(bump)
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!
The road to to success is always under construction. _____________________________________________________________________________ When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Now that's what I call "Train Watching"!
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
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
Noah, really like your pics! They're well composed (imho), very sharp. You did a great job!
GREAT SHOTS NOAH !!!!!!!
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!
Speaking of clean cars, we saw a large number of FUSX gondolas at one point between Rouses Point and Saratoga Springs today (I do not remember just where). They were all black and shiny, except for the markings. Larry, do you know anything about them?
Johnny
Thanks for the comments guys, they are much appreciated. With the beautiful scenery up in that area good photographs are fun and pretty easy to come across. One just needs a sense of composition and good timing and the rest of the ingredients are already right there in front of you.
I'm still in high school, but I already plan (or maybe it's more a hope) to live in the La Crosse area when I retire someday (in, oh... 50-60 years. Unless I win the lottery). Who knows what will actually happen, but in an ideal world...
While most of the UP unit's I've seen are fairly nice looking, I'd say they have their fair share of paint problems too. There are a couple of SD40 types that used to frequent the Adams line that didn't look too good. I caught one a few years back that had some nicely peeled paint:
http://badgerrails.webng.com/photos/up/adamsline9.html
Finally got out to get some railfanning in on Tuesday & Wednesday morning of this week...and finally got around to editing them! Here they are. Nothing I'd consider special...but I had fun and I think that was the point.
So I started out in Neenah on Tuesday morning. Not much was moving so I headed back to Oshkosh. Heading south on US41 my scanner caught the defect detector at MP181.1 say "...Southbound..." and the rest of the usual stuff on axles, no defects, etc. However I took a gamble knowing that the railtrain I had seen on Monday was not on Dixie siding and turned to paralell the tracks. That gambit paid off in catching CN 4715 leading a railtrain trying to get to work just south of Winnebago Siding.
Shortly after I took that shot the RTC in Homewood called and asked if the railtrain could sneak back onto Winnebago Siding. A manifest train (M346) was closer to Neenah and didn't have any planned work which he thought it did. So the railtrain backed up into the siding at the south end while a short local took the north end. Once both trains cleared the main I didn't have to wait long for the reason for the delay to appear.M346 at Winnebago
Closer to Butler Ave. Crossing
After 346 passed I had to get to work so that ended my Tuesday activities.
Wednesday morning I went to the south end of Oshkosh to chase an errand. Like usual I had my scanner and camera in the truck and heard a MoW crew calling RTC from the "Oshkosh Siding" asking for time on track to get back north (presumably where rail was/would be laid). RTC came back with they had to wait for 2 southbounds first but after that there was a decent block of time. I scooted trackside off of 14th Ave. (near old Coca-Cola plant) and didn't have long to wait. First up was an empty coal train lead by BNSF 9988 (SD70MAC) and followed by a pair of ACes (9143, 9373) that looked almost new! A nice change of scenery from CN's locos.BNSF 9988 at Oshkosh SidingBNSF 9988 South
Almost as soon as the coal train cleared the defect detector at MP169.1 I heard the detector at MP181.1 go off. The second train was a manifest lead by a trio of C44-9Ws. That included IC 2700 which looked fairly clean for a change. The last time I saw it she was pretty dirty.CN 2670 at Oshkosh SidingCN 2670 South
IC 2700
After 2670 south was clear the MoW folks got going and I had to get to work again...but at least I had some scenery on the way, and fun which made the day go faster. Comments and thoughts are welcome.
Dan
Dan - more great train watching! I love CN's colors. I think NS, then CN and then CSX - my list of favorites. And the old BN.
I did notice, however, that I sneezed during the "weedy" pictures. Terrible allergy season already!
Dan, why is it that every time in the last few months that I've been in your neck of the woods the trains all seem to go into hiding. I've spent numerous blocks of time recently (while the wife goes shopping) trackside seeing nothing but birds. It sure doesn't seem as though traffic is anywhere near where it was not too many years ago. Heck, I remember not too long ago when the (then WC) was doing ROW improvements in anticipation of double-tracking the Waukesha sub all the way from Valley to Antioch. Nowadays it seems as though trains are rare, and meets even more rare.
zardoz Dan, why is it that every time in the last few months that I've been in your neck of the woods the trains all seem to go into hiding. I've spent numerous blocks of time recently (while the wife goes shopping) trackside seeing nothing but birds. It sure doesn't seem as though traffic is anywhere near where it was not too many years ago. Heck, I remember not too long ago when the (then WC) was doing ROW improvements in anticipation of double-tracking the Waukesha sub all the way from Valley to Antioch. Nowadays it seems as though trains are rare, and meets even more rare.
LOL! The trains (at times) are a tad more scarce but I usually keep my scanner handy and tuned to the CN road frequency. If I hear a detector going I'll head trackside. Give me a heads up next time you swing this way, if you want. I'll keep ya company.
I already heard a couple this morning...they must know when you're coming Jim!
CNW 6000 ...they must know when you're coming Jim!
...they must know when you're coming Jim!
Anyway, how typical--the one Saturday I don't head up north.....
Saw a total of 11 trains today (not including the Neenah Yard Job) and got a recording of a defect detector sounding for two dragging equipment defects (MP 194.6). I'll get that on Youtube later and link to it.
I spent four hours this afternoon down by UP's Beverly Yard, and all I saw was nine trains- two east-bound loaded coal trains, one eastbound mixed manifest, two westbound empty coal trains, the local transfer from downtown to Beverly with a total of 13 cars, and a couple of similar transfers on the CRANDIC next door. I think I even got in a nap...
CNW 6000 Saw a total of 11 trains today (not including the Neenah Yard Job) and got a recording of a defect detector sounding for two dragging equipment defects (MP 194.6). I'll get that on Youtube later and link to it.
Here's the link to the video of the detector via scanner.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7McOTSRWGM
CNW 6000 Saw a total of 11 trains today
Saw a total of 11 trains today
zardoz CNW 6000 Saw a total of 11 trains todayYeah, right. You're just saying that to make me jealous.
Not at all...I just got lucky in that regard for once! Usually it's someone else.
CShaveRRBrian, you would have caught the first perishable train if you'd lingered there a little longer--looks like he went through just before dark. He should be by me pretty quickly, if I didn't miss him.
DOH!!!
Oh well, if I had waited around longer, I'd probably be separated and headed for divorce, as I had to go pick up Joanie from work.
I'm surprised he wasn't half-way across Ohio at the time of your post, considering how NOT busy the line was...
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