Two weeks of Wisconsin train watching

Thursday marked my 14th consecutive day photographing at least one train. The rules were simple: It had to be a genuine, full-size train. No display equipment, no cars on sidings or in yards, and no models. To share my achievement, here are 10 favorite photos from the past two weeks:

The westbound 'Empire Builder' splits the Milwaukee Road-era searchlight signals at Duplainville, Wis., on March 7. In the distance is a Canadian Pacific freight on Track 1 approaching the diamond.

March 8 was a slow day for trains, and not for lack of effort. This southbound, seen at Waukesha, broke a knuckle on the single track, tying up the Canadian National mainline for the better part of the afternoon.

We all know about lemons and lemonade, but what do you do when CN only gives you northbounds in the evening? Something like this! The Waukesha local crosses Newhall Avenue south of downtown on March 9 on its way home for the night.

My second evening of shooting only northbound trains yielded this low-light capture at Sunset Avenue in Waukesha, on March 11.

"f/8 and be there" still applies, even in 2015. This northbound at Duplainville on March 12 had a factory-fresh General Electric ES44AC leading. The locomotive is due to be renumbered in the 2900-series before the new Tier 4-compliant units arrive later in the year.

Finally, a southbound! A Canadian National stack track passes the south end of Waukesha siding on March 13. A second six-axle diesel was pushing on the rear.

A southbound snakes its way up Byron Hill, south of Fond du Lac, on March 14. The line, represents Wisconsin's only regular manned helper district.

Further south, still on March 14, a former BC Rail cowl unit on a northbound lends some color to the CN near Lomira.

I stumbled onto this Wisconsin & Southern train switching at Darien, Wis., on March 15 on my way to the Rochelle Railroad Park. Never made it to Rochelle that day, and that's alright by me.

For a little variety, Canadian Pacific ran this eastbound tank train with CSX power on the morning of March 17. I was able to photograph the train crossing the Duplainville diamond from Springdale Road and still punch in at work early!