told not only will 7525 be at IRM, but it is supposed to operate, possibly as soon as next year, and I am thinking it will more than likely operate next year in full WC paint, and I will be up there getting photos of it. I'm still thinking Diesel Days and possibly Showcase Weekend could be the time to get it. They probably will start off just running it during special events only, then gradually put it on trains more and more. Is 7495 going to be repainted when it is fixed to operating condition or will it operate for a time in WC paint. I know IRM has several engine due in for repaints that they are operating, so I'm thinking there is a chance that 7495 will operate in WC paint again, but Coborn would know this one better than me. All that needs to happen now in the 7525 situation is that UP needs to accept it at Proviso, then it is off to IRM to be prepared for next year's operating season. I know this isn't very useful now, but to find out what is operating on any day check www.irm.org. There is a calendar to the top right of the page, and you can click on any day that the museum is operating trains, and it will tell you what is scheduled to operate on a given day. If you try it now it won't say anything but "to be announced" for the most part because the season is about over, but it comes in handy during days the diesels operate.