Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
Atmo,
I now live in Texas- but I grew up in Papillion, NE (Omaha suburb) and Edwardsville, IL (St.Louis suburb) while my dad worked for UP. My mom and dad are both from Wisconsin (Stevens Point area) and live there now that my dad is retired from UP- all my relatives are also spread across WI.
Not to be picky- but a neon sign is a marquee- and if you look closely at it the locomotive's headlight glows rings of neon at night. I've been going to Altoona for 20 years and every time I'm there I look for the 400 club sign to make sure it still exists. That sign is a CNW landmark that's been in Altoona since the days the "400" actually called on the depot across the street.
As for the trains- MSSPR shows up around 0900 to 1100 AM normally- the MPRVP usually shows up in the dead of night like the ZCHEM (0100-0400). The only other freight action besides the locals you'd see is a MDMPR reroute or one of the Roseport trains- and for that you'll need a scanner because they are extras that don't run on a set daily schedule. The coal train reroutes also only show up when the main line across IL-IA gets congested. It's kind of wishful thinking to always know exactly when every train is coming- like I said railfanning is a hobby that at times takes almost infinite patience- and unfortunately it is not possible for me to post exact train arrival times- schedules are not as concrete as they were in the days of the streamliners.
While I did not ever work for the CNW I did favor them with my companies business. They were most helpful in assiting me with my career. They also gave me many CNW items as thank you's for the business I favored them with. Check out the below link & see the hat I am wearing, The pix was shot in the Cajon Pass
http://vgalleries.com/members/railfan1/The+Trainfan.vrg
Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR Austin TX Sub
Has anybody out there recently seen former Rock Island covered hoppers with speed lettering, but sporting CNW reporting marks? It seems that the few still running have had fresh spots of paint applied over the Rock Island lettering, which makes them easy to spot, but also makes it a bit of a letdown. The North Western must have jumped at the chance to pick up extra covered hoppers from the RI when that road shut down.
nordique72 wrote:Atmo, I now live in Texas- but I grew up in Papillion, NE (Omaha suburb) and Edwardsville, IL (St.Louis suburb) while my dad worked for UP. My mom and dad are both from Wisconsin (Stevens Point area) and live there now that my dad is retired from UP- all my relatives are also spread across WI. Not to be picky- but a neon sign is a marquee- and if you look closely at it the locomotive's headlight glows rings of neon at night. I've been going to Altoona for 20 years and every time I'm there I look for the 400 club sign to make sure it still exists. That sign is a CNW landmark that's been in Altoona since the days the "400" actually called on the depot across the street. As for the trains- MSSPR shows up around 0900 to 1100 AM normally- the MPRVP usually shows up in the dead of night like the ZCHEM (0100-0400). The only other freight action besides the locals you'd see is a MDMPR reroute or one of the Roseport trains- and for that you'll need a scanner because they are extras that don't run on a set daily schedule. The coal train reroutes also only show up when the main line across IL-IA gets congested. It's kind of wishful thinking to always know exactly when every train is coming- like I said railfanning is a hobby that at times takes almost infinite patience- and unfortunately it is not possible for me to post exact train arrival times- schedules are not as concrete as they were in the days of the streamliners.
Cris_261 wrote:Has anybody out there recently seen former Rock Island covered hoppers with speed lettering, but sporting CNW reporting marks?
Cris,
Those ex-RI hoppers are still running around on UP's vast system, we still get quite a few of them on the grain shuttles that come down to the Gulf ports via Houston.
The cars in speed lettering are harder to see because they are in the as-delivered scheme from 1973-74, when the Rock reorganized in 1975 and changed their colors to the "bankruptcy" blue- older hoppers were randomly cycled through the shops for new coats of paint. After the CNW picked them up- some were grey- most were blue. CNW fully patched some, while some others only got new numbers and a little CNW herald stencil. As this paint wore of over the years- the cars were repatched with the new sans-serif CNW style numbers, and the speed lettering was blanked out as well. I would say 1 out of every 10 grey cars that I see still have the speed lettering on them, while the rest have been patched.
And yes- the CNW did jump at the trustee's offering of those hoppers, as well as several hundred boxcars (40 and 50 foot), gondolas, and airslides. The hoppers were mainly picked up to help with car supply on their newly aquired ex-RI grain lines in Iowa (and the Spine line.) Other cars and locomotives were simply returned to their financier- like the ex-UP/RI hopper Mark photographed- those were financed for RI by UP, and when they went belly-up the cars were returned to UP.
Thanks for the offer but I've got my own shots of the building and sign.
Thanks for the info nordique, and for the link to the photo fuzzybroken!
Incidently, I have a photo of one of the RI speed lettered covered hoppers w/CNW reporting marks, except that it's not one of the smooth-sided hoppers.
Glad to hear you've got an example on film- as for the smooth side centerflows, CNW only briefly leased some of the 800000 series ACF centerflow hoppers from the RI trustees before returning them. (CNW never seemed to excited about centerflow grain hoppers- only leasing a small fleet in the 172000 series, which were off the roster by 1987. Cement centerflows were a different story...) Most of the other RI centerflows were UP financed so they went straight to UP after the bankruptcy. CNW only purchased Pullman-Standard 4750 cuft and 4740 cuft ribside hoppers from RI trustees.
Matt Holman
Spring, TX
cr6479 wrote:Today i saw 2 CNW on UP pulling a piggyback train heading westbound.
2 CNW with UP heading eastbound auto rack cars.
Dan
CNW 6000 wrote:Near Proviso?
No in rochester ny.
Last time I saw a CNW unit was a C44-9W with the "patch job" renumbering, UP shield sticker for the front end, and the original number blanked out with gray primer. Aside from those aberrations, the rest of the unit looked pretty good.
Btw- is CNW's Operation Life Saver C44-9W now in a coat of UP Armour Yellow?
It is sad to see CNW become a fallen flag
Well let's see- CNW had one SW1500, the 1301. Purchased from Minnesota Transfer in 1973- it went to NRE in 1985 who then sold it to the Marinette,Tomahawk & Western Railway in 1987 (now the Tomahawk Rwy.) as their 1587. UP never had this engine on their roster- they only had the CNW's MP15DCs.
Repainted into UP yellow as 9821 in May 2001.
Lord Atmo wrote:it has always been a fallen flag since evenb before this topic was started. CNW is dead as far as UP's fleet goes with what little remains of it scattered across the US. if i ever get a terminal illness, i will be illegally slapping CNW stickers on the patched UP locomotives. because then it wouldnt matter if i went to jail as soon i will just succumb to the illness.
WELL... Conrail is a fallen flag befor i posted CONRAIL THEARD.
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