Joe, on Monday I saw one CSX unit followed by two equipment cars and a Track Geometry Car. Was this your W001? It was on the Porter Branch in northwestern Indiana. I assume it went back to the main line at Willowcreek before heading wherever.Which college is that near Toledo?___________________
We took a trip to the Land of No Trains earlier this week. This was for a classmates' lunch in Nunuca, a tiny place that long ago had two railroads and later one railroad and an interurban...nothing left, of course. But the story here is that we used to be able to make the round trip to Ottawa County in one day. Not any more--age and medications have slowed me down (and Pat has always dozed off on longer car trips). So this time we made it into a three-day trip, spending the two nights in Riley's Railhouse in Chesterton, Indiana, on NS's ex-NYC Water Level Route.Our reservation there had put us into the "lower berth", but due to a no-show, we were able to get back up into the "upper berth", same room we had last Thanksgiving. Despite the fact that the B&B has a railroad motif, this is the only room that directly overlooks the tracks (and there is a small container filled with ear plugs for those who need them).For some reason (anxiety, indigestion, whatever), I had difficulty sleeping Monday night, and the trains were not too helpful. We had to leave at the crack of dawn Tuesday for lunch, so it was just "Bed and..." that day. They never could have fed us in time to get us on the road.The trains were running well, though--we saw lots of manifest activity as well as the ubiquitous stack trains and at least one outbound Amtrak train. I found out later that the Norfolk Southern's SD70ACE units that I would see on occasion looking pretty spiffy actually were new.Tuesday, after the lunch and some necessary shopping up in Michigan (yards of fabric and a new computer cord), we got back down in mid-afternoon. While at the fabric store, I had to explain again the "setting fire to the tracks" thing to an interested clerk.We got back down to Chesterton in plenty of time to settle in, grab supper, then stay in and watch NCIS (Pat) and get some sightings logged (me). I couldn't get much of that done that evening because of the constant interruption of the trains and more potential sightings. The streetlight outside had been converted to LED, and it was easier to read numbers into the night. But that evening was something else--NS had hit its stride, and was sending trains through on each other's blocks, apparently. We'd get one westbound, followed almost immediately by an eastbound, wait ten or twelve minutes, then repeat, and so on...it was amazing! Fortunately (?) it let up later in the evening, and I was able to fall asleep fairly quickly and soundly. In the morning we stayed for an amazing breakfast of French toast, fruit, eggs, and sausage. The trains were still a little less frequent--only about three or four passed through during breakfast. We were the only gusts that morning (very early in the season, says Richard, the proprietor).Kudos, by the way, to Richard...while we were gone Tuesday, he followed through on a suggestion I'd had last fall, and installed a short, sturdy metal railing on the steps leading to the balcony with the train view--the steps were slippery and difficult to navigate without it (again, advancing age, I suspect).We took the scenic route home, and saw more interesting cars in Gary, East Chicago, and Burnham. The trip netted me sightings of new equipment from several series, representing 1200 new cars for my next report. It would be a little pricey to do this every time we go to Michigan, but it is definitely safer...and a lot more relaxing for me! And Riley's Railhouse is still definitely highly recommended, even if you don't necessarily like trains (they have rooms in a box car and caboose on the leeward side of the building that shields a lot of the noise). Chesterton has a lovely downtown for antiquing, and there's a used bookstore right across from the rail house, a nice park with picnic tables right in the middle of town by the tracks, and plenty of fast-food options nearby, as well as a couple of lunch spots right downtown (those places also do breakfast, but Riley's visitors don't need that option!). Sadly, there's no train service to Chesterton, even though two Amtrak round trips come flying through (the South Shore is several miles away...one could commute into Chicago rather nicely from there if one wanted to drive only as far as Chesterton). A trip here cannot be recommended highly enough!
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)
44 dump cars came out of Canada on the BNSF yesterday. Last seen heading south at track speed, the dispatcher giving it priority over everything else...
Yep Carl that was the W001.It spent the night in Garrett and I got to see it Tuesday morning.Was surprised to see it on Wed. in Toledo.Our sperry friend was surprised to see us in Toledo too.The college is the University of Toledo.Looking at all the variables it seems the best fit.A classmate of mine works in the admissions department and offered to help us get the paperwork together.The tour was just a general tour.Next one will be an engineering tour.Good to see the home team win today.
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").
Plus today got to see our sperry friend go on the Toledo sub in Deshler on the web cam.His house is just across the SW wye at the trainpark.Good times.
Spring is officially here. Baseball opened yesterday with a split decision. The Northsiders won 12-4 over Texas while the other team lost 5-3 to KC while committing three errors.
Carl, There is a dot on the Michigan for Nunuca and an exit off I-96 with a restaurant.......(edit)...and the food was always decent. Not a place you would know existed unless you made an exit mistake. Used the next exit, a 1/4 mile further, for Spring Lake way too many times, helped build 1 1/2" scale trains at a friends place there.
afternoon
Had rain and drizzle this morning.Csx ran a few trains.A customer was giving the ND&W crew fits.One shift told them where the cars went.When the new shift came in they had changed their mind.Matt gets to do dishes again tonight.Hope everyone can stay dry.
BOB WITHORN Carl, There is a dot on the Michigan for Nunica and an exit off I-96 with a restaurant.......(edit)...and the food was always decent. Not a place you would know existed unless you made an exit mistake. Used the next exit, a 1/4 mile further, for Spring Lake way too many times, helped build 1 1/2" scale trains at a friends place there.
Carl, There is a dot on the Michigan for Nunica and an exit off I-96 with a restaurant.......(edit)...and the food was always decent. Not a place you would know existed unless you made an exit mistake. Used the next exit, a 1/4 mile further, for Spring Lake way too many times, helped build 1 1/2" scale trains at a friends place there.
Bob, there are two good restaurants in Nunica, then. The one that is more widely known is Turk's (that may be where you went). This one is a little more off the beaten trail, right in the middle of town (such as it is), and not far from where the GTW used to go through. The times I rode the train through there, the trees fouled the track so you'd inadvertently duck if you had a forward-facing window on the south side.Crockery Creek Saloon (where we went this time) has some great bluegill sandwiches when the bluegills are available. One of our group (12 people) had a smelt dinner, and Pat had a ravioli dinner that she couldn't put away.
morning
Rainy here in Nw Ohio.Yesterday Csx decided to send q 200, q506 and q 508 up the toledo sub at Deshler.Going to help with errands and chores today.Need to get stuff for back to work Monday.(No Fooling) Matt gets to do dishes again tonight.
Mother nature sent some ice and snow.Csx sent a few trains.Ns had had plenty of trains.Switch problems in Garrett for CSX and Montpelier for Ns.Ns 24 z had to set out some bad cars as well.Going to see if the hometeam can play ball today.Matt gets to do dishes again tonight.Back to work tomorrow.
Doesn't it always work this way? I slave my butt off (one could hope!) getting a report out before the end-of-the-month New-builds Table deadline (be it real or perceived...no pressure!), then we go out to dinner at one of Pat's favorite places. She allowed me to take a leisurely route there...I didn't even have to. We left church, and there was a slow-moving estbound manifest on the UP. The moves I made to catch up with it were anything but leisurely, but they were successful, to a point. The first time we were stopped by it, we were at a crossing in Villa Park. It was there that I saw my UCIR Centerbeam flat car. It was also there that I determined that we needed to see the train again. So into downtown Elmhurst we went. The train, for some reason, was still moving slowly, though it didn't seem to be headed into the yard. I caught the UCIR car again when it was moving at practically walking speed, grabbing build date and lot number. I was able to get the KCS box car off the same train.
[UCIR is the Union County Industrial Railroad, in Pennsylvania ...it just got these 175 brand-new cars, the first equipment it's ever owned or leased, and I was told by a fellow carchaeologist to be on the lookout for them. I may have been the first one of us to actually see one. The Kansas City Southern box car was one of 215 that were recently relettered from another railroad...maybe not news, but definitely news to me!]
Of course, the leisurely trip was out the window by then, so we made an expeditious trip south to LaGrange, adjoining the BNSF “Racetrack” at Westmont, where—guess what—another slow-moving manifest was headed east! The cars it contained were exotic enough to me, and will keep me busy for a while (I never saw so many covered hoppers with the North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association logos on one train before!), but we couldn't keep up with him as well. This train contained the new-looking GACX car, which needed to be reported [in this case I just made note of it because it looked new...and, as I found out, it was--one of a series of 30 cars built last month]. We waited for what was left of him at a grade crossing in Hinsdale.
So here you go...another 205 new cars. That should bring my March total up to 5000, if it isn't already! [For the uninitiated, that 5000-car figure for me is about the same as what EVERYONE reported in February!]
Dinner, by the way, was delicious!
I think I got stopped by the same freight on the BRC 59th Street line at 65th and Harlem yesterday. Your mention of the covered hoppers jogged my memory. I do remember that it had two GE's on the front end and a GE in DPU mode on the back end. The rear-end GE looked like it had a turbo fire some time in the past (burned paint near the stack).
Will be a short week for me this week, semi went down last Friday for emissions issues, and then my pickup went down for a broken fuel tank strap. Should have the semi ready by noon, pickup by end of the week........
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
Not sure, Paul...on "my" train the DPU was in the middle, with the UCIR car and the frac-sand cars behind it. The KCS car was ahead of the DPU, though.
Nice sunshine this afternoon.Work looked liked it missed me.Ns had a westbound in the siding after work.Chores to do here at home.
The sunshine was nice here all day - melted the inch of snow we got overnight.
Not by much, though. The home weather station says it never got above +35F, and then there was that wind...
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...
Ns local was uptown when I got off work.We stopped after work and ordered the coffee cake for our"Sonrise" service.The sunshine is nice.Chores to do.
Nice sunshine.Ns had a mixed train waiting in the siding after work.Chores to do here.Not quite dry enough to get things out of the shed yet.
While March is supposed to come in like a Lion and depart as a Lamb - this year it seems that the animal kingdom got reversed - March started as a Lamb and ended as a windy Lion - and the wind continues into April - great kite flying weather.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Breezy here as well - saw 27 MPH on the weather station at the fire station a short time ago, and my home weather station has 31 MPH as a high...
At least it's mostly sunny and not too cold.
Rainy and chilly here in Nw Ohio.Ns has a westbound yard mix in the siding.Glad tomorrow is Friday.
evening
Getting spring fever here.Looked like the Ns local set some cars out before I got off work.Came home and put the snow equipment away.We got out the chairs and statues and such.Was told great niece is coming to the new high school for a dance show.It will be my first time in the new Defiance high school.Going to go get cleaned up.
Looking at a major range fire that started outside Las Animas in SE Colorado (in the area where Amtrak 3/4 run on the old Santa Fe (Las Animas Jcn./Keller/Hilton) ... big problem is that's what is burning you cannot access with trucks - All they can do is watch it burn and protect the few houses and ranch buildings.
Las Animas Junction is where the 1875 Santa Fe northern transcon meets the 1936 ATSF/DC&CV Boise City-Amarillo line east of Las Animas.
Might investigate after the fire is over/out and see if we can spot any remnants of the 1873-1878 Arkansas Valley RR with all the vegitation gone.
https://www.kktv.com/content/news/Brush-fire-burning-near--in-Bent-County-508149601.html
Spent the day at the local boat show selling raffle tickets for the UTV my FD is raffling off. Made a few sales.
Our booth is outside. Temps in the 30s and occasional snow. Wheee! Thank goodness for portable heaters!
tree68Spent the day at the local boat show selling raffle tickets for the UTV my FD is raffling off. Made a few sales. Our booth is outside. Temps in the 30s and occasional snow. Wheee! Thank goodness for portable heaters!
Nothing says - Go to a Boat Show - like snow and 30's.
Took brother out for an early birthday present.Ns and csx trains were plenty.Heard a crew complain the engineers seat needed more padding.Matt gets to go do dishes tonight.
The boat show is in the books. We sold a fair number of chances on the UTV we're raffling off.
Don't know how any of the other vendors did, although one did sell a "party barge" (pontoon boat) that was located near our booth. Apparently it was last year's model, however, and with all the costs involved, plus any discounts they applied, they may have actually sold it at a loss...
The salesman told us that with the boat configured as it was (including a humongous motor), it would do over 50 MPH on the water...
Not right now, though. On my way to a fire department dinner with a neighboring FD, I was driving parallel to the St Lawrence and noticed a Canadian ice breaker mid-river and just downstream from a large mass of ice. Current and prevailing winds have kind of jammed up the ice, and they are apparently leading ships through the ice packs.
Spring in the north country.
Today (and yesterday, and part of the day before) was spent in the Peoria area. I was able to get to the Toledo, Peoria & Western yard yesterday, and to the Tazewell & Peoria yard today (TZPR is Genesee & Wyoming's name for what used to be the Peoria & Pekin Union Railroad). Speaking of Peoria and Pekin, we were in both today. First time I've been to downtown Pekin in 48 years. I recognized the building that used to be the motel that they put me up in on the trip I took that ended in South Pekin. It's no longer a motel; I'm not sure what exactly it is.I once again got to adore the old Whipple truss bridge that crosses the Illinois River with six spans. Also got to strafe a string of tank cars for a commodity check (ethanol and LPG carried by these cars). We went to church three times today: with my daughter's family for their worship service, to Obed and Isaac's for dinner (in an old Presbyterian church building) and to Peoria's First United Methodist Church, where my granddaughter Katelyn (can you believe she's 14?) was in a choral concert this afternoon. She had a solo, delivered flawlessly.We could have made tracks for home after the concert, but due to rapid fatigue on my part (due in turn to heart and medication problems), we decided to stay tonight and take the day for a leisurely return tomorrow.Yesterday, the two grandchildren who weren't singing today were on teams competing for the state championship in the Odyssey of the Mind competition. One of their teams got a First, the other a Third. Whether the first-place team goes on to the world championship (to be held at Michigan State University in East Lansing this year) remains to be seen.So, how to go home? We came down by way of Rochelle, should we go up by way of Streator and Ottawa, or via Pontiac and Joliet? We could go via a hybrid routing, as long as I get sufficient rest.And on that subect, more diagnostic testing is scheduled later this month...scans for cancer on the 18th, and a consultation with the cadiologist on the 29th.
The Las Animas fire continues. (3+ square miles)...Looks like the last snowstorm/blizzard will be trying to put it out Wednesday. The weatherliars are all over the place on what's this thing gonna do.
Ns was clear when I left work.Worked on the mower today.Will go get the blade sharpened tomorrow.With this nice weather the grass is turning green quickly.Back to chores.
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