Max,
Come....to....Calgary...
Go here for my rail shots! http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=9296
Building the CPR Kootenay division in N scale, blog here: http://kootenaymodelrailway.wordpress.com/
I bet you could get close to 30 at JC on a good day with the extra UP and CP trains. The just powered up the nw wye and that's kind of fun. It looks like the addition to the Weston plant is completed and I remember hearing coal traffic would double to the plant (2 each way a day). Could you help me out with this WCfan. Is it completed? When do the new trains start runnning if they arent already?
Thx
ah yes. i saw the 2719 in Duluth over summer. and i also had the honors of riding the E9 OLS train. but the dome car was closed off. i rode the katy flyer.
oh no. 11203 got whammed hard. and i have a model of that caboose! bummer!
ah yes. 3300. (or SSS as i call it. "Star Spangled Snoot"). i have caught that unit many times. skipped class frequently to do so too. (shhhhh!)
2990 in the snow. interesting. that's the only patch i enjoy catching too. and i've seen it only twice in Altoona:
uh i doctored this image slightly.... :P but i guess a lot of the other CNW fans liked this pic a lot. i'm not terribly excited over it.
but i'm glad WSOR moves out there. i gotta catch those cabooses and the coaling towers! thanks for that tip!
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
Murphy Siding wrote: Lord Atmo wrote:heh heh. i'm careful about not abusing such priviledges. what is a DeLorme Atlas? i might have oneIt's a big, state atlas that shows all roads and most rail lines on a grid basis, with fairly good accuracy. The cover is bright red. If you don't have one, check your local library. A lot of them have the atlases.
Lord Atmo wrote:heh heh. i'm careful about not abusing such priviledges. what is a DeLorme Atlas? i might have one
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Phil, where was that photo from the overpass taken? Near Oxford I'm guessing? It looks like one I should add to my list of shots to do, it's a nice one.
I always though the little depot in Oxford is a neat building too. Problem is I've never been able to work it into a photo very well.
Noah
wgnrr wrote: Cabooses: 2 C&NW's in Adams next to the Yard office. One of them used to run the locals that went to LaCrosse, before it got into a little accident this June. Phil
Cabooses: 2 C&NW's in Adams next to the Yard office. One of them used to run the locals that went to LaCrosse, before it got into a little accident this June. Phil
One piece of advice: DO NOT try to follow along on a DeLorme while driving your car. They're great because they offer a lot of detail, but once you go off the page you're on (i.e. the road goes from east to west and you've made it to the western edge of the page you're on), you have to flip to another page in the atlas to continue on, and it's not always the very next page.
Steering with your knee and fumbling through that large atlas is NOT a good idea. It's best to have someone riding shotgun to navigate.
Congratulations. Please treat this privilege with a great deal of respect and don't take it for granted.
Bergie
i think planning my trip out on the book before i leave. and then when i'm done fanning at one spot, i just page through it to pinpoint my next destination before proceeding to head off there.
and i can always pull over somewhere to double-check if i'm lost.
but i know a lot of the state's highway networks pretty well. i can drive from Eau Claire to the twin cities, milwaukee, appleton, green bay, duluth, lacrosse, and even Chicago by memory. it's where IN those cities to find the historical things that i might have difficulties with
and if i enter Iowa, i might get lost. and as far as Illinois goes, Rochelle is new turf for me yet. i'm gonna need 2 more atlases i guess. heh
but thank you for the tip, bergie!
The overpass is on Elk Avenue. It's not too bad of a spot, as there are better.
The best spot for an overpass in the 10th avenue bridge, which is in-between the Buffalo Lake Bridge, and Glen Oak (east of I39). It is one of those old wooden bridges with the arch in the center (I'll have to find a picture). It was rebuilt in 2005 by the Union Pacific after a train knocked out one of the support beams, but it stayed a wood bridge. The Elk Ave bridge used to be one of these before they replaced it with a concrete bridge in 1997.
Yes, the Chessie caboose is there. It is owned by a Mr. Wholfert, who is a collector of trains, rather than a true railfan. He also has a C&NW Semaphore and the train-order board from the Oxford depot (I don't care what Mid-Continent Railroad Museum says, they DON NOT have the train order board from Oxford. They have a RI one).
Maybe we should have a Central Wisconsin Railfans' Convention? I could host it at my house, with food, and a HO layout (sorry, not finished) and we could see the local sights. Stevens Point, Oxford/Adams, and Portage; hit 3 railroads on one day.
Phil
eolafan wrote:OK, how old do you think I am from how I described Wausau when I lived there?
I might be close to 'winning' the age contest--I remember when the C&NW and the Milwaukee Road ran up to Minocqua and Woodruff. I even rode the train a few times (with my parents) from Milwaukee to da great north land.
A nice place to watch the CN is in a town called Dale, which is a few miles northwest of Oshkosh. There is a nice little park there that has restroom facilities available during summer weather. Not much in the way of resturants, though.
i remember when the MILW had a bit of track up here in Eau Claire. one of their purs ran parallel to the CNW Chippewa Falls sub up to Lake Hallie. i remember seeing that line. but never trains. i think it was abandoned years before they got around to digging the track up, just about a year agom the remains of the line were removed. i swooped in and grabbed a tie plate and a spike from the line only days before the whole track disappeared. THAT was too close. but the line will always live on in Eau Claire now. just a tiny fragment up against my book case. heh heh.
and my dad tells me he remembers riding a train from Columbus (WI) to Chicago frequently in the 60s. he at first didnt know why i looked astonished until i finally yelped out "YOU RODE THE 400, DAD!!!" problem is he doesnt remember what the train looked like at all. cuz i asked if he knew if the train was yellow or not.
it makes me want to ride that route via Amtrak who still serves Columbus and lord knows how many stations in Chicago.
zardoz wrote: eolafan wrote:OK, how old do you think I am from how I described Wausau when I lived there?I might be close to 'winning' the age contest--I remember when the C&NW and the Milwaukee Road ran up to Minocqua and Woodruff. I even rode the train a few times (with my parents) from Milwaukee to da great north land.A nice place to watch the CN is in a town called Dale, which is a few miles northwest of Oshkosh. There is a nice little park there that has restroom facilities available during summer weather. Not much in the way of resturants, though.
Zardoz, the last time I went camping up near Minaqua/Woodruff when I lived in Wisconsin I recall waking up in the morning to the sound of air horns and I quickly jumped into my car (the folks I was with thought I was nuts) and followed the sound until I found a CNW freight pulling through the woods nearby. That track has since been all ripped up (progress????) but the Milwaukee Road track you mention had long since been torn up north of Tomahawk.
Lord Atmo wrote: and my dad tells me he remembers riding a train from Columbus (WI) to Chicago frequently in the 60s. he at first didnt know why i looked astonished until i finally yelped out "YOU RODE THE 400, DAD!!!" problem is he doesnt remember what the train looked like at all. cuz i asked if he knew if the train was yellow or not.
Last I knew, wasn't Columbus was on the Milwaukee Road, so it would have been a MILW train instead of the CNW 400? Unless of course you meant another town.
Noah Hofrichter wrote: Lord Atmo wrote: and my dad tells me he remembers riding a train from Columbus (WI) to Chicago frequently in the 60s. he at first didnt know why i looked astonished until i finally yelped out "YOU RODE THE 400, DAD!!!" problem is he doesnt remember what the train looked like at all. cuz i asked if he knew if the train was yellow or not.Last I knew, wasn't Columbus was on the Milwaukee Road, so it would have been a MILW train instead of the CNW 400? Unless of course you meant another town.Noah
Right as rain Noah, Columbus IS indeed on the old Milwaukee Road main line from Chicago to Minneapolis and beyond and is now served by Amtrak for passenger traffic.
Lord Atmo wrote: i can drive from Eau Claire to the twin cities, milwaukee, appleton, green bay, duluth, lacrosse, and even Chicago by memory. it's where IN those cities to find the historical things that i might have difficulties with
i can drive from Eau Claire to the twin cities, milwaukee, appleton, green bay, duluth, lacrosse, and even Chicago by memory. it's where IN those cities to find the historical things that i might have difficulties with
Well, I don't know if you will get back to GB soon but most C&NW tracks are parelleled by either Ashland Avenue (I occassionally pace trains when there's no traffic after midnight) or Broadway Avenue (5-6 block stretch with lots of places to kill time between trains), both of which are easy to find as they run the length of the west side of the city (marked with stoplights where Hwy 29 crosses so they're easy to find). Don't know how often you get to our side of the state but have fun next time you're here!
Sorry, but I don't do much active fanning. I commute in from out of town and I know there's a northbound at about 3pm that makes me late for work if I cut things too close! I'm used to seeing occasional trains when I'm driving around town that I admit I've never really tracked the times. Hopefully, some of our more active train watchers in the area can help you out. Still, now I'm curious enough to start making (mental) notes.
Things may have slowed down a bit lately, too. There was a minor flurry on the news a few weeks ago when one of the economic reports (sorry, don't know which) suggested that economic activity here in the US was slowing up. After seeing a couple of the passing sidings in town loaded with idle box cars for a month, I wasn't too surprised, myself. Maybe I should sell stock tips based on idled cars?
eolafan wrote: Right as rain Noah, ...
Right as rain Noah, ...
Just so ya know, I got that one, Jim.
Poppa_Zit wrote: eolafan wrote: Right as rain Noah, ... Just so ya know, I got that one, Jim.
Thanks PZ, subtle, wasn't it?
eolafan wrote: Poppa_Zit wrote: eolafan wrote: Right as rain Noah, ... Just so ya know, I got that one, Jim. Thanks PZ, subtle, wasn't it?
Probably flew over a few pumpkins, methinks.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.