Calling All Chicago And NorthWestern Fans!

[ac4400fan]

Paul those are real nice photos,,lost but not forgotten,,all the pics we can post here ,of the line the better....

carl..

[Anonymous]

Here's a few photos I took recently of CNW stuff:

Ex C&NW depot in Watertown, WI, now a florist


C&NW Coal Tower at Montfort Jct, WI. on the old Ridge Runner line.


A C&NW hopper bringing up the end of an Iowa Northern train just outside of Olewein, IA.


A C&NW Cement Hopper at Holcin Cement Co. in Mason City, IA


Paul

[Anonymous]

I think there are a lot of CNW fans around considering the area covered by the railroad. I belive that when we think of railroads (real or model) We most likly think first of the one we are most familier with. That's true with me.

I lived in the third house from the CNW double track main about four or five miles north of the depot in Milwaukee. that was I think called the shore line. It ran north to Green bay.

When we heard a train comming us kids would run to a pedestrian overpass and relish in the bellowing smoke provided free of charge. This was especially true of the north bound trains. The firemen were shoveling coal for all they were worth getting the train up to speed.

I remember a train comming, one summer or early fall day, all the kids ran for the overpass. This one was diffrent. It made a diffrent sound then what we were used to and when it passed under the bridge the usual blast of coal smoke was absent. What a dissapointment. The only redeeming qaulity, as far as we were concered, was the rotating headlight.

Just for the fun of it: What year was it? This will be easy for the history buffs but lets give the average non historical person a shot first.[:)]

Joe

[JohnT14808]

I got my 4-6-4 Hudson in C&NW livery this past week from IHC!! It's beautiful!! I hope it runs half was well as it looks. The details are pretty good and the paint job is first rate!! There is even a small access in the front left corner of the tender for the DCC wiring (which will be added soon, I hope...) to pass out of the tender without having to drill a hole!! The handrails are unbelievable and the rivets....if I could read Braille, I think it would say...."Power me UP!!"

But that will have to wait until next Thursday.

[cspmo]

Still alive and kicking, My Kato C.N.W. commuter cars arrive today, they are awesome. Now they need to come out with F-7's in CNW, & METRA .

[ac4400fan]

Havent herd from anyone in a while ,,how are you guys ,,layout progress ect ???

carl...

[cspmo]

I don't have a digital camera[V]

[ac4400fan]

Bye the way post your .proto types and trackside photos of the ,not forgotten line my friends


Found this car in Phoinex AZ...



carl...

[ac4400fan]

it sure is ..what a sight

[Anonymous]

Beautiful picture from Elgin there Carl. Is that one of the weekend Belvidere trains using commuter F units?

[AltonFan]

QUOTE: Calling All Chicago And NorthWestern Fans

I guess that means me, too.

[ac4400fan]

I found another site with some good pics for us
http://www.railroad-crossing.com/cnw/index.html

carl.....

[ac4400fan]

I Remember This Park all to well,,in Elgin ILL ...


carl....

[cspmo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy

Not much of a CNW fan, but I always liked those Crandell cab E8s.

And you think GP 30's are butt ugly?

[Anonymous]

Did anyone out here attend the CNWHS convention in Mason City Iowa?

It was a great time!

Paul August

[Anonymous]

Not much of a CNW fan, but I always liked those Crandell cab E8s.

[cnw4001]

I became a lifelong CNW fan after my first ever train ride was on the suburban service between Arlington Heights and Chicago. While visiting relatives in Arlington Heights I spent many hours up in the tower where the crossing gates were lowered by an operator at all the downtown crossings. Those were the days when liability and other issues were not in the front of everyone's mind and boys (or presumably girls and possibly adults) were welcomed into facilities to see how they worked.

[ac4400fan]

I lived in schamburg ill ,my parents when i was young used to take me to a pizza place on rt-12 in palitine ill, called charletts pizza ,and right behind it were 3 tracks and ,every20 mins there was a freight or passenger train of the great C&NW,,
my parents had to come and get me to eat pizza ,as i wasnt in there ,...what memories,,

carl..

[ac4400fan]

Yea theres alot of sites out there arthill,,please call me carl ;) we all can have this our chat forem ,for all to see and enjoy ,all of chicago and northwestern ..carl

[Anonymous]

Happy to see other CNW fans out there getting together. Another site is www.drgw.net/cnw . It hasn't been updated for a while but it has plenty of information.
My passion for the North Western began when I was young living next door to a C&NW engineer who ran freights and scoots on the West Line out of Chicago. Thanks to the ride he gave me in the cab of an ex-RI GP7 over the old CGW Fox River bridge in St Charles, I was hooked for life.

[Anonymous]

CNW Fan here! Great Grandfather worked for them for 50 years, all steam era, and my great-uncle worked for them for 40+ years. I grew up in Chicago watching the scoots.

www.cnwhs.org is also the site I suggest. Check out the photo section on the web site. Great stuff going up there all the time.

Also, I suggest joining the CNWHS, as the North Western Lines magazine is an invaluable tool for modelling, or just for good reading. (Disclaimer: I write a small column every quarter for NWL).

Also, back issues are available on eBay, or at swaps.

The other cool thing about the CNWHS, is that's where I first learned much about their predecessors, the CGW and the M&StL. Fascinating roads themselves.

Paul August

[lstella]

I too am a CNW fan that grew up on the west side of Chicago (Oak Park). During college I worked for CNW's engineer of buildings and commuted via the bi-levels to CNW's downtown offices over the Northwestern station.

During that time I also visited North Freedom, helped with the original restoration on weekends and have a great head-on picture of 1385 from that time.

[cnw4001]

Have a "400" complete with E's and a four car bi-level commuter set with an F pulling and pushing.

[Anonymous]

Hey, one more CNW fan here... I spent (or mis-spent) a lot of time at Beverly Yard on the South edge of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; as well as at the ex-RI North Yard. I'm in the process of converting a bedroom into the future home of an HO layout very loosely based on Cedar Rapids operations in the 1988-1993 era. Living in Clarence, Iowa, I see/hear Uncle Pete's daily parade...but have to lament that it's all yellow and gray instead of yellow and green now!

Another great CNW weblink: www.cnw-rail.com

[Blind Bruce]

I grew p in Waukegan Il. and remember the yards and roundhouse there. I must have taken 200 rolls of pictures there when I was supposed to be in school. Unfortunately, they all disappeared when my mom cleaned up after I left home. (cry ). I now model the area very loosely). The historical society sent me blueprints of the yards circa 1921-29. Sure brings back memories.
BB

[Todd McWilliam]

I model the CNW!!, I have GP40's and 38-2's. I model the mid 80's and am currently builing a replica layout of the Boone Iowa yard.

[cspmo]

I'm another C.N.W. fan
Here's the link to C.N.W. Historical Society. A great site for Northwestern fan.
http://www.cnwhs.org/
And here is a link to a CNW forum,but it isn't use much.
http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?board=CNW

[dknelson]

C&NW fan here - grew up on the "old line" between Chicago and Milwaukee, where we saw passenger trains, some freight, and lots of local switching of the heavy industries in the southern suburbs of Milwaukee WI
There are many websites with CNW photos and info
if you go to the Chicago & North Western Historical Society website they have links to many (but not all) of them.
http://www.cnwhs.org/
And Don Ross's classic and glorious website has CNW in addition to just about every other railroad tht ever existed.
http://donross.railspot.com/

Dave Nelson



Dave Nelson

[orsonroy]

I'm a NorthWestern fan too, mostly due to all the exposure I had to the road in my childhood, growing up on the north side of Chicago. As a teen, my dad and I chased the executive F's all over Cheeseland, as well as 1385, which is one of my all-time favorite steamers.

I'd REALLY like it if someone would come out with a model of 1385 in HO plastic. Since North Freedom can't seem to get off their thumbs and actually get her back up and running (but they have the money to restore everything else in their collection?) I could at least see her running on my layout!

[WEUSANDCORR]

G'day all from Australia,I've become a big CNW fan in the last year or so.I have my own Line the WEUSANDCORR[ 30yrs in 2006 gad that long!] where I bought C&NW loco's and redecaled them to my line,but I became more quizative about the prototype to the point that I built an interchange to run C&NW and now i am in a major rebuild in a 10 x 8 room trying to model line from Chicago to Galena and Rockford . I used as a basis the layout in 48 track plans from MR. The C&NW still lives here and SD70macs are being rostered with same paint scheme as ac4400's and an Athearn Genesis in red and silver colours is being tested as I print.This loco was procured from a US navyman at the horth Pole through Ebay. Regards Les