Hey Everyone
I was wondering if anyone knew of any hot spots within 4 hours of Detriot.
The ones that come to my mind are Fostoria, Blue Island, and Fort Wayne.
Any other ones?
ThanksCASO
Just so happens someone else asked the same question not long ago:
http://cs.trains.com/forums/1407607/ShowPost.aspx
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Does Butler have on particular spot and is it accessible?
Fostoria or Blue Island??
What's so great about fostoria??
CASO
Caso.Sub wrote: Does Butler have on particular spot and is it accessible?Fostoria or Blue Island??What's so great about fostoria?? CASO
Fostoria has A LOT of trains through it, and they are constructing a railfan park. Vickers in Toledo also has a lot of action to it, however there might be tresspassing issues there, I do not know.
An "expensive model collector"
Butler doesn't have any particular spot since NS put up the fence behind the bowling alley. US 6 runs parallel to the NYC Waterlevel Route and East of town the right-of-ways adjoin. You might try the pancake house. It sits on the Wabash and has a good view of the NYC line, too.
Fostoria has former C&O, B&O, and NKP lines (all two-tracks through town) cross to form an "Iron Triangle". The diamonds are visble from public roads and about 1/4 mile (about .5 km) apart from one another. With a scanner you can hear trains call the Fostoria tower for clearance and drive back and forth between the interlockings.
Fort Wayne has plenty (around 100 daily) of trains also, and it's almost all NS. There are several busy interlockings in town that I could show you if I'm back in-state. As a bonus there is a fair-sized yard, and the Triple Crown hub, so you'll see lots of roadrailers.
The former PRR main from Fort Wayne to Chicago went to CSX during the Conrail split, but NS dispatches it. CSX is currently leasing that track to a short-line Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern that runs one to three trains a day each way.
Deshler Ohio would fit the bill nicely.Its where the B&O toledo sub crosses the garrett and willard subs(three dispatchers working together).it also has 3 wye tracks so you don't know whose going to go first.In Butler Indiana there is a parking lot near the library that you can watch trains from.The NYC museum in elkhart has also installed a viewing platform at their museum too.Another spot is St.Joe indiana where the wabash line crosses the B&O just west of town but you need to take some backroads to get to it.
stay safe
joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
Its actually 5 1/2 hrs from Port Huron. All class 1's go through Blue Island right? CN, UP, CSX, CP, BNSF, but I don't remember NS or KCS.
Any thoughts??
n012944 wrote: Caso.Sub wrote: Does Butler have on particular spot and is it accessible?Fostoria or Blue Island??What's so great about fostoria?? CASOFostoria has A LOT of trains through it, and they are constructing a railfan park. Vickers in Toledo also has a lot of action to it, however there might be tresspassing issues there, I do not know.
Yeah, Blue Island is, for all intents and purposes, Chicago.
Durand is 67 miles from Detroit (by rail, anyway), and a good place for watching CN mainline activity. The station at the diamond alone is worth the trip.
Plymouth, near Ann Arbor, is a fully-connected crossing of CSX's Detroit-Grand Rapids and Toledo-Flint main lines. Not as busy as it used to be, but plenty of amenities nearby.
For sheer quantity, it would be hard to top Fostoria.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Which has more variery Fostoria or Blue Island? Which has more trains??
Caso.Sub wrote: It's actually 5 1/2 hrs from Port Huron. All class 1's go through Blue Island right? CN, UP, CSX, CP, BNSF, but I don't remember NS or KCS. Any thoughts??CASO
The only Class 1 lines that actually operate through Blue Island are CSX and CN. The variety in what you see comes from the Indiana Harbor Belt, on which trains of just about any railroad can be seen from time to time. Metra, Iowa Interstate, Chicago Rail Link, and CSX also go over near the crossing on a bridge. KCS doesn't really serve Chicago.
Caso.Sub wrote:Which has more variery Fostoria or Blue Island? Which has more trains??
For variety I would go with Blue Island, for sheer number of trains I would think Fostoria would win out. That being said it is not like you will be watching the grass grow at Blue Island, either.
CShaveRR wrote: Yeah, Blue Island is, for all intents and purposes, Chicago.Durand is 67 miles from Detroit (by rail, anyway), and a good place for watching CN mainline activity. The station at the diamond alone is worth the trip.Plymouth, near Ann Arbor, is a fully-connected crossing of CSX's Detroit-Grand Rapids and Toledo-Flint main lines. Not as busy as it used to be, but plenty of amenities nearby.For sheer quantity, it would be hard to top Fostoria.
heres the Durand Union Depot....the GT/CN ...to the right of the station is the current GLC(TSBY nee AA) which is shared with other lines thru Doo-ran ...meaning CN and Central Michigan..this last line houses engines here...to the left of the station were the parking lot is there used to be another main as the old Ann Arbor thru here had its own track... theres wyes in all 4 quadrents although i think the one over the photographers (my) right shoulder has been removed..the yard and former full circle roundhouse is also behind to the right... the turntable was there upto around 95 or 96 i believe....anyway Doo-ran is a cool place to spend some time railfanning
I think it depends upon whether you want to see road railer trains or not. Either location you will see autorack, stack, pig, coal, unit grain, and general merchandise trains.
If I wanted to see CN, I would just go to Hyde Park less than 30 mins from me and watch the CN and CP mainlines
Other than Blue Island, what are other good spots are there that are very similar in number of trains and vairety??
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