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Well today was a nice spring day and we wanted to do some camping...so we decided to take a lil trip down to the southern part of Wisconsin down by the busy CP mainline and to the Army Base of Fort McCoy to see how there operations worked....We got permission to go all over the base and get some pix where other people can't get with out getting in trouble...So our story begins at the campsite down by the CP mainline....
Here we are setting up camp chopping some trees and stumps
Then we decided when we got the camp all set up we then would go into the base and as we were turning to go onto the base we were treated with a CP East Bound headed towards Chicago
The power of todays CP Train
As we wait for the CP train to pass we see that this was a hot auto train
As soon as the train cleared and the gates went up we drove on up to the main gates
As we drove up we took note of the nice billboards that they have set up to show the men and women who serve our country
We then take not of the sign that says show ID...Got the ID ready
Pulled up to the gate and showed our ID and they said "We were expecting you...Wear this badge and put this on your mirror in your car so the MP's don't stop you when you are on private property"h
We then drove on into the gates and started to drive around the base...We then seen some construction going on in the base...Wonder what happened
We then pull up to the yard office and see that there switcher for today is already out and waiting for our arrival
We then went inside to sign some papers that it was ok to ride with the crew and be along side them on the RR right of way
After all the paper work was done we got on our way....Here we are passing a tank train where the tanks can only go from the motor pool to the range
We also see some more tanks and hummers heading for the range down the tank trail
Passing now the motor pool where the tanks stay and the tank trail crosses the tracks that go to the range
Our first pickup was some empty flats that had some HEMETT's on
We then head down to where they unload and load the M1 Tanks and as we pass that spot we see that there was some activity going on that there were some tanks being unloaded
We then backed up to pick up some empty tank cars that fuel the tanks and all the other vehicles on the base
But then we heard some action on the CP main line and quick shot off a shot through the woods
We then get on our way and I walked up to where they were unloading the tanks
We then back down past the old depot where troops once were loaded to take them to the air ports to head to basic or to the war
Here we are picking up some empty boxcars that once prolly had ammo or food or any other military supplies in them
Another shot of the boxcars
We then head to the main line where these cars will be set out for the CP to take wherever they have to go and in the back you can see some old old army boxcars that were taken out of service
By the CP mainline now we back down a spur track where we set these cars out for the CP
Cutting the cars
We then head down to the feedmill down in Raymore where we also have to switch out the empties
Headed for the co-op we skirt along side hwy 21
At the co-op now we pull our empties out from the mill
Another shot of us pulling the empties
On our way pack we were treated to another CP train
Back at the main gate we wait for our train to cross the main road but the CP train was here first so we had to wait
As the CP train cleared we then cross the main road to back these cars down the spur track to the end of our empty army train
After shoving the empties down the spur track this was our last task for the day
We then climb aboard and head back to the yard office
Back at the yard office we then go back inside the office and sign some papers and then we were off back to the camp site....
Well thats that...We hope you enjoyed this trip as much as we did...Look for more pix coming soon your way from this RR line

Army Train