Trackside Lounge, Milepost 0906.01--no defects

[Noah Hofrichter]

Beautiful shots Chris! Someday I have to get out your direction and shoot some of the narrow gauge railroads, as they certainly run through some beautiful scenery. And what I wouldn't give to see those LS&I engines dragging ore loads out of Eagle Mills and down the hill into Marquette...

Noah

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

CopCarSS

CShaveRR

  Driving, Chris? Any local stops? 

I will be driving. I'll be stopping in your neck of the woods for one night on the return trip, Carl, to see my Mom and Sisters. I don't really have any definite plans yet. Thus far, the plan looks something like this:

Day 1: Leave Denver and drive to Eastern IA. Somewhere roughly half way.

Day 2: Drive the rest of the way to WNY.

Days 3 through 7: Spend time around WNY. I have plans to see the Falls, go to the Erie County Fair, ride the AARR, etc.

Day 8: Drive back to Chicago. Spend the night at Mom's.

Day 9: Spend the morning in Chicago, and leave in the early afternoon and head for western IA or eastern NE.

Day 10: Return to Denver.

Beyond that, this will be the first time I've roadtripped in several years, so I'm sure I'll find some interesting bits and pieces along the way. 

Hi, Chris -

If I may, here's a couple of suggestions for some nearby sights and operations for the above.  Not that you need them - I think you could do a 'photo study' of a solitary rusty boxcar and make it look like art - but here goes;

- NS' [now] high steel trestle over the Upper Falls of the Genesee River at the southern end of Letchworth State Park, just NW of Portageville, NY, which is about 20 miles due east of the Arcade and Attica 'as the crow flies' - maybe 25 - 30 miles by the convoluted local roads.  A major downside is that the rail traffic level is not all that frequent - I'll guess at only 2 to 4 trains a day - inquire locallly [such as at the AARR] for details and up-to-date info.  Here's a link to a typical photo there -

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=251519 

- Hamilton, Ontario, which is less than an hour from Niagara Falls - plus Customs, but you'll likely being going to the Canadian side anyway [but see the Note below] - and especially the several CN, CP, and GO commuter rail line junctions in the vicinity of the 'wye' just east of the Royal Botanical Gardens there.  The RBG is on the northern side of the westerly 'finger' of the Hamilton Harbour - the Route 403 expressway goes by on the eastern side of it - and the railroads are near the Rt. 6 interchange, and visible from the bridges over them along Rts. 2, 6. and the local roads, etc.  One of the junctions is known as 'Bayview Jct.' - I forget the name of the other one.  With lots of trains, great access, several sinuous S-curves, natural greenery, hills, the bay in the background, and the RR signals for props, it's pretty photogenic.  Here's a link to a typical photo from a long time ago -

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=268030

Note - Be advised that as of June 1st or so, a passport or visa or some other similar high-level document is now needed to go trouble-free through Customs from the US to Canada, and to return - check with those government agencies for the details. 

Best wishes for a safe and fun trip.

- Paul North.

 

[bubbajustin]

Hi all!

Since my trip (and a little before it) I haven’t been stopping in much. Well, I’m back today.

To start off with, I had a great trip. We loved Amtrak, and will travel that way again.

Secondly, Carl, we passed a LOT of coal trains with DPU’s on them. I noticed a few cars said rotary end on them. I assume that these cars have rotary couplers on them. Do all cars (coal) have these on them? Or do still some cars (speaking of the Bethgons I saw) dump from the bottom? How quickly do these cars unload there cargo when bottom dumped?

Well, everyone have a good evening , and I will see you all some other time!

Justin

[CShaveRR]

You'll find rotary couplers on most coal cars, with the exception of those used primarily in the east. The end with the coupler can be found by looking for the contrasting color. All gondola cars used for coal have to be unloaded on a rotary dumper; the use of rotary dumpers saves a lot of coupling and uncoupling, and therefore a lot of time.

Hoppers (Bethgons are gondolas; the hoppers are called by other trade names) quite often have rotary couplers on one end as well, so that they can be used at any dumping location. If there's a place intended to receive hoppers (an elevated trestle with plenty of space underneath it), the hoppers can be unloaded in about thirty seconds' time--it's like the bottom of the car disappears when those doors open up.

[CShaveRR]

Pat and I said goodbye to an old friend today: Vicky Olsen, the charming lady at Fontano's sandwich shop in Elmhurst. Others have mentioned dining here in the past, so you've probably met Vicky--she made everyone feel welcome, and did well by all of us. She shared (via our pictures) our daughters getting married and our grandchildren arriving and beginning to grow. At any rate, she's moving to Florida to be closer to family; today was her last day at Fontano's. Live long and prosper, Vicky!

[CShaveRR]

Late news from Steamfest: Pere Marquette 1225 is out of commission for the rest of the festival, due to some serious flue problems. I guess something blew last night after the festivities were over--no injuries, except that it's sad to see the host locomotive out of it.

[CNW 6000]

It wasn't swine flue, was it?

[CShaveRR]

I knew somebody was going to make that reference! Seriously, I have heard it compared to UP 844's incident in California of a few years ago--and it didn't get back for several years.

[bubbajustin]

Oh man! 1225 is out! The host just took sick… That really is sad news.

Carl, thank you for the info! I imagined that most of them did have RC’s. About half of the coal drags I saw were headed back west and were empty. The other half were loaded and going east. I assume these go to Chicago for there power stations. Then will return to western CO. for more coal and then flip power and repeat the Chicago run.

Well, a bit of rain blew over last night. Not a huge soaker. Looks like we may get more. I have a family reunion to go to so I hope it holds off for tonight.

[CNW 6000]

Carl,

Do you know what happened to the CNW 100 ton 3 bay hoppers?  I think a lot of them went to HLMX and INRD, not sure if anyone else got 'em.  I'm asking because I've been seeing tons of them on CN lately, I think loaded with coke NB. 

[CShaveRR]

Justin, relatively few of those coal trains go to Chicago (in fact, probably none of them do, since UP hauls the Com Ed coal--or most of it, anyway). Quite a bit of it goes through Chicago on its way to points north or east of there, though. One has to see the reporting marks on the cars to get an idea of where they could be going.

Dan, I think most of them went to HLMX. CNW didn't distinguish too much between three-bay and four-bay hoppers, and neither do I. A lot of their cars were retained by UP. Interestingly enough, I recently saw a train of coal empties comprised of UP and CTRN aluminum hoppers, and CNW steel hoppers. There are also plenty of original UP and MP steel cars around, but the ranks of D&RGW hoppers are currently being thinned (they're too small, relatively speaking). MP's cars were also small, but are being rebuilt with a little extra height to make them the volume equivalent of the more modern hoppers. I know that some of CNW's leased steel hoppers went to WC many years before the UP merger (they've since gone elsewhere, I think; they were originally built for MKT).

[blhanel]

Hey Carl, I managed to make it trackside to the UP transcon for a quick 15-minute railfan outing yesterday, and your employer rewarded me with an interesting consist- saw a shorter (maybe 40-50 cars?) eastbound made up entirely of tankers, which I initially thought was an ethanol train.  After looking closer, though, as he went by (being pulled by two newer engines), I saw that all of the tankers were marked "Molten Sulfur".  He was moving along pretty smartly on Track 2- normal eastbound traffic uses Track 1, and a loooonnng eastbound coal drag did arrive just after him on that track.

So what did I see, and where was he headed to/from?

[CShaveRR]

I suspect that the sulfur originated in Canada, and maybe came to the UP via the Twin Cities. As for destination, a name that sticks in my mind is Hopewell, Virginia--somebody must make a lot of fertilizer or something there. I've seen trains go to Hopewell via both CSX and NS, so I couldn't say which railroad this was going to be delivered to. Normally these things come down at us from Wisconsin, so that's unusual. Can't look it up now without a car number.

Sulfur cars and ethanol cars don't look too much like each other--the ethanol cars are generally about 15 feet longer (longer by roughly a third), and hold more than half again as much. However, one sulfur tank is every bit as heavy as an ethanol tank.

Remember that the line is CTC--that train was perfectly legal going on Track 2.

[AgentKid]

CShaveRR

Normally these things come down at us from Wisconsin

If the sulfur was coming from west of Brian's position, instead of from the northwest(?), as Carl suggests, I suspect it came directly south from Alberta. It would have crossed the border at Coutts, AB/Sweetgrass, MT and then proceeded on BNSF to Great Falls, MT. From there I have no idea how it got to Brian's viewing location.

This line is almost as old as the CPR transcontinental line. It was a narrow gauge line from Lethbridge, AB to Great Falls. It was standard guaged about the same time Alberta became a province in 1905. The American side of this line became a part of the Great Northern Railway.

If you look at a map of Alberta you will see the SW boundary between us and BC follows the Great Divide. If you draw a parallel line 200 miles to the east, all of Alberta's sulfur is produced between these two lines.

AgentKid

[tree68]

CShaveRR

Late news from Steamfest: Pere Marquette 1225 is out of commission for the rest of the festival, due to some serious flue problems. I guess something blew last night after the festivities were over--no injuries, except that it's sad to see the host locomotive out of it.

765 took up the slack on the all-day trips.

As bad is it was to have 1225 out of action, the resulting use of the saddletankers there for the show almost made it worth it.  The first night they tried doubleheading them to move 1225.  Wasn't there, but I guess it was pretty interesting.  Also covered everything downwind with soot...

Saturday night they used all three saddletankers to move 1225 into position for another evening photo shoot.  There couldn't have been a clean sheet on a clothes line for a mile downwind.  In the process one of the engines managed to clean out the accumulated soot from the day, showering everyone with black rain.  I managed to duck into one of the tents, but still had some washing up to do.

Once I get the chance to do some post processing, I'll try to get some pictures posted.  I actually shot more video than anything else, but I'm a real novice at processing that.  Give me time!

[CShaveRR]

Larry, if we weren't visiting with Willy and family here at home this "weekend", I'd have wanted to be in northern Ohio with you all tomorrow and/or Tuesday. Maybe bring a squirt bottle to help with the soot...

I remember when N&W 611 took a trip on our line. I caught it at Glen Ellyn, a proud, upscale suburb just to the west of us. The smoke went up and away for the most part, but then came a shower of cinders that pelted us pretty good. Some were still warm. I felt initiated after that.

[blhanel]

CShaveRR

Remember that the line is CTC--that train was perfectly legal going on Track 2.

I knew that, but it's also obvious that they still like to stick to left-hand running as SOP.  This train was apparently hot enough to switch over to Track 2 to get around the slower stuff.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Another possible stop for Chris/ CopCarSS on his upcoming eastern trip - and anyone else heading that way - is the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society's Museum in the borough/ town of 'North East', PA, which is about 14 miles northeast of Erie, PA, and about 4 miles before reaching the New York state border, along I-90 [exit 41, then take PA State Route 89 = S. Lake St. northwards for about 1.6 miles], U.S. 20 = Buffalo Road, then Main Road / Main Street [then take PA State Route 89 = S. Lake St. southwards for about 1/2 mile], and/ or PA State Route 5 = Lake Road to Freeport [then take PA State Route 89 = 'Freeport Road', then 'N. and S. Lake St.' southwards for about 2 miles].  Specifically, the Museum is in the northwesterly corner/ quadrant of where S. Lake St. underpasses the 2 sets of railroad tracks, though you'll have to go in a little bit of a round-about route to get there - take Clinton St. to the west, then Pearl St. to the south, which turns into Wall Street as it turns west to go past the Museum's grounds.

The Museum's website is at - http://www.velocity.net/~lsrhs/museum.html 

Note that it is along both the CSX and NS mains, and so sees about 60 to 80 trains per day.  It has an ex-MILW and former Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend 'Little Joe' electric locomotive on display, and I believe a PRR GG1 as well. 

There's more info on another thread here - ''Conneaut Ohio Railroad Museum And Lakeshore Railroad Museum(?)(?)(?)(?)'' - at -

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/157256/1738123.aspx#1738123 

You could also go by and 'see whatever you can see' from the public roads at General Electric Transportation Systems [= the locomotive building arm of GE] and its 'East Erie Connecting RR' on the eastern side of Erie, which is generally east of Franklin Ave., and between the aforementioned U.S. 20 = Buffalo Road on the south, and PA State Route 955 = Iroquois Ave. on the north.

- Paul North.

[tree68]

Speaking of stops:

LIVE - FROM DESHLER

The tent is up, a "K" train EB and a container train WB so far...

[tree68]

EB Grain Train held briefly at West Deshler for MOW.  Leading was CP 8800.

[bubbajustin]

Evening.

Been figuring out Facebook. Not much to talk about

[tree68]

Westbound coke train followed in close order by and eastbound stack.  And the weather is nice, too.

[tree68]

Hmmm  Haven't been keeping track.  One westbound that turned south, a couple of stacks.  Big rush after MOW cleared up, but it's looking quiet for now.  Almost time to call it a night.

[CShaveRR]

Willy and I caught three trains at Glen Ellyn in a little over an hour. Then about the same number while eating lunch in Downers Grove. But we counted 19 dinkies plus an eastbound Amtrak train at LaGrange before knocking off for supper (and seeing four or five more on the way from LaGrange to Westmont). And one more scoot on the way to their hotel, at Villa Park. Pat and Bev also had a good time today, antiquing and doing other shopping, both in Glen Ellyn and at LaGrange.

Guess what...there's now a 2Toots restaurant in Glen Ellyn! Perfect location, right by the tracks, but it doesn't appear that there are good windows from which to observe the action. We'll send a team out to investigate later.

I'm hoping that we'll have some more action tomorrow--somewhere!--before we have to put Willy and Bev on the westbound Zephyr at Naperville. Does anyone here visit Eola during the day (let me know by tomorrow morning!)?

[CShaveRR]

Picking a couple of nits, Paul...

The "Little Joe" has to be either ex-Milwaukee or ex-South Shore. They're mutually exclusive. The other nit (and how you tell a local or an historian): there's absolutely no comma in Chicago South Shore & South Bend (nor was there one in Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee).

[Willy2]

Finally managed to get into the forums via my laptop at the motel. Today was certainly a good day for all of us, except for my dad. He had to leave for Omaha a day early. He was a little confused about the concept of the dinky parade, but I got lots of photos to show him what it's all about. I may also have to post some on here once we're back in Omaha. It's a good thing we don't have commuter train service in Omaha, especially on the scale of Metra, because I'd probably be lured to the tracks every day.

In any event, I'm looking forward to a few more trains tomorrow before we head back to little old Omaha on the Zephyr.

Chris: If your travels bring you into the Omaha area, let me know. Perhaps I could show you a few good railfanning spots around the area, or at least meet for lunch.

[tree68]

Well, the late show is even better than the matinee (if not conducive to picture taking).  Since dark we've had an eastbound turn north, two westbounds turn south, and a northbound (which had to go in the hole at South Deshler) turn east.  Not to mention the westbound manifest that blew through as the northbound was rounding the SE wye track.  Busy, Busy, Busy. 

[CShaveRR]

Well, Larry, you've gone and done it now...all of that diamond talk...

Willy, I hope to have a surprise for you guys this morning.

[tree68]

CShaveRR

Well, Larry, you've gone and done it now...all of that diamond talk...

Willy, I hope to have a surprise for you guys this morning.

Always the instigator....

The really late show included two stacks (one east, one west) on the diamond at the same time, and they weren't dallying.  The really early show included a train heavily laden with autoracks turning south from there westerly journey.  The regular morning show began with an easterly which held up a northbound turning west.  And I know I've forgotten and/or missed a few.

ATCS is pretty quiet right now, so we'll have a lull.  That's a good thing - the truck needs some straightening.

[tree68]

Caught a westbound using the SE wye - lots of shiny new Fords.  While I was across the tracks, shooting across the pond, thus trapped,  a WB stack roared through.