Midweek Photos 12/10/2014

This past Saturday was a horrible train watching day in Berea.  Windy, cold and not much in train traffic let alone anything of much interest.  But for what it is worth -

A Wheeling & Lake Erie coal drag being pulled by NS locomotives

And a CP Rail Auto Rack that the railroad has got its money worth out of.

Hello everyone Hear are the photos I took this morning. as I was approaching my tracks there it was just sitting. So this time I drove to the other side of the tracks. and hear is what I got today.

On a trip my wife and I took to Chicago for a three game series to watch the Phillies vs. the Cubs, we made a side trip to the Rochelle Railroad Park. 

A couple of helpers cross the diamonds:

It was 110 degrees on this day, causing viewers to stay in the shade:

A few days later at Wrigley Field it was 118 degrees causing fog to roll in off of Lake Michigan:

 Looking back, basic white locomotives!Dan

KCS606 leads train 9 southbound through Potter, AR at 10/22/87  

 KCS642 sporting a fresh paint job at Pittsburg, KS 4/14/77 4 

K

KCS4156 South, local passing Texas Jct., Shreveport, LA 8/13/83

Last saturday, had the chance to have the visit of DRG class 01 #202 in Fribourg for a short stop over.

Owned by the Pacific Society in Lyss(Switzerland), this terrific German steamer built by Henschel & Son in 1936, is one of the last 5 remaining of this class in operation. They were retired by the DB in the mid 70's and by the DR in the early 80's.

A short video of it

And a couple of pic from the Lucerne Hbf.

A "rare" Re 446, only 4 were built in 1982. These little "powerhouse" were sort of prototype for the Re 460. Originally in service on the Federal Railways as Re 4/4 iv, they are now in service on the network of the SOB.

Re 465 #001 of the BLS

And the "cookies" version (BLS Re 465 #004)

of course with the "cookies trains"

The "Graf Zeppelin" ICN (RABDe 500)

A newly wrapped Flirt (RABe 527) of the TPF..yup we love cows. (Fribourg Station)

Sincerely,

Patrick Weiss

This past Saturday, Steamtown and the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority sponsored "Christmas in a Small Town."  This is a community party of sorts where the train brings Santa Claus and others to the town, and then they go to a celebration.  The City of Scranton normally hosted its stop outside of Steamtown, so this is the first year the National Park Service was involved.  Mayor Bill Courtright rides GP9 number 514 along with Santa Claus and the elf.

The rain did not let up the entire day.  I could have used a hood for my lens, so these images of the 514 being put away in the locomotive shop are a bit water-logged.

On Sunday morning, METRA # 425 and 423 await the Monday morning call at Fox Lake, Illinois.

Jayjay; No photos showing.

Thanks, Spence...they're showing for me, but I'll see what I can do.

Scot - Great photos.  I was in Sandwich yesterday and saw a BNSF loaded coal train bound for Detroit Edison waiting just west of town by the fairgrounds.  There was also a loaded BNSF coal train waiting just east of Plano.  And another one waiting just north of Yorkville.  I keep reading in Trains Magazine about how busy the RR's are and this sure bears that out.  And that it can take longer for a train to navigate through Chicago than it takes to get here.

Art

Brian - Great pictures taken at Rochelle.  I love watching trains there and it's only a little over an hour from my house.  When they have Railroad Days there each year, it's especially fun.  Between the display engines, the hobo's and the blue grass music, it makes for a fun weekend.  Oh and they had rides on speeders for the family too.

Art

Hey Art this is the  "BNSF loaded coal train bound for Detroit Edison waiting just west of town by the fairgrounds." you say yesterday.

That's one of my spots wear I shoot my photos  I usually park just east of there in the parking lot of the AG Co. They know me there I even had the Owner come across RT34 and ask me why I was there?

Some old photos today: CSX downtown from Mount Washington and the Science Center, plus the Port Authority 25th Anniversary Trolley.

Art, that sounds like it's a fun day! Since we didn't know if we'd ever get back there again I took tons of pictures and video.  We stayed there nearly all day in that heat.  My wife has family in Kankakee and it was our third attempt to get to Rochelle and we finally got there! 

Great photos everyone.

Pittsburghrailfan - nice pics that bring back memories.  I was so relieved 25 years ago when (W) announced my division was moving to NC - I was really tired of the winters (it snows here just enough to remind me how much I hated them!) but I do miss Pittsburgh.  I left before the submarine was relocated there: I always wanted to see that, but still haven't gotten over Tree Rivers Stadium . . . 

Caught CP AC44CW 9751 yesterday in Romulus, MI. This was one of the engines used to film 'Unstoppable'. When they repainted the unit back to CP colors the left the yellow stripes on the plow

I might have a few.  Now that I can get "real time" info on RCPE trains, I've continued chasing them.  The dirt roads were not in good shape last weekend as the snow was melting, turning them into gooey mud.  My RAV4 is still in the shop and I've been driving the minivan.  Not a great choice for the kind of roads out in the western end of the state but what do you do.  I snagged a few shots but not really enough to justify the 4 hour (one way) trip out there.  They ran nothing at night, shutting me down.

However, earlier this week I was coming home from Worthington in extreme southwest MN about sunset and noticed the little Minnesota Southern Railway was on the line heading home.  What luck!  They normally don't run that late very often.  This time there was something even more unusual going on.  They were actually running TWO trains--one right behind the other.  Each GP7 was pulling about four empty tankers back to the POET ethanol plant in Luverne MN.  Why not just put the engines together and run one train?  I have no idea.  I managed to get a shot of one at the abandoned elevator in Magnolia MN and then both of them on the east edge of Luverne.  I need to find out if they might be doing this again.  I never thought I'd get a night shot of them!  It's been hovering around 30 degrees here, which has caused a lot of fog.  The fog then turns the highways into a sheet of ice, really crimping my ability to stay ahead of trains.  The fog is lifting, and it's supposed to start snowing again in a few days.  I like snow.

Kent in SD

An unlikely shot far removed from the typical vantage points of the Black River and Western Railroad in Ringoes, NJ:

2-8-0 #60, former Great Western over the Third Neshanic River Bridge in Flemington, NJ December 7th, 2014:

/Mitch