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)
CShaveRRJustin, the BNSF unit I saw wasn't necessarily ex-Santa Fe. If I remember right, there was an entire order of Dash 9s that had orange paint that quickly faded. They called them "peaches" instead of "pumpkins" for a while, but they're more like old cantaloupes now.
Oh I just thought it might have been the ex Sants fe units. Thay must have been out sunning too long in the Mojhavi Desert! Peaches... Verry funny! Also I would like to say I think you guys do really good keeping youre locomotives and cars clean! My complaments to the cleaners and painters!
The road to to success is always under construction. _____________________________________________________________________________ When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.
GREAT SHOTS NOAH !!!!!!!
Noah, really like your pics! They're well composed (imho), very sharp. You did a great job!
Noah; thank you for the pic's , they all are great . I couldn't take photos like that when we were driving truck. How ever , we saw many sights like that . The 2nd. photo makes 7254 look good or 732 really bad ~~~~~~~~~~ LOL All the other photos of the Photogs. took keep memories fresh in my mind since we don't roam the roads any more ( a lot less now-- ret.)
Respectfully, Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Now that's what I call "Train Watching"!
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Noah Hofrichter Hopefully nobody minds me clogging down the lounge with a few (okay, more than a few) photos, but I've got some to share. On Saturday I made another trip to one of my favorite railfanning areas around here; the LaCrosse, WI area.
Hopefully nobody minds me clogging down the lounge with a few (okay, more than a few) photos, but I've got some to share. On Saturday I made another trip to one of my favorite railfanning areas around here; the LaCrosse, WI area.
Clog away. I love it! And that's an area that I'm familiar with, too- I wish I could get up there on a nice sunny day. That "hitchhiker" looks like it won't be getting off anywhere...
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
The day began with a check of the BNSF’s North LaCrosse yard. Just as we were pulling in a westbound was leaving, and after a crew change he was off again. We got one so-so shot at the north end of the yard of the second westbound:
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/WSOR_3807/4-11-09rivertrip/IMG_4267lg.jpg
The yard was about the emptiest I’ve ever seen it, but there was still a two man RCO crew working with BNSF 2714. I like the signs that the BNSF has at pretty much all the yard entrances:
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/WSOR_3807/4-11-09rivertrip/IMG_4279lg.jpg
Just as we were driving away, we saw an eastbound stack train rolling through the yard. He was going to get a new crew and go pretty quickly, so we decided to head south along the river to set up for him. Thanks to some pretty good timing with the stop lights in La Crosse, we got to Stoddard, WI just a few short minutes ahead of the train and set up at the reflection pond just south of town:
The next train in the area was a westbound. We headed back to the reflection pond in the hopes that the water might still be calm enough for a pan of the lead unit, but it was already too rough. The train (A BRC-Northtown manifest) had an interesting consist of two CSX GEs and a SOO SD60:
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/WSOR_3807/4-11-09rivertrip/IMG_4316lg.jpg
He was going to have to wait for an eastbound to leave LaCrosse before he could enter so he slowed down, allowing us to get one more shot of the whole consist:
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/WSOR_3807/4-11-09rivertrip/IMG_4325lg.jpg
The second eastbound afforded us an opportunity to try another shot between Stoddard and Goose Island. During one of the washouts the BNSF has had in this area in the last year or so they built an access road from a wayside down to the tracks, providing a way to get to a new and very scenic photo location. A rather shabby looking warbonnet (still with Santa Fe lettering!) leads another CSX engine towards Stoddard.
One more northbound went by about an hour and a half later, this time led by two NS units, and the train included several flat cars of new Military vehicles. With no new traffic in sight, we decided to head for LaCrosse to get something to eat before going towards Winona.
Funny enough, the next train we saw as we were approaching Winona on the Minnesota side was also on the BNSF over in Wisconsin. The tracks are close enough across the River train trains can be seen, but with no warning there was no way to get a shot. We headed into Winona for some exploring, and we were surprised to roll up to a crossing and see the lights and gates activate. A quick jump from the car yielded this shot:
We made a quick stop at the local hobby shop in Winona, and then explored the joint UP/DME yard. After a while a westbound CP train appeared and we got a couple of photos, but since it’s just a nose-dark shot of two big GEs on an autorack train it isn’t worth posting. Finally we started drifting south, and saw another BNSF westbound across the river that we couldn’t catch. This time, however, we heard him give a roll by to a train just after he passed us, and quickly set up for a shot of the eastbound. This is taken from Minnesota looking over the Mississippi into Wisconsin:
Finally the CP started to come alive again with an 885 train (Weston coal empties) announcing his arrival into LaCrosse. We were already down by Dakota, MN (just north of LaCrosse), and shot him there:
A short chase up the river was in order to to Donehower West where the light was even better:
During this time an 891 had approached the area, and over the radio he was referring to himself as MRL 265 west! This was much welcome. The INRD has had three leased MRL SD40-2s for a while, and they often run between Indiana and Minnesota on the CP on coke trains to Roseport, MN. I’d yet to shoot one of the MRL trio in motion on a train, and leading was even better. About this time the dispatcher also began telling the two trains they would be going into the siding at Homer and Donehower (respectively) for a 17,000 ton 884 that was coming down river. So we did one shot as the MRL 265 rolled to a stop in the siding. The trailing units proved to be just as interesting: SD60M 6059 and another red Soo SD60.
We headed just west of the siding for about the only available nearby shot of the 884. Interestingly, he had a DPU on the rear too, not something I’d seen on the CP around here before:
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p89/WSOR_3807/4-11-09rivertrip/IMG_4419lg.jpg
Finally the 891 left the siding. We did one shot at Donehower west, then a pace shot, and finally one more shot just a short ways further North:
Gotta love that consist!
With that we headed for home, but we made one more catch as we got back to Wisconsin Dells of . Amtrak 7, the westbound Empire Builder. Take a close look at the pilot of the lead unit, below the left ditchlight, and you'll find a hitchhiker...
It was a decent end to a pretty good day! The La Crosse area is still one of my favorite to railfan. It's full of beautiful scenery (we only shot a few of the many great locations) and interesting consists, plus there are enough trains to keep a railfan pretty satisfied. I hope you enjoy the photos.
Noah
CShaveRR Thanks for the bump, Chad! Your photos were neat, Justin, no matter where you post 'em. That train was just sitting there for you? I had a surprise day off on Friday (I don't think either CNW or UP has ever given us that holiday off before). It was a nice enough day for me to bike to Elmhurst, run my payday errands, grab a burger, and watch a few trains. There were three railfans (possibly three generations of the same family) from Michigan on the platform as well, and UP provided a few freights and scoots for our pleasure. Our best wishes to Charlie from Al's Hobby Shop, who's been recovering from surgery. In spite of the rain, Pat and I got over into BNSF country for lunch today, and saw a couple of intermodals and a coal train (something I'd missed seeing on our line Friday). I thought that one stack train was going to be one of the UP's trackage-rights trains, until it got closer to me and I could see that it was a BNSF train led by one of those terribly-faded units they have.
Thanks for the bump, Chad!
Your photos were neat, Justin, no matter where you post 'em. That train was just sitting there for you?
I had a surprise day off on Friday (I don't think either CNW or UP has ever given us that holiday off before). It was a nice enough day for me to bike to Elmhurst, run my payday errands, grab a burger, and watch a few trains. There were three railfans (possibly three generations of the same family) from Michigan on the platform as well, and UP provided a few freights and scoots for our pleasure. Our best wishes to Charlie from Al's Hobby Shop, who's been recovering from surgery.
In spite of the rain, Pat and I got over into BNSF country for lunch today, and saw a couple of intermodals and a coal train (something I'd missed seeing on our line Friday). I thought that one stack train was going to be one of the UP's trackage-rights trains, until it got closer to me and I could see that it was a BNSF train led by one of those terribly-faded units they have.
Hi Carl! Glad to hear you got a day off! yes, those ES44DC were just sitting there ideling away in the classic glug glug glug glug glug noise that GE's make. I don't evan think there was a crew in them. Maby the crew had ran dead on service hours and was wating for a patch crew. But the only car trailing the locomotives was a hopper. The train was broken in half to let traffic through. Also Carl, That locomotive was probably a ex Santa Fe unit right. I've seen them very VERY faded before.
Had a fairly good day back today. I was kind of slow because of my ankle though. I got yelled at by the other kids. I just ignored them though. Did you guy's see my latest pics? I made them there own thread. Thank Chris for that Idea. Have a good evening everybody!
(bump)
Nice pictures, Noah! That track actually looks pretty good, compared to some I've seen and/or been over. It looks like CP is upgrading the line from Nahant southwestward, with welded rail and a few new ties. We saw a welded-rail train go northeastward last night (and one of the buffer cars was a Santa Fe mechanical reefer--honest, I swear!).
Headed home from Muscatine today. Haven't decided our route, though we'll hug the ICE up to Nahant before turning east. Pat feels bad about the ratio of quilt-store purchases to trains seen yesterday, so we might be able to do some interesting stuff today.
We did pace a train from Altona to Galesburg yesterday--saw some flagrant examples of truck hunting as the train moved at about 45 m.p.h.
So long from (and to) Iowa!
Thanks Zardoz and Quentin! The track up this way is pretty bad really, though they still can run over it I guess, and derailments aren't that frequent. At one crossing (a photo I didn't post) as I looked through the viewfinder I realized on the track through that area the train didn't do the usual rocking motion; it just stayed leaning in the same direction, and it wasn't a super-elevated curve either!
Brian, I mostly checked out the usual hot spots in the cities themselves; Northtown Yard, the MNNR's yard and roundhouse, and the Dayton's bluff area in St. Paul. It was a nice trip, even if it was a cloudy day, and it was good "research" for the next time I'm up in the area. Like I said, details with pictures to come later.
Noah HofrichterToday I've finally got something worth posting.
Very nice clear and colorful photographs. Agree....the track in that last photo makes one wonder how a locomotive and cars stay on the rail, no matter how slow it's traveled.
Spending Winters down in Florida {back a few years}, we used to see local action on the Florida Central near Eustis....Tavares and north a ways toward Altoona....The track was every bit as wobbly and horrible shape {as in your photo}, and they used it every day.....I never did see anything on the ground.....They would sway back and forth as it passed.
Quentin
Noah HofrichterI also made a two day (well, day and a half) swing through Minneapolis and St. Paul this last weekend, and I had a chance to do a good bit of railfanning one day.
What areas did you visit, Noah?
Noah,
Nice photos; I especially liked the last one. And very interesting information. Thanks.
I haven't posted too much in the latest version of the lounge mostly because I haven't had much to say, nor the time to post it (Senior year of high school and preparing for College next fall have kept me busy). I have been reading regularly though. Today I've finally got something worth posting.
Erector sets were made by the A. C. Gilbert Company, as were American Flyer trains. My Erector set had an electric motor, and enough curved pieces to build a ferris wheel.
Larry, interesting that you should mention a Marx train set: I saw one yesterday, in pristine condition! Actually, it was a coal train on the former IC&E, powered by UP units, consisting of exclusively gons bearing reporting marks MARX. That's a new one on me.
I'm checking in from Muscatine, Iowa, this evening--my sister's house has a fantastic view of the ICE tracks and the Mississippi River. I also saw those KCS covered hoppers for the first time, the ones with the fancy paint scheme. If nobody's decided to nickname these things "Belle-hopps", they should!
Gotta go--we're dining out.
He he he he!!!!! No that's not the town I live by Larry, I wish but, no. I live near Atttica Indiana. A small settltement just south of Lafayette. It is mostly single track so meets are comon at the sidings. Quintion, thanks for the kind words! Now for the last time good night! I wish I could stay up but mom refuses and I have to go to school in the morning, and i'm a bit sleepy... See you tommorow afternoon at about 4:10 like normal!!!!!
Chris....Really enjoyed your photos.....and yours too Justin.
switch7frg Quentin , did your E set have a motor ? Mine had enough pieces to build a Draw Bridge and a ferris wheel , amoung other things. I wonder how many Mech. Engineers got their carriers from those E sets ?? ~~~~~ My worm gear kept bending the bar arm to raise the bridge , don't recall if I ever figured why or how to make it work. Thanks for the memory . Respectfully, Cannonball
Quentin , did your E set have a motor ? Mine had enough pieces to build a Draw Bridge and a ferris wheel , amoung other things. I wonder how many Mech. Engineers got their carriers from those E sets ?? ~~~~~ My worm gear kept bending the bar arm to raise the bridge , don't recall if I ever figured why or how to make it work. Thanks for the memory . Respectfully, Cannonball
Cannonball.........
You know, for the life of me...I can't remember right now if the set did have the electric motor....I remember it was in a pretty good size metal box. E-Sets were a wonderful toy....in my mind, more than a toy. A valuable learning "toy"....Lets....see, I believe the maker was Gilbert.
bubbajustinSo you know where Attica is?
Western New York - home of the Attica & Arcade..... Still running steam...
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...
Night everybody, mom is almost home and I must help her unpack.
See you tommorow!
LOL LOL LOL!!! Thank you very mutch for te kind words, but that CSX is in Lafayette. Ns goes through Attica! So you know where Attica is hugh?
Check out my new location and signature!
Chris, absolutely!! got the feeling of cold railroading . The only thing missing in the shots is the ( burble) and the whine of the blowers . However, it don't take much to imagine that. ( Zipping up my Carhart jacket ) LOL . ~~~~ Young Justin; you are getting a good hand at shooting trains . Good shots of CSX in Attica .
Respectfully , Cannonball
Thank you! Chris lives on the UP Moffat line. That is the famous curves I belive right Chris? I will keep working on my photo's.
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