Hello everybody, I just got back from my little railfan adventure a few days ago, and here is the first of my postings. This is Goshen IN, where the NS Marion branch diverges from the main a little east of Elkhart. Time of visit was Thursday, 8-28-08. I know my notes are pretty messy, and probably different kind of notes than what some are used to. No locomotive makes and #'s! That is way to much for someone alone to write down, especially in the middle of the night, when trains are passing at 60per. 1. 9:20am WB 11M Columbus - Elkhart freight 2. 9:25 WB 667 Monroe MI - Chicago BNSF coal mts 3. 9:31 WB 23N Columbus - Chi/BNSF all import/export cons. (ie) 4. 9:37 EB 38E Elkhart - Detroit many autos, steel 5. 10:08 EB 680 Chicago/BNSF - Michigan coal lds DEEX 6. 10:34 EB 84W Coal lds from UP in Chicago, KGLX, EXEX reporting marks 7. 11:09 WB 69T steel lds from Detroit 8. 11:45 WB 205 Ayer - Chicago 47th 150+ domestic cons. (few i/e) and a few truckers trailers 9. 12:35 EB 16E BRC - Conway 69 cars, 2 reefers, mostly c. hoppers and tanks 10. 12:42 WB 31M Detroit - IHB 48 auto lds. 11. 1:02 SB 19K Elkhart - Decatur big, BNSF units, autos up front. 12. 1:35 WB 19A Conway - Proviso Mostly c. hoppers 13. 2:35 SB B32 Local, push pull locos, 4 c. hoppers 14. 3:04 EB 24W 47th. - Croxton 30 ie cons. 15. 3:16 WB 23K Buffalo - 47th 20 pigs (ups and schnieder), 100 cons, some ie 16. 3:36 NB 18K St. Louis (?) - Elkhart 50 cars, mostly autos 17. 4:35 EB 861 mt coal from Chicago area? 18. 4:47 NB M44 Birmingham (?) - Elkhart extra. 142 cars, mainly tanks 19. 5:17 EB 14Q Elkhart - Bellevue big, steel, boxes and gons. 20. 5:34 WB 17M Linwood NC - Elkhart 108 cars boxes, c. hoppers 21. 5:52 WB 23T CP Intermodal. 115 ie cons, many refridge. 22. 6:23 WB 572 NORX lds (headed to Wheatfield? Or Mich. City?) 23. 6:57 SB 143 Elkhart - Birmingham 55 cars, many CN lds 24. 7:10 WB 25T CP IM up front (some emp), freight rear 25. 7:10 EB 20N Chicago - Delray very short 24 ie cons. 26. 7:36 EB 10M Elkhart - Columbus 125 cars steel, tanks, coal hoppers 27. 7:49 EB 664 BNSF coal lds to Detroit, DEEX, DETX reporting marks 28. 8:05 EB 26T 47th - Harrisburg 146 solid dom. cons, jbh, emp, swift 29. 8:09 WB 11G Enola (?) - Elkhart (?) big, many boxes, reefers, CN and BNSF cars 30. 8:22 EB 416 Coal lds from BNSF. CEFX rm's 31. 8:31 WB 25K Croxton - Cicero cons. mix, mostly ie. Almost 100 total 32. 8:56 SB 175 Chicago (?) - Macon (?) c. hoppers and tanks 33. 9:00 WB 21N Detroit - Cicero 94 ie stacks 34. 9:02 EB 24T CP 45 autos and 58 stacks, some emp 35. 9:25 EB 22W 63rd St. - Rutherford 78 pigs, many ups, truckers 36. 9:36 WB 21Q Morrisville - 47th 126 dom. cons, few ie 37. 9:38 EB Capitol Limited 38. 9:47 WB 21Z Rutherford - 63rd 75 pigs, 5 fed ex, many truckers, no ups. 30+ cons. 39. 9:57 WB 29T CP 35ish auto lds. 1 unit 40. 10:04 EB 14Q Elkhart - Bellevue (again?? Maybe M4Q?) big, lots steel, boxes 41. 10:12 WB 13Q Bellevue - Elkhart 112 cars, UP locos, many boxes 42. 11:07 EB 26N Chi/BNSF - Columbus 36 ie cons, BNSF units 43. 11:21 EB 24T (I4T) CP 108 ie cons 44. 11:41 WB 31A Detroit - Elkhart big, many steels 45. 12:43am WB 25Z Croxton - 47th 200 dom. cons. 46. 12:54 EB 68Q Tanks 47. 1:02 EB Lake Shore Limited 48. 1:09 WB B38 Local 21 cars 49. 1:38 WB 97R some work train 50. 1:48 EB 20Q 47th - Morrisville 150 dom. cons. 51. 2:21 EB 18A Proviso - Conway Hot freight, 100 cars, MANY reefers and lumber 52. 2:34 EB 24V 47th - Dockside 126 mixed stacks, 8 Alliance pigs 53. 2:42 EB 20R 47th - Elizabethport 110 dom. cons. few ie 54. 2:52 WB 21E Morrisville - Willow Springs 76 solid ups pigs 55. 3:04 NB 144 Birmingham - Elkhart steel, auto parts, autos 56. 3:08 EB 38E (again??) 74 cars, gons, steel and autos 57. 3:28 WB 21V Cleveland - 47th 70 ie stacks 58. 3:58 EB 22K 47th - Buffalo 20ish ups pigs, 100 mixed cons 59. 4:01 WB 21J Morrisville - 47th 113 pigs, many truckers, ltl, and 1 fed ex 60. 4:22 EB 22T CP 100ish ie cons 61. 4:35 WB I3T extra CP, 100 ie cons 62. 4:45 WB 21G Croxton - BNSF/L.A 220 mixed cons. 63. 5:00 SB 312 Elkhart - Marion almost all auto parts 64. 5:16 EB B38 Local 18 cars 65. 5:39 WB 23W Baltimore - Chicago 9 pigs, no ups, 70ish mixed stacks 66. 5:53 EB 680 BNSF lds to Detroit, DEEX 67. 6:13 EB 10R BNSF/Streator - Conway 50 cars, half insulated boxes and reefers. 68. 6:30 EB 16N Elkhart - Conway big, tanks, hoppers, junky looking 69. 6:57 WB 21M Croxton - Chicago 134 pigs, many truckers and ups, 20 dom. cons 70. 7:07 WB Capitol Limited 71. 7:07 EB 206 47th - Ayer 134 dom. cons and pigs, 1 Arnold reefer 72. 7:19 WB 23M Elizabethport - Global 2 95 mixed cons. 73. 7:28 NB B23 Local with 5 centerflows 74. 7:35 WB 23Z Harrisburg - Corwith 50 mixed stacks 75. 7:36 EB 20K Chicago - Croxton 54 pigs, hot, 50 cons 76. 7:54 EB 36T CP 91 cars, autos on rear 77. 8:32 WB Lake Shore Limited 78. 8:39 EB 20E Chicago - Morrisville 102 pigs, some fed ex, many ups, truckers 79. 8:46 WB X17 Coal mts to BNSF. FEPX and MBKX rm's 80. 8:47 EB 24M Chicago - Baltimore 27 pigs, few stacks 81. 8:58 WB 15N Conway - Elkhart 148 cars, some reefers and lumber 82. 9:19 WB 23N 197 ie cons. 1 hub group dom. The rundown goes like this: Intermodal - 30 17 WB - 23N, 205, 23K, 25K, 21N, 21Q, 21Z, 25Z, 21E, 21V, 21J, 21G, 23W, 21M, 23M, 23Z, 23N 13 EB - 24W, 20N, 26T, 22W, 26N, 20Q, 24V, 20R, 22K, 206, 20K, 20E, 24M Freight - 29 9 WB - 11M, 69T, 19F, 17M, 11G, 13Q, 31A, B38, 15N 11EB - 38E, 16E, 14Q, 10M, 14Q, 18A, 38E, B38, 10R, 16N, 68Q 4 NB - 18K, M44, 144, B23 5 SB - 19K, B22, 143, 175, 312 Coal - 9 3 WB - 667mts, 572lds, X17mts 6 EB - 680lds, 84Wlds, 861mts, 664lds, 416lds, 680lds 1 Auto - 31M 1 Other - 97R NS TOTAL - 70 CP Total - 8 4 WB - 23T, 25T, I3T, 29T 4 EB - I4T, 24T, 22T, 36T 4 Amtrak 82 - TOTAL Next time I stay in Goshen I'll definately do a Friday or Saturday night. Looking forward to it! I had a blast the whole night! Here is some video that I took, and more will be up soon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w91B89APbbw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1nUZF96eVw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8anaqNeMEmQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGBh3XfEncE These times are all central too. Too much work to change them now! Enjoy! and let me know what ya'll think!
Did you stay up all 24hrs yourself, or did you tag team it with a friend?
That looks like a typical day.
I am by myself. It gets pretty rough sometimes.......but most definately worth it.
If there is anybody crazy enough to want to do a 24 hour count let me know! As far as I know, I am as extreme as it gets.....
I forgot to post these other videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbUBFL4zmQI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-WAccrJP24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h76CYMUMIrU
There is a junction near my house that I'd like to do a 24 hr count, but for now, I'll sit in my living room and watch them go by.
Roger that Mike. Thanks for the comments
You must go through a lot of crew packs on your trips.
I'm also curious where you can sit for 24hrs without incident.
In Goshen I have sat at 2 places. The one I like most is a little parking lot right off 5th St. Unfortunately, this last weekend at Goshen I had a bad experience with one of the locals, and the police told me the area was kinda ruff. The police and the scary local ruffled me up and I ended up leaving around midnight (for Nappanee) so I wouldn't have to worry about it all night. I had stayed the night at this spot 2 previous times and felt very comfortable however.
My favorite spot to watch trains is at the big curve where the Marion branch veers south around a 10mph curve. If there would be an area to sit comfortably there it would easily be my favorite spot east of Chicago. I sit in a little gravel area that some semis use. It is legal and safe at this spot, but there is so much street traffic and a big street light that I just have the feeling that everybody is watching me. And everyone is.........Surprisingly, the two times police have checked me out there they couldn't believe that anyone would want to watch trains, and thought I was crazy for driving there just for the trains. Nobody railfans here!
I'm gettin tired of being called crazy....
i found the info you posted very interesting lots of trains i have a question for you these 70 trains what railroad company locos did you see were they mainly ns or did you see runthru locos anything unusual for example an old paint job
regarding the security it sounds like it is not safe to be out at night when watching trains would it not be safer to go there with a couple of friends or would this cause other problems ps liked your movies peter
I am glad you enjoyed my report Peter. There is definately lots of foriegn power on this line. Most of the coal trains have BNSF power (7 of the 9), and I did see 1 (84W) with UP power. Many of the intermodals and freights also have foriegn power, usually BNSF. Trains 10R, 20N, 21N, 23N, 26N, 20G, and 21G pretty consistently run with BNSF power, and Ethanol trains like 68Q always have UP power. The manifest trains on this side of Elkhart aren't near as regular with their power as the trains to the west of Elkhart, but there are always some with foreign power.
And of course there are the CP trains.
I felt unsafe the first night ever being alone at night in the car, but I have become very comfortable doing so. And I don't know any friends that would stay up with me.
thanks for the info tyler...... i model csx and ns however i do like to have western roads running ( love the variety) so your info was most wellcome thanks peter
your welcome Peter. anytime....
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