I'll be in and near Champaign, IL tomorrow afternoon and Wed. morning and would appreciate some suggestions for a little railfanning in and around Champaign...many thanks!
I thought you were looking for suggestions for New Years Eve....
It's been years since I've been in that part of Illinois, though, so any suggestions I might make would be horribly out-dated.
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...
Pretty slim pickings - Try Oak Street Yard (CN-IC and see if anything laid over; I-74 goes over it on the west side of Champaign.) - Beyond that, us Amtrak and CN trains thru town north to south. CR/CSX almost never has a thrru train around on the cobbled together remains of NYC/WAB.
Maybe go over to Monticello and the railroad ad-nauseum there? (I-72, 15 miles west- southwest)
If you get as far away as Carl is hinting - add Bloomer line at Gib City, the heard of industrial critters at Gib City, the RI SW-8 at Tuscola (Cargill)
Depending on how far you can stray while you're down there, go either north to Gilman (crossing of TP&W, junction of line that carries some NS business as well), or south to Tuscola (UP and CSX cross CN there). Or, possibly best, east to Danville, where you get the NS main line and the CSX (former C&EI) main line crossing each other. Any one of those three options is, in my opinion, better for trains than staying in town.Jim, I was at Eola this afternoon; hadn't realized they'd reduced the size of the parking lot (unfortunately, they also seem to have reduced the train count, as nothing went through until after we left).
P.S. If Larry hadn't already popped the cork, I might 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)
Thanks guys. Carl, the Eola parking lot was reduced about a year ago when somebody put up the railing you now see there...we still seem to have plenty of roon to park "legally" unless there are more than about ten cars, which seldom happens. I was at Eola as well at about 4 p.m. today and not much action, but it can still be hot and heavy at times. Hope to see you there some day.
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