And on a lighter note!

[Mookie]

reporting in -

Sat - 4 freight trains, 6 coal trains - about 2 hours of watching. (Got hungry, had to leave!)

Sun - 10 coal and 5 freight - had to go home and do domestic things! About another 2-2.5 hours.

Highlights - MOW was doing some housekeeping - had a big crane truck, picking up odd pieces of wood and plastic and some iron. Driver came over and chatted with us while waiting for train to go by. Said they pulled all the crews off our section for two weeks. They were needed elsewhere. Our grade xing still closed - and BNSF will do the work on making it all better once more.

Didn't stay long enough to ask about dwarfs...and switches and tracks and concrete/plastic ties - we could have ordered in pizza and stayed there most of the day visiting with him!

Saw coal cars marked EXEX....I could look this up, but if someone would like to enlighten me?

Saw some interesting engines: 6102 and 6184, 6162, 6123 BNSF - SD9's.

2597 - CN

2571 NS

6758 - Conrail! (this was an interesting freight - they had containers on about the first 1/2 of the train and pigs (trailers) on the back 1/2.

Saw a UP engine - 7010 - according to my book, they are only 3 of them out there - they are GE AC44/60CW -

And the really big surprise - saw a BNSF SD70 - helper on the end - with a lot of grafitti all over the sides of it. I don't ever remember seeing an engine with any grafitti on it. Poor baby.....

And the radio station out of Omaha is now playing - "The Railroad Comes Through the Middle of the House!" Great steam sounds! Great timing, too!

I'm gone - bye bye..

Mook [:X]

[JoeKoh]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

reporting in -


And the radio station out of Omaha is now playing - "The Railroad Comes Through the Middle of the House!" Great steam sounds! Great timing, too!

I'm gone - bye bye..

Mook [:X]

I hope it wiped its wheels first!(after all you just cleaned [:)])
stay safe
Joe

[CShaveRR]

EXEX is a reporting mark for Commonwealth Edison Company, the concern that gets a portion of Chicagolanders' paychecks every month.

I suspect that you found that the EXEX cars you saw had been relettered. Older, smaller cars are ex-CWEX; the newer ones (with "tubs") are ex-NCUX.

In one of those corporate shuffle "thingies", a lot of Commonwealth Edison's power plants, and the coal cars lettered CWEX, went to a subsidiary known as Midwest Generation. The cars that stayed behind were relettered EXEX (easier than relettering the thousands of cars that were transferred!).

(For those of you who doubt the reality of my little sister, this goes to show that she exists, and is susceptible to the influences of her brother the freight-car freak!)

[CShaveRR]

UP 7010 is one of three of those 6000-horsepower GE units left in the 7000 series...you'll find the rest of them in the 7500s.

Quick spotting feature for the 6000-hp GE locomotives: two exhaust stacks, side by side (don't know how visible--or discernible--that is from ground level, though).

BC

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR

UP 7010 is one of three of those 6000-horsepower units left in the 7000 series...you'll find the rest of them in the 7500s.

Quick spotting feature for the 6000-hp locomotives: two exhaust stacks, side by side (don't know how visible--or discernible--that is from ground level, though).

BC

Interesting! Will have to remember that.

You have seen me in Millie - I can't see too high! Or far for that matter!

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR

EXEX is a reporting mark for Commonwealth Edison Company, the concern that gets a portion of Chicagolanders' paychecks every month.

I suspect that you found that the EXEX cars you saw had been relettered. Older, smaller cars are ex-CWEX; the newer ones (with "tubs") are ex-NCUX.

In one of those corporate shuffle "thingies", a lot of Commonwealth Edison's power plants, and the coal cars lettered CWEX, went to a subsidiary known as Midwest Generation. The cars that stayed behind were relettered EXEX (easier than relettering the thousands of cars that were transferred!).

(For those of you who doubt the reality of my little sister, this goes to show that she exists, and is susceptible to the influences of her brother the freight-car freak!)

So noted! Thanx Brother Carl - and yes, I do exist - if only to irritate people on the forum! [:o)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie
2571 NS

6758 - Conrail!

Just thought you'd like to know 2571 is an ex CR SD70 while the 6758 is an ex CR (now NS) SD60M.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dougal

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie
2571 NS

6758 - Conrail!

Just thought you'd like to know 2571 is an ex CR SD70 while the 6758 is an ex CR (now NS) SD60M.

Thanx for info. Now if you can tell me how to get them to come closer so I can get a good look at them. Seems they are always off on the back tracks which is as far away from our parking spot as you can get and still be seen.

The Conrail was a surprise, just because it was Conrail. And we do see some "foreign engines", just not usually as Conrail. And a few BNSF SD60's, but not that many, either. They are kind of a neat engine - especially in BNSF green with white face. Rather colorful!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like another fun weekend as always.

Wish I could see more foreign power up here, but it's almost always all CP and CN at Roberts Bank.

Saw a BNSF freight train with about 90% BC Rail box cars and centre beam bulk head flats the other day (headed north on the BNSF mainline) with a grey NS loco, no paint, just that ghost grey color. Other two locos were the BNSF pumpkins.

Got news that BNSF is gonna start running stack trains out of Roberts Bank now because CN and CP can no longer keep up with the demands over there. Gonna start seeing more BNSF power at the bank!
The BNSF stack trains are only gonna be single containers in the well cars because there are a few tunnels on the way down to the states that can't take the double tall stacks.

Should be fun!

[Mookie]

You know, Macguy, this is getting to be kind of like the tortoise and the hare. UP seems to be having problems - which is not unusual for any big business - but BNSF seems to be just plugging along doing their thing.

If I use Lincoln for an example, they are running a lot of freight as well as all the coal thru here and don't seem to have major problems getting it from here to there. We are seeing more UP, NS and even CP/CN cars and engines through here than before. Maybe there is something to be said for slow and steady.

Mook

[Anonymous]

Oh god I sure hope it wasn't a UP on BNSF rails!
Hay mook the reason that you are most likely seeing alot of UP is because right out behind my place the UP has the blair subdivision shut down for a major overhaul(work).
UP is installing concrete tie's on the blair line.
Oh by the way,I sure wi***hat I could see alot more BNSF power around here too.
One more thing too......BNSF is testing EMD's new GM SD70ACe's GM72&GM73.
I caught GM73 yesterday at the amtrak depot in omaha on the transfer run.
I tell you what....THAT IS A VERY NICE LOOKING ENGINE!
Well don't have too much fun out there mookie.
BNSFfan.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BNSF9838

Oh god I sure hope it wasn't a UP on BNSF rails!
Hay mook the reason that you are most likely seeing alot of UP is because right out behind my place the UP has the blair subdivision shut down for a major overhaul(work).
UP is installing concrete tie's on the blair line.
Oh by the way,I sure wi***hat I could see alot more BNSF power around here too.
One more thing too......BNSF is testing EMD's new GM SD70ACe's GM72&GM73.
I caught GM73 yesterday at the amtrak depot in omaha on the transfer run.
I tell you what....THAT IS A VERY NICE LOOKING ENGINE!
Well don't have too much fun out there mookie.
BNSFfan.

Blair, huh....you aren't too far away! We have some dedicated UP tracks - just north of the main BNSF yards - but they are hard to get to and harder still to find something on them. We don't see a lot of UP, but there are more all the time! They all dance at the same dance, don't they!