I got my face sandblasted -- and loved it!!!

[Big_Boy_4005]

The long awaited day finally arrived, Big Girl's first train ride!! We got up bright and early, and grabbed the gear we had laid out last night. Only the essentials for rail travel. Radio, camera and food!

Twenty minutes later, we were standing in line, listening to the radio and waiting to get a glimpse of 261. A cloud of smoke on the horizon. Nope, it was only 2816 out for her morning jog. What a tease, the lighting and the chain link fence made picture taking worthless. A few minutes later another cloud of smoke, and 261 backed into the track along the fence. No pictures please, and we climbed aboard, along with about 400 other people.

All aboard! And we chose our seats in the second car, which was really about 400' back from the engine because of all of the other equipment that made up the train.

As we waited for traffic to clear, the rails were incredibly busy this Friday morning, the car attendant came into our car and told us a little about the train. He advised that, if we wanted to stand in the vestibules, and look out the dutch doors, we should have eye protection, as 261 being coal fired, throws off a lot of cinders. He also said thet there were still a few sets of safety goggles for sale in the consession car.

I got lucky and managed to get the last ones available. Eye protection had never crossed my mind for this trip, but boy was I glad to have them. By the time I returned to our seats with the goggles, the train had managed to get into the traffic pattern, and we were slowly working our way out to the main. I sat there with Big Girl for a few minutes, and had a sandwich, as in our excitement we had run out of the house without even thinking about breakfast. As the train picked up speed, I figured it was time to try out the new goggles, and politely excused myself, leaving Big Girl with the radio. Here is a photo of Big Girl enjoying her first train ride.



The vestibules were crowded, and I waited for my turn to look out and get some pictures. When my chance came, I lowered my goggles, and leaned out, camera in hand. I was instantly greeted with what felt like a continuous pelting of grains of sand. The goggles helped a lot, but cinders were still getting in my eyes, though it was tolerable.[|)][^]

There's one slight problem trying to take pictures of a train that you are riding. The only time you can see it is when it goes around a curve, and then only if the curve is toward the side you are standing on. I ended up spending the better part of the trip hanging out the window, cranking off photos whenever the train went around a curve on my side, and getting sandblasted as it clipped along at speeds sometimes in excess of 60 MPH. [:0][:p][8D]

On the curve you can see how far up the front of the train is. 261, her tender, her spare water tender, 2 Amtrak Genesis engines, 2 crew cars in Milwaukee Road paint, the first coach and our coach. The Amtrak units look very much out of place, but they were a part of the deal. Amtrak was providing the insurance coverage for all of 261's tour. Also as part of the package a regular Amtrak conductor was in charge of the train.



Behind us were 5 more coaches, the the consession car, a diner for the first class section and the first and premier class cars. BIG TRAIN!



A quick stop along the BNSF to pick up a pilot for the run into Lacross.



Over the river and through the woods, back to the Minnesota side of the Mississippi.



Opposing traffic waits to head east into Wisconsin, as we cross back into Minnesota for the return run on the CP.



It looks like a tornado coming out of the stack, as 261 cruises north along the Ex Milwaukee main on the return leg of the trip.



Yes, that's me hanging out the window, getting cinders in my eyes, ears, nose , mouth and hair, and loving every minute of it!!![:D][:p][:0][B)][;)][8][|)][^][:I]



Time for bed, gotta get up early to chase the double header. I hope I'm up to the task!!![|)][swg]

[jeaton]

Nice work, thanks for the coverage. Other commitments have precluded any chance for me to get over to see 261 this tour. She is an awesome piece of work, and remaining a coal burner only adds to the sight.

Good luck today!

[JoeKoh]

Glad your having fun thanks for the pics!!!
stay safe
Joe

[Modelcar]

Big Boy....Interesting photos. Enjoyed them and they do a good job of relating the ambience of your train ride. Mind mentioning what camera you are using for this display....Must be digital with photos avail. so soon.....Again, good colors.

[Willy2]

Glad you had fun! Great photos.

Willy

[cherokee woman]

Glad you enjoyed the ride. You've got some great pics there.

[eolafan]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us all. Where did your trip begin and end, etc.?

[athelney]

Thanks for your pictures and narrative of your trip , brought back memories of loco haulage in UK , coal fired steam!!. I found the car behind the tender always proved best for avoiding cinders , although not the best place to be when it picked up water from the in track troughs !!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a lot of fun!
Nothing beats live steam!

Thanks for sharing the pictures, it's always fun to see what's going on around town!

[locomutt]

Great Shots,

I'm glad you all had a great time.

And like macguy,and others;Thanks for Sharing those pics![^]

[Noah Hofrichter]

Darn, Now seeing these pictures really makes me wish we could have gone over to portage WI to see the steam train on Fathers day when it came through, I shouldn't have dropped the topic so easily. oh well. Nice shots by the way.

Noah

[Anonymous]

Interesting...

LC

[Puckdropper]

Wow... You're right about photographing the train you're riding... It is hard to see it except when you're going around a curve. The best pics, though, came from going around the curves. I got several from Branson's Scenic Railway. (I may just have to put a web page up so you all can look at the train pictures. ;0))

Also, if you want to ride behind a coal fired steam locomotive without spending a lot of money, head up (and I mean up to about 9695 feet) to Cripple Creek, CO. You get a 45 minute tour, and have opportunities for some awesome photos. Glad I had my digital.

While I'm going on about vacation, don't bother driving up to the top of Pike's Peak. It's much more fun taking the COG RAILWAY! You only have about 45 minutes at the top, but it's just awesome. Let someone else do the driving, and take pictures! You will be IN the clouds! Those dark rain clouds are dark rain clouds up there too. (I thought perhaps they looked dark on the ground, but were like thick fog in the sky.)

[Big_Boy_4005]

THANKS GANG

It was our pleasure sharing our experience with you, it was almost as much fun as taking the ride ourselves.

Eolafan, sorry I didn't include exactly where we went in the original story. This was a circle trip to LaCrosse WI, departing St. Paul and returning. The really cool part was on the way to LaCrosse we traveled on the ex-CB&Q down the WI side of the Mississippi.

Then we switched back to the ex-Milwaukee and returned on the MN side, which is the normal route of Amtrak's Empire Builder.

What made this trip extra special is the fact that we traveled over part of the area that I am modeling. [swg]

One final thought, I couldn't believe how many people had [|)]dozed off [:0]in their seats by early afternoon. It's cheaper to buy a movie ticket.[:p][;)] Maybe they needed to stick their heads out of the window to wake up.[:D][:D][8D]

[Wdlgln005]

The only other way to get a good shot of the train is if a photo runby is included in your trip. May not have been a good place for the train to stop & do them.

Also, if at any time during your trip you have an extended stop for coal/water.

There may also have been some pro's doing video of the move. Pentrex may have a tape/DVD available soon. The program will not be as good as being there, see how many people are at crossings or on the road chasing the train.
Thanks for the pictures!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE:
One final thought, I couldn't believe how many people had dozed off in their seats by early afternoon. It's cheaper to buy a movie ticket. Maybe they needed to stick their heads out of the window to wake up.

That's one thing that I never understood when I used to ride the Rotal Hudson steam train between North Vancouver and Squamish! People would bring their pillows and sleep on the train on the way up, and then have the day in Squami***hen sleep all the way back home!

The train ride was the best part, that was the only reason for going up to Squamish was for the train Ride!

Some people I just don't get![%-)]

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Wdlgln005

The only other way to get a good shot of the train is if a photo runby is included in your trip. May not have been a good place for the train to stop & do them.

Also, if at any time during your trip you have an extended stop for coal/water.

There may also have been some pro's doing video of the move. Pentrex may have a tape/DVD available soon. The program will not be as good as being there, see how many people are at crossings or on the road chasing the train.
Thanks for the pictures!

Correct Glenn, however on this trip was over live working railroads. No stops except for traffic. At LaCrosse they took on a little water while we waited for the Empire Builder, but there wasn't time to FILL the tender at that water pressure. No coal either, strictly business.

I'm sure there will be videos for sale later. Pro cameras were everywhere along the route. I'll be buying one the instant they come out!!![swg]

[tree68]

Still looking forward to a trip on mainline steam. Have ridden behind the real McCoy in museum settings, though, and loved it all. Thanks for sharing - great account!

Reading the subject, though, made me think that it sounds like the beginning of an infomercial......[:D]

[locomutt]

One final thought, I couldn't believe how many people had [|)]dozed off [:0]in their seats by early afternoon. It's cheaper to buy a movie ticket.[:p][;)] Maybe they needed to stick their heads out of the window to wake up.[:D][:D][8D]

[redflasher1]

I think we were on the same train with you. I remember you in one of the vesibules. One of the "staff" told me the passenger count for this excursion was 806. Anyway, we brought our own food and drink and had a good time. The scanner battery died in Wabasha. I enjoyed seeing the people lining the tracks along our route. It was a long day not being able to get off the train but I imagine it would have been a nightmare rounding everyone up to get back on.

I thought the concessions were rather expensive but we did get a couple of great Grand Excursion tshirts for $15 each.

All in all, a good time and brought back many memories of my childhood logging thousands of rail miles traveling with my parents

[daveklepper]

Thanks a lot for the pictures and the trip description!

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by redflasher

I think we were on the same train with you. I remember you in one of the vesibules. One of the "staff" told me the passenger count for this excursion was 806. Anyway, we brought our own food and drink and had a good time. The scanner battery died in Wabasha. I enjoyed seeing the people lining the tracks along our route. It was a long day not being able to get off the train but I imagine it would have been a nightmare rounding everyone up to get back on.

I thought the concessions were rather expensive but we did get a couple of great Grand Excursion tshirts for $15 each.

All in all, a good time and brought back many memories of my childhood logging thousands of rail miles traveling with my parents

Red, I emailed you a couple months back, when I saw your post that you were going to be riding. I had hoped to meet you and some of the other members with all that was going on that weekend. We were up in the second coach. Do you live in the metro area? Drop me an email, and I'll give you my phone number, and we can talk.[:)]