Midweek Photos 7/3/2013

Thanks for posting.  There are a couple of great old neon signs on the riverfront as well.  Wish I had taken pics of them when we were there. 

Nice photos, last year my family and I went to Minneapolis for a Vikings game, we also did ride on the tram around town.  Minneapolis uses public transportation in a excellent way.  From their tram to their busses it is a easy town to get around.  Here are a few shots from last week when we where in Alliance Neb.  Its my wife's home town so we visit it a lot and we are all ways checking out the yard there.  You will notice a set of C30's that have been sitting in the same spot for 12 years now.  The blue and yellow Santa Fe is used as a back power source for the shop.   

BNSF Tanker consist Southbound from Norfolk Southern railyard in Bellevue, Ohio

NS 9693 Northbound approaching New Haven Wye towards Fostoria, Ohio on its way to Norfolk Southern Bellevue railyard

NS 9954 and 6510 Northbound into NS Bellevue yard.

UP 8368 Eastbound on New Haven Connection into NS Bellevue yard.

UP Train MINNP departs CSX Rose Lake yard in E. St. Louis, IL on its trip to UP's N. Platte NE yard. After the passing storm, a faint rainbow showed up. Rose Lake was a PRR, Conrail yard, the train is crossing over to the old B&O main to pass through what is left of the B&O Cone yard. (two tracks)Dan

Here is a combine load along route 11/15, just south of Duncannon, Pa.

Cesar

FATBOY,  nice catch on the combines.  MTH if you are listening make a 6 car with these and I am in on buying.  Nick

My wife and I just returned from St. Louis for the TCA convention and managed to slip a bit of railfanning in during the trip:

We took a dinner cruise on the Mississippi the first night and caught the river during a beautiful sunset.  Here is the Eads bridge.

Of course a trip on the St. Louis light rail was a must.  I started at the Budweiser station.

Here is the station stop at Union Station

Then at the stop at the Amtrak station a massive thunderhead rolled in.  It poured as I waited with lots of others under the few shelters till the train came.

I traveled east into Illinois and then headed back, still in the rain.

I took this route so I could cross the Mississippi on the Eads bridge.

We also rode the Branson Scenic Railway.  It turned out to be a really pretty trip through the Ozark hills.  The train had three domes and the crowd was small enough that everybody had plenty of room in a dome.

Finally I wanted to include this shot of the restored station at Tucumcari, New Mexico.  Tucumcari was an important stop on the Southern Pacific and Rock Island Golden State route as this is where the SP locos were taken off and replaced by RI power, or visa versa.

Since my first, early train trips were on the Golden State in the late '40s, Tucumcari always had a significance to me.  Today, there is nothing left of the division point other than  a couple of sidings and a decayed adjacent downtown.

Thanks Nick!

Few more to add.

Enola Yard, Enola, Pa. I-81 in the background.

Amtrak crossing Rockville Bridge, Marysville, Pa 

Cesar

Great pictures everyone!!

Here are some shots at the Reading and Northern yard:

Here are some pictures from the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum:

  Am familiar with 'super elevation'    ...but what do they call THIS?

Great shots Cesar

c.sam, thanks for the comment on the Eads bridge.  The sunset lighting was so spectacular, I almost could not go wrong.  I didn't originally post it as it was not railroad themed, but her is my favorite shot from that evening.

It's been a hectic week for me and I didn't even touch my Nikon.  However, I did shoot a couple of rolls of 120 film with two of my box cameras.  My Zeiss Tengor was made in Germany around 1950. Perhaps it's the "Mercedes" of the box cameras!  I think it was the finest box camera ever made.  My shot for this week was made along the old MILW branch line that goes through Beresford, SD.  At one time it was a through-line, but now it's just a spur for the D&I Railroad.  There is a fairly substantial grain elevator there and the old station (now a restaurant.)  Up until a few years ago the D&I would send a train about twice a month to the elevator.  That's a short but exciting trip.  An ethanol plant was put on the D&I mainline at Hudson, SD and that has pretty much killed grain shipments from Beresford.  None the less the elevator has kept their old switcher.  (I once ran that switcher for a day, BTW.)  Ethanol production now takes ~50% of corn production here, and that has dramatically reduced unit trains hauling corn.  I like these kinds of shots because they show the massive scale of the elevators quite well. 

Next week I may have something more special. 

Kent in SD 

Perhaps...Under-estimation..

Great photos everyone.

Chris

Hey everyone...sorry I've been absent from the Midweek posts recently...

Here's my latest video, from this past Sunday, the 50th anniversary celebrations at the Wanamaker, Kempton, and Southern RR just outside of Allentown, PA.  Enjoy!!

http://youtu.be/tLB2oBwZe2U

They are on a passing siding.  You'll note the elevation of the siding is lower than the tracks to the right as well.  It is not readily apparent but there are two tracks to the right that are the mainline.  I would imagine that the speed is restricted on the siding.

Don't think so. The whole Horseshoe Curve is MAIN LINE, and back in the days of the PRR it was FOUR TRACKS! Conrail took one track out, so now the whole mountain is three tracks, all MAIN LINE TRACKS.

Concerning a "speed restriction", the whole Horseshoe Curve is speed restricted due to the steep grade and curvature, no matter which main track you are on.

The space between the two tracks is the place where the 4th MAIN TRACK was; the one CR took out.

But why is the NS GE locomotive seems to be leaning to the OUTSIDE of the curve?

If you look at the photo closely it looks like the camera was at a slight angle.  The box on the left side of the engine is at the same pitch as the engine.  It looks like the tracks, the box and engine all lean into the hills to the left.  Just my opinion.  Nick 

It's called "not holding the camera level".  Note the relay box on the left.

  Am familiar with 'super elevation'    ...but what do they call THIS?

Early morning CalTrain commuter, southbound from San Francisco, towards San Jose, going thru the town of Brisbane.  Matt