Alright, where here is my June 20th-21st Iowa/Illinois Trip Report. (Sorry for any grammer mistakes, I haven't proof read it yet, btu I'll fix them when i seem them)
Well we left around 2, 2:30 in the morning to head south to Lacrosse/LaCresent. We stopped in Wisconsin Rapid first to see my luck with EJ&E 674. No luck, seems as they might have died on hours out in Taylor WI. We got to Lacrosse around 5:30 in the morning. The BNSF was very busy at this time and I could hear a lot of scanner action while waiting on the ICE line. Around 11 we headed over to the CP on the Wisconsin side as I had heard the 486 on the scanner. Well we missed them because of a street light that never changed. We headed out toward Tomah, but they where bookin' and it would take some time for use to catch them. So we went back to Lacresent to head south on the ICE with out tails between our legs. We where defeated in catching the 486, and the MSPKC (170).
Heading south I took note of some nice locations; that line is the most scenic line I have ever been on (Besides Moffet Tunnel). We stopped in New Albin IA (Just across the Boarder from MN) and I took some pictures of the small "Station" there. We started to head south when we heard a track detector go off on the ICE; right when it went off two CP SD40-2s came around the corner head north. Well, it was a train, so we took them north. I don't remember the locations where I got them at so I'll make my best attempt.
I think this was south of Reno and North of New Albin.
This one I think was north of Reno.
I'm almost positive this one is South of Brownsville.
That train was sort of a let down, no blue and gold power, and terribly lit.
We turned around and kept heading south. That chase north took some time and it wasn't looking good that we would hit the MSPKC at Marquette. We went through Lansing Iowa, which is a neat little town with a short section of street running. It was one o'clock by the time we got to Marquette. From my information they should have been there, but the MSPKC must have had a pretty good start. We kept heading south, passing through some beautiful scenery, with no trains. We got to Dubuque and checked out that area, but nothing was there, just some CN power. Keeping our course heading south our next stop was Bellevue Iowa. I was now starting to pick the ICE up on the scanner, and we had heard of a NB train there. When we got to Bellevue that north bound train had already gone through town and was starting to leave. We back tracked to a bridge that I could get them off of. This was a difficult shot as the line side poles where in the way.
Here is a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFAmzbl_ZHs&feature=channel_page
We took the time to head up on the bluff that over looked the town. I took some shots and then we where off again to Sabula/Savanna. Nothing was at Sabula Junction, so we headed across the River to Savanna. At the yard, a small Pac-Man CP SD40-2 was leading an ICE SD40-2. I won't post the pictures as they aren't very good.
Another train was working in the yard, and this one was a pretty nice one too! Five blue and gold ICE SD40-2s!
It was nice to actually listen to SD40-2s again. Seeing as though nothing was leaving, we headed to out hotel in Clinton. In Clinton we found two DME geeps tied down for the night.
The trailing geep is a rare one. This is a former PRSL (Pennsylvania Reading Shore Lines), note the extended cab.
In Clinton we had a hotel room that looked over the UP tracks. While checking into the hotel I caught a UP train heading out, nothing special on it, but it did have a mid train.
That night looking out the window the ICE train with 5 SD40-2s went by, must have been the MCCNA (273). I was starting to think I had bit off more than I could chew. I didn't get what I really intended this trip for. Tomorrow I wasn't expecting anything heading east, at this point I just wanted to head to Rochelle and relax! One thing of irony, I wanted the 20th to be blue skies, as I thought I would get the most shots. It was sunny on the 20th, but now I wish the good weather would have come on the 21st, as that is when I got most of my shots.
The next day I wasn’t concerned about getting out early to Savanna, as I knew there would be no train coming. At Savanna we looked around the yard, for anything. The Pac-Man SD40-2 was still there getting a fresh crew. Another train came in with a CP SD40-2 leading and an ICE SD40-2 trailing. On the scanner I heard "Your clear of East Savanna UPXXX". I had no idea what this UP train was doing on the line, but I figured since nothing was in Savanna that we would head east. West of Lanark Ill I glanced over to my left and I saw the rear of an Ethanol Extra! I knew we wouldn't beat them to Lanark, but we didn't miss them by much. As I watched them cross the grade crossing, to my surprise DME 6094 (The 20th anv. unit) was leading a trio of blue and gold SD40-2s! The chase was on now. We wheren't quite sure if we beat them to the highway 72 crossing west of Forreston, so we kept on heading east until we pulled into West Adeline. I'm still not sure if we did beat them at the highway 72 crossing, but better safe then sorry. Sure enough they headed through, going slower than what I had thought.
We chased them to Leaf River Illinois. Now the crew had put the coals to it! It was great to hear a trio of SD40-2s under load! This shot I think next time I'll try and get some elevation.
The next town I wanted to get them at was Bryon, but there was a second set of tracks that confused me, not realizing that the main was just to my left, we decided to keep heading east, and we caught them here at Stillman Valley.
The next spot I wanted was the highway 72 bridge at Davis Junction. I knew that the other side of the bridge was a popular shot, but the train was heading east, so I had to shoot from the other side of the bridge. I don't recommend this shot. This bridge doesn't have a whole lot of room; I had to lean my tri-pod legs against the bridge guardrail so it would obstruct motorists. This spot isn't even that great, power lines ruin it. This was my last spot in the chase and those SD40-2s really did sound good.
Here is my video of the chase. I love the sound of that trio of SD40-2s!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g1JZARQU1o&feature=channel_page
Next stop, Rochelle. We headed in, and it was fairly quite, but I saw some rail fans gravitating to the BNSF side of the tracks, so I figured a BNSF train was coming. The rail fans never lie, and I heard the horn outside of town. As they came around the bend I noticed that the ditch lights where alternating; somthing BNSF locomotives don't have, and as the train came into view a NS Dash 9 was leading a NS SD60, and a BNSF Dash 9.
I really wished that NS SD60 would have been leading, but oh well.
I caught a few more trains, but all of them where UP, and they didn't have anything good on them. They where also all West Bounds, so the angle of the shots wouldn't be anything different. So I won't post them.
It was starting to die down at Rochelle, but then I heard a horn blast on the BNSF. Around the corner came a very nice consists, a NS SD60 was leading a NS Dash 9 on a stack train, how ironic!
Robby gave me a tip that UP 1995 was going to leave Global 2 to head to Global 3 (Outside of Rochelle), but he figured and I figured that it wouldn't show up before 3. So around 2 we started to head out of town, I was check out some BNSF power in Rochelle, when just then we heard a horn on the UP, and blasting right by us was UP 1995! How unlucky!
We decided to head down to Global 3 and check out what was there. Off in the distance we could see the UP 2001 and 2002, but we couldn't get a picture. At the West end of the yard there was the normal GP15-1 and SD40-2 pair switching. I took some pictures, but I'll only post my SD40-2 roster shot.
Well that was it, there was many let downs, but there was also many great catches. I'm not sure how to rate this trip. I would like to return to the river again, but I don't think I make it in such a big trip. In august I'll be heading back to the ICE Chicago sub for two days to rail fan that line some more.