Noah Hofrichter wrote:La Crosse, Wi. Right along the Mississippi River the CP and BNSF cross each other here. This is the crossing of the two railroads' mainlines from Chicago to St Paul, and there can be upwards of 60 trains in 24 hours here sometimes, and it can be great shooting. It's about a two hour one way trip for me to get there, but it's always worth it. I usually don't stick at the diamond much though, I prefer to go up or down the River where there is much better scenery and once can get much better photographs. Sure, I miss a few trains that way, but I consider it better than 30 photos of trains at the exact same place.....Noah
La Crosse, Wi. Right along the Mississippi River the CP and BNSF cross each other here. This is the crossing of the two railroads' mainlines from Chicago to St Paul, and there can be upwards of 60 trains in 24 hours here sometimes, and it can be great shooting. It's about a two hour one way trip for me to get there, but it's always worth it. I usually don't stick at the diamond much though, I prefer to go up or down the River where there is much better scenery and once can get much better photographs. Sure, I miss a few trains that way, but I consider it better than 30 photos of trains at the exact same place.....
Noah
crossover, you say? hmmmm yes i must check this place out this summer. last time i went on a long distance fanning trip, i only went to Winona. it was hard to decide whether to watch CP or BNSF. but if i can have both, then i'm game!
where would i find this crossover? just follow the CP?
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
Just a disclaimer: when I wrote that original post over a year ago my traffic level estimation was a little high. In reality I'd say it's more like 20-40 trains a day depending on how busy each line is. But it's still a decent amount of traffic.Grand Crossing is the name of the location. It's literally just south of the BNSF yard, controlled by the CP dispatcher. The problem comes in that the BNSF has put up a fence along the usual parking spot for railfans, making hard to get good photos. But if you just want to watch trains, it's the place to be. I prefer good photos though, so I always head south of the BNSF/Wisconsin side or north on the CP/Minnesota side of the river.
The easiest way to get there (I think) is to get off the interstate at exit 4, highway 157 headed south. In a short ways that will "T" into highway 16, and take a right. In around a mile you'll turn west (right) onto County B. Eventually you'll go up an overpass right over the top of grand crossing. Just after coming back down again, you'll see a road that turns to the right and essentially heads back the way you came, only at ground level. This will lead to the west side of Grand Crossing, where most people park and sit. On a good summer day there's almost always somebody around watching.
That's the best way to get there I know of. Problem is I can get there and other places around La Crosse simply by driving it myself, but it's hard to describe it as I don't know the street names without looking them up!
Well, there really isn't any place I like to railfan, as I've been railfanning about...say....5 times in my life? Let's see, in order of best to worst:
Worcester, MA
Ayer, MA
Palmer, MA
(Those three are tied for first)
The other ones I can't even remember the places. Must not've been very good.
EDIT: Also tied for first is Temple, TX. Lots of trains, and not plain old boring (to me) CSX and MBTA!
My favourite spots to Railfan are on the CPR Mainline Keewatin sub in Transcona near Plessis and Gunn Rd. the CEMR near the Bioreserve and any industrial or winding spurs in Winnipeg, those are my favourite cause the odd time you could see a Pup eg: (SW1200RS)