I'm going on a trip behind SP 4449 tomorrow from Minneapolis down the Mississippi to Winona MN and back. It's supposed to be a "Fall Colors" trip, but forecast is for a high of 38F and 50% chance of snow!! Guess I won't be spending too much time hanging out the vestibules taking pics.
Yes, it did snow overnight, causing some icy roads and accidents. The train trip itself went off pretty well, but having two hours to "explore" Winona MN wasn't as much fun when it's cold and windy.
I was watching trackside with some friends Sat and Sun. 4449 put on a great show - the cold created great plumes of steam which gave us an alert to get the cameras ready because unlike #261 the oil fired 4449 does not create much in the way of "smoke signals." And even with a fairly long train that included some heavy weight cars, the 4449 was not taxed, even at the Jackson Street grade near the RR museum.
The forecast was for an inch of snow Saturday morning so the fairly light dusting while hardly welcome was less than what we feared. Some of the sidewalks and roads were slippery with black ice.
And yes it was darned cold trackside both mornings -- and it seemed to get only colder Saturday as the train was somewhat delayed getting out of the cities. I have reached the age where a full morning of drinking cup and cup of black coffee to ward off the cold made it, shall we say, a tad uncomfortable as I stood outside waiting for the train. If you get my drift ...
The sun was not as cooperative as we would have liked either day, and frankly the fall "colors" seemed strangely muted near the Twin Cities and only modestly more vivid nearer to LaCrosse. This was one of the first trips where we saw no eagles on the river either. Or as one person put it "A strange day when you see more steam locomotives at Dakota (MN) than you do eagles."
But again 4449 put on a great show and the CP itself was surprisingly busy both days. If freight train volume is any indication, the much hoped for economic recovery might actually be taking place.
Dave Nelson
We did see several bald eagles along the Mississippi on Saturday, both on the way down and on the trip back. It was very cold (but sunny) in Winona. This was an odd trip as they dumped us out at Winona and re-loaded with people for the turnaround trip down the wye at LaCrescent and back. That apparently took longer than expected. We had to be back at the station by 2 PM and then the train didn't arrive til maybe a quarter to three.
Sunday I followed it online/GPS and my wife and grandson (three next week) went to see it come by Tinucci's near 494 and Hwy 10/61. He was pretty impressed, as noted the cold weather made a lot of steam.
I was on the Sunday trip to Winona. Since we were in coach, we ended up on the Amtrak car. I had hoped for a heavyweight, but without that, I didn't mind riding in a fairly new car. We were so far back from the locomotive anyway it didn't matter. May as well have comfortable seats and new bathrooms. All in all we enjoyed the trip.
I actually enjoyed the North Shore Scenic Railroad trip last year better. We got to ride in a heavyweight behind the Soo pacific 2719. That was so close to the locomotive that you almost went deaf listening to the whistle. I guess all train trips are good ones!
An odd thing that I've noticed on other trips is you can't hear the engine on the way down the Mississippi, but coming back in several places I could. Not sure why, perhaps the layout of the bluffs or something...or just so many people were asleep so it was quiter in the coach !!
It would be nice to do a trip in nice weather where you could have open windows. I remember a trip in 1984 behind NP 328 with a couple of cars on a warm summer day where you actually got wet if you were in a window seat from the steam blowing back from the engine.
That's funny you say that about the direction and being able to hear the locomotive. We noticed that you could hear it on the return trip. I could only guess that there is a very gradual grade going down to the Winona area. That's all I could think off.
Could be something with the terrain...high bluffs on one side, wide river on the other?? Sound can be funny, I just saw something on the History channel on how some scientists believe the sound of the Siren's song (mermaids luring sailors to their death on the rocks in the Oddyssey) was actually the sound of seals being reflected and amplified by an unusual rock formation that made the sound audible a mile or two out to sea from the coast.
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