Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum 🚂 Welcome: Pictures YOU have taken! • Hope to see you out rail-fanning.

some recent 4014 captures

Verde Canyon, March 2012

Erik, some great shots of 4014, especially the one in the snow.

Took these videos last night:

CN Yard Work

August 30, 2021 • Waterford, Michigan

I was at the CN Yard watching the train crews building northbound trains. They are using an E J & E #659 as a yard switcher. Notice the train crew members in all three photos.

Every model railroader started out rail-fanning!

Hope to see you out rail-fanning and posting your images on “Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum”. Any day and time. 😎

Gary

A trip to Cass and Horseshoe Curve in 2004:

CN power at the DMIR ore dock in Duluth

Yesterday's Northeast Regional 65 to Newport News accelerates out of Williamsburg, Virginia's Amtrak station, passing within a few hundred feet of the Historic Area. At one point this was the C&O's double-track principle main line to the tidewater from the coal fields, and hosted many of the road's name trains.

line of New York Central passenger cars in Lockport, NY. 

This is my favorite picture that I took.  2009 on a very rainy day in Owasso, MI.   Dennis

HOT HOT HOT. A common sight, when holding back a coal train, coming down the mountain from the Horseshoe curve into Altoona.

The following photo of Metra locomotive #214 on "flip train" #1268 was taken on 09-08-21. A group of us railfans were gathered in Naperville, IL to watch trains. On a flip train the train comes in on the "wrong" main, facing east. The engineer then descends from the locomotive and walks forward to take over in the cab car. We greeted the engineer as he headed forward.

Sadly, train 1268 struck and killed a man in Berwyn one half hour later- - - our engineer.  One never knows what the twists and turns of life have in store.    Quite disturbing. Feel sorry for the engineer.

Rail-fanning with Grandpa - September 4, 2021 • Southeastern Michigan

Our day started running model trains in grandpa’s train room. We all got into Train Room Pam’s car because she has the car seats for children. We began at the Troy Transit Center watching the Amtrak’s Siemens Charger from the pedestrian bridge. Next stop was the CN’s Pontiac Freight Terminal to check out the turn table and locomotives. Last stop was about two miles south at the Amtrak Service Center.

We were trackside rail-fanning for just over four hours. We all had a great time and we stopped for ice cream on our way back to the Train Room.

Every model railroader started out rail-fanning!

Hope to see you out rail-fanning and posting your images on “Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum”. Any day and time. 😎  Gary

Took these yesterday...

SEVEN trains in less than an hour and a half!

heading west toward Rapid and  Belle Fourche SD just leaving Wall SD

This guy is on the morning switch job in Belle Fourche SD. The train from Wall  is broken up.

@p51 posted:

Took these yesterday...

SEVEN trains in less than an hour and a half!

Lee, great shots, I love the action photo of BNSF #6416 and the conductor waving at you! You caught the motion perfectly, that takes some talent moving the camera and selecting the correct shutter speed. Nicely done!

Scott

Thanks, Scott!

Saw this heritage unit today, pretty rare for the Pacific Northwest!

Took these during the storm we had Friday night:
https://youtu.be/rGpQYlDMwZ8
And
https://youtu.be/eBzgAUqVYfs

Fostoria Ohio • June 5, 2021 at “The Fostoria Triangle”

20th Annual Fostoria Rail Festival • Saturday, September 25, 2021

Every model railroader started out rail-fanning!

Hope to see you out rail-fanning and posting your images on “Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum”. Any day and time. 😎

Caught a glimpse of one of LIRR's MP-15 AC's recently. I heard the rumble of the diesel too late to get a better shot.

This is a rare sight on most LIRR branches. They are doing a lot of MOW work in the area at the present time. They were heading east light, and returned shortly after with out any cars in tow. They store equipment further east of this spot so maybe the crew was just shifting some cars around.

A few years old, but what a catch on the last day of rail fanning at Fostoria Ohio!

Train ON!

Morning line up

Department of Homeland Security Police • September 25, 2021 at “Amtrak Station, Pontiac Michigan”

Also testing a Baofeng Profung Uv6R • Duel Band Transceiver & Scanner • $30.00

Today I was at the Amtrak Station at Pontiac Michigan testing a scanner for rail-fanning. The DHSP were on a law enforcement training event. Detroit has an international border with Canada and I often see DHSP and the US Border Patrol.

The jury is still out on this scanner.

Every model railroader started out rail-fanning!

Hope to see you out rail-fanning and posting your images on “Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum”. Any day and time. 😎

Gary,  be careful with that radio.  It is capable of being operated illegally.  The penalty for one illegal transmission is $10,000 and 10 years in prison.  You can listen anywhere any you want.

N4GUV,

Bill

@Odenville Bill posted:

Gary,  be careful with that radio.  It is capable of being operated illegally.  The penalty for one illegal transmission is $10,000 and 10 years in prison.  You can listen anywhere any you want.

N4GUV,

Bill

HI Bill:

Yes your are correct about the transmitter on this radio. The FCC has rules that restrict this radio in the transmitter mode. I will only be using this radio as a scanner. Below is a photo of the specification sticker on the back of the radio. Does this information mean anything to you in the operation of this radio? Also, do you own this radio?

The main advantage of this radio is the $30.00 price tag. I am not a big fan of scanners but this price got me into scanning. When I am out rail-fanning I like to watch and a scanner makes to much noise.

Need help!

Thanks: Gary 🚂

@Odenville Bill posted:

Gary,  be careful with that radio.  It is capable of being operated illegally.  The penalty for one illegal transmission is $10,000 and 10 years in prison.  You can listen anywhere any you want.

N4GUV,

Bill

Hi Bill, I'm KB9SDS. Can you imagine explaining why you're in jail?

Good morning Y'all.  Gary, the "Frequencies" is two bands of operation.  The first is VHF, Very High Frequencies.  The second is UHF, Ultra High Frequencies.  Please contact me via email for additional information.

Denny,  I was caught operating illegally in the early 70's.  Lucky for me, I was still a minor so I didn't go to jail.

Bill

I saw this 2-8-2 Mikado while driving down the Oregon coast last week.

Rockaway Beach, Oregon

Here are a few scans from 1976.

May 1973 in Bayern, Deutschland. I think this was the train on tracks that paralleled the road for several kilometers. I'd photograph it, jump back in the Volvo station wagon, speed ahead, stop, take more photos, repeat. The first time, the engine crew took little notice, the second time I noticed that the engineer was looking out his window at me, the third time both engineer and fireman were gawking at this train nut who kept waylaying them! This view was scanned from a color slide, but it looks more impressive in black and white.

More to follow…

A beautiful old decapod (2-10-0 wheel arrangement) still at work somewhere in Bavaria in the autumn of 1972.

It has been a great month to rail-fan.  Just returned from ten days in Colorado and before that, time on the north shore of Lake Superior, my happy place!   Life is good in spite of Covid!   Cheers, Dave

North Shore Scenic RR on the move:

Duluth RR Museum:

Durango, Co:

@MartyE posted:

More to follow…

Great stuff!  Had hoped to go, but was unable to, so instead a few weeks ago, I came up with a compromise.

Rode 765 in the morning and then went out to Mad River to hear Doyle McCormack speak. The next day I  rail fanned at Berea for 9 hours before calling it a weekend.

I had a birthday blast today at Strasburg seeing N&W 611 and Strasburg 89. These are my meager phone pictures I took which is not a lot. 12 pictures here from the phone and 5 videos from it as well. For my Canon camera I shot 72 videos including the cab tour conversation which I broke up into a few videos. As for pictures from the Canon, I took 199. I think there was a few here and there that are scenery shots like the farms, cows, crops and even a drone shooting 611 near the Carpenter's Cemetery. These are just a taste, I have to sort through what goes where but will try and post most of them. The videos are really going to be hard. Yes they are under 100 MB, but I may be posting one to two per post, not sure how long that will take. Enjoy these for now.

Bought a book they were selling on 611 which was autographed by the authors, magazine, hat, and shirt. Almost thought I didn't pick up the hat when I walked away from the table. When I popped them in the car I hid them under something and when I got home I didn't see the hat. Well, went back out and pulled up the cover and there it was hiding. Gotta love fooling yourself like that.

@MartyE posted:

More to follow…

I see today was a little wet for you.  The Friday night shoot however was completely dry and a beautiful night.

A Shay locomotive on the Heber Creeper tourist line in Utah in June 1976. She was pulling a dinner train but had problems keeping up her boiler pressure, and we got back to the terminal rather late, actually in the wee hours of the following morning as I recall.  I believe she subsequently went from Heber City to the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum in California.

Consolation Prize

   I was standing trackside doing some railfanning in Kansas City, Missouri a couple of years ago when another fan happened to mention there was a military consist on a siding on the other side of town that could move at any time.  I drove over to the designated spot and, sure enough, there he was, all set to go.  I joined a couple of other photographers (the one with a red shirt is just barely visible in the middle left hand side) and waited for him to move....and waited and waited.  Finally, I decided, movement or not, a better angle might be across the bridge on the other side of the track so I strolled over there to see what I could see.  The answer was not much. 

  As I stood there a train with aircraft fuselages on flat cars rolled through so I took a picture of that action.  After waiting some more I gave up and headed back to my hotel.  My travels were to the west so before getting on the interstate the next morning I made a detour to this location just to take a last quick look around.  The same loaded train, with a headlight still lit - was sitting in exactly the same spot as he had been the day before...I have to wonder how long red shirt waited before he gave up.

Pulling into Bellevue on the tail of CB-12, the brakeman shifts his gaze to the right, and through his window he catches a glimpse of two of the Nickel Plate Road's mighty Berkshire locomotive steaming together. Time marches on, and as the internal combustion engine becomes widely adopted across the country, it becomes clear that the steadfast Berks will not last forever. How much longer until he sees this sight no more? Only the scrapper's torch knows.

Scanned slide of electric locomotive in Berchtesgaden, Deutschland, 1973. Love those large spoked wheels. Notice the outside-braced, wood-sided car coupled to the locomotive. There appear to be security bars behind the car's windows.  At the time this was taken, I was on vacation from my assignment as Education Services Officer at Storck Kaserne, Illesheim.

The past week has seen an explosion in Amtrak heritage units operating out of DC; in that time Amtrak 46 (50th anniversary Phase V), Amtrak 130 (second Phase II), Amtrak 161 (50th anniversary Phase I) and Amtrak 108 (50th anniversary Phase VI) have all appeared on Northeast Regionals running south out of the Capital; I was fortunate to catch all but 46 (which I had seen previously) on the trains to Newport News.

Amtrak 108 (Phase VI) leads the weekend 8:30 PM Regional across North Henry Street in Williamsburg, VA, on 30 September.

Phase I 161 pauses at Williamsburg with westbound Regional 66. The 161 led this Regional twice in the past week, and came down tonight on the evening train.

108 charges eastward with the morning weekend train on Saturday. Despite catching this unit 5 times, I have yet to take a satisfactory photo.

Tonight's westbound 66 was led by Amtrak 130, the second Phase II heritage unit, back after a brief westward jaunt on the Capitol Limited and a Roanoke-bound Regional.

I was at one of my favorite restaurants yesterday for lunch. It is perched right next to the LIRR main line in Mineola NY. The LIRR is nearing completion on adding a third track through Nassau County from the Queens line to Hicksville.
Regrettably, it's what's not in this picture any more, that I noticed.

The Nassau Interlocking Tower and Power house had to be torn down to make room along the ROW for the new track. The Nassau Tower (in the background) had stood since 1923. It was decommissioned recently when the LIRR automated all of the signals and switches as part of the project. The tower was at the junction of the Oyster Bay branch and the main line.

Just took this less than an hour ago...

Photos from Gathering of 19th century stem locomotives on Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Antonito, Colorado.  August 2021.  Narrow gauge is not the usual topic on this forum, but this was an exceptional event.  The "into the sunset" photo is of two wood burners built in 1875.

The bridge at the blue hour - A switcher repositioning move waits on the Rockville Bridge for a westbound out of Harrisburg to clear the main.

The Black Hills of South Dakota are home to the Black Hills Central Railroad's so-called 1880s Train. The name is a bit of a publicity device since the only locomotive in the Hills at that early a date was the J.B. Haggin, a diminutive steamer operated by the Homestake Gold Mine, and its job was hauling ore rather than passengers.  Later, major railroads did reach into the Hills, and today the 1880s Train runs on former Burlington rails between Hill City and Keystone, offering locals and tourists both one-way and round-trip tickets. The attached photos show two of the railroad's several locomotives, including a center-cab switcher and #110, a 2-6-6-2 tank engine.  I took these one day while volunteering at the South Dakota State Railroad Museum, a separate entity but physically co-located with the Hill City terminal of the Black Hills Central.

The first locomotive to operate in the Black Hills of South Dakota was the J.B. Haggin, a mining engine brought in by the Homestake Gold Mine.  Because no rails yet connected western South Dakota with anywhere else in the world, the engine was brought across the prairie on an ox-drawn sledge.  She now resides in the Adams Museum in Deadwood, South Dakota.  Collectors of post-war and early modern-era Lionel may be amused by a brief article comparing the J.B. Haggin with Lionel that I wrote several years ago for e-Train, the TCA's on line magazine at http://tcaetrain.org/articles/...es/SPOKES/index.html

South of Bellevue, IA. 1995. Plus farm field near Slovan, PA. 2000l

Do you know the story of that tank engine. It looks similar to ones that ran on the Uintah.

@tripleo posted:

Do you know the story of that tank engine. It looks similar to ones that ran on the Uintah.

The 2-6-6-2T articulated Mallet was built by The Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1928 for the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company of Vail, WA. Its next stop was The Rayonier Lumber Company where it received a tender from Rayonier #101 and was retired in 1968. This engine was later displayed at the Wasatch Mountain Railway in Heber City, Utah, and then sold to the Nevada State Railway Museum. The 110 was sold to The Black Hills Central Railroad in 1999, and was trucked from Nevada to South Dakota on four semi-trailers. Restoration on this engine by the mechanical crew of the BHC was completed in the spring of 2001.

Almost abandoned branchline through Cromwell/Middletown, Connecticut. There's no train in this picture--but what's a train without tracks to run on? It's beautiful here.

Coming home from Lulu's Hot Dog shoppe after lunch with my train club buddies, lo and behold  Amtrak making a backing maneuver to turn the train at the Newport News wye.

30 years ago I'd ride Amtrak from DC to NN to spend week-ends with my brother.  Then ride it back to DC.  Never saw the train turned until today.

Just a few from my Birthday trip out to Strasburg from last weekend. I will have to try and keep the pictures to a bit here and there not to overwhelm everyone with too many at once.

And here are some videos too boot.

Yosemite Shay Cab ride.

Well, after coming back shopping this morning, the Black River & Western's #60 was warming up getting ready for the days work of hauling passengers between Flemington and Ringoes Station. Just about at 8:30 was the first whistle blow. I took these few just before 8 as I had stopped for gas. I knew that would buy some time for them to start getting her into that spot where she'd be just about up to steam.

Also shot a time lapsed video, which I didn't know I could do until this morning. No whistle in any of the videos as I was too early to get that. I do have other videos with the whistle blowing, which I think I have already posted, if not I can.

   A few more photos I dug up. Illinois Central scrap yard, Centralia IL 1991 & 1992.

Rail-fanning Yesterday • My favorite place • October 9, 2021  CN Yard • Pontiac Michigan

My afternoon started out picking up lunch at a White Castle Restaurant, and driving about two miles north to the CN Yard. I was in my F150 and I saw a Chlorine Institute Tank Car with a chemical tender. This is my first time seeing these cars. Not sure what they do.

I was trackside rail-fanning for just over three hours. Being a Saturday yard operations were slow. Caught a yardman throwing switches and the Railroad Police in the next lot over. All images shot with a Canon DSLR - T6i.

Every model railroader started out rail-fanning!

Hope to see you out rail-fanning and posting your images on “Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum”. Any day and time. 😎

Gary 🚂

I finally captured my "Moby Dick;" after ten days trying night shots, bridge shots, and into-the-sun shots, I got Amtrak's Phase VI heritage unit leading westbound morning Northeast Regional 174 at Williamsburg. It was an overcast morning, which dulled the background and gave mostly even lighting. That, and 108's bichromatic paint, inspired an artistic thought; why not emphasize the grayness of the morning with some selective colorization?

Rail-fanning Today • Went back looking for the Chlorine Institute Tank Car • October 11, 2021

CN Yard • Pontiac Michigan

I went back to the CN Yard looking for the Chlorine Institute Tank Car with a chemical tender. These cars have been moved to a siding use for south bound trains. I was hoping to see if it was set up to provide safety instructions to railroad crews. The Chlorine Institute was founded in 1924. Is a technical trade association that exists to support the chlor-alkali industry & provide safety procedures.

The CN Yard had no locos or crews in the yard. All the locos were shut down & not even left idling. Today is Columbus Day, they must have had the day off. Caught the front end of an E J & E switcher and a CN loco.

Every model railroader started out rail-fanning!

Hope to see you out rail-fanning and posting your images on “Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum”. Any day and time. 😎

Gary 🚂

In the early morning hours of Saturday, October 8th, the LIRR performed a special equipment move of the boxcar and other equipment from Holban Yard in Queens to the Oyster Bay yard, where it was loaded onto a flatbed truck and trucked around the corner to the museum's display yard. This past weekend the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum  received former New York, New Haven & Hartford boxcar #32006.

Photographed in August 1978 at the Manassas, Virginia depot.  There may have been a railfair in progress, but I failed to note any details on the aging 35mm slides from which these were scanned, and my memory has long faded.

Mechanicville, NY August 1977

The same (former) D&H shark 1205 with 1216 at the engine house in Cadillac, Michigan when they were being used by the Michigan Northern Railway in July, 1978.

Great shots, don't those sharks still exist?

Thank you Lee.  The last I knew they were both out of service and being stored at the Escanaba & Lake Superior RR.

@SWCLARK posted:

In the early morning hours of Saturday, October 8th, the LIRR performed a special equipment move of the boxcar and other equipment from Holban Yard in Queens to the Oyster Bay yard, where it was loaded onto a flatbed truck and trucked around the corner to the museum's display yard. This past weekend the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum  received former New York, New Haven & Hartford boxcar #32006.

Great shots. Is the RROB Museum planning to do a restoration of the car?

#610 pulling a Southern Railway excursion train through Manassas, Virginia in August 1978. From her history on Wikipedia: "Texas and Pacific 610 is a class "I-1a" 2-10-4 "Texas" type steam locomotive that was originally operated by the Texas and Pacific Railway (T&P). It served the T&P from 1927 to 1951 before being donated to the city of Fort Worth. It was briefly used for the American Freedom Train in the mid-1970s, and subsequently for the Southern Railway steam program. Since 1982, No. 610 has remained on static display at the Texas State Railroad's Hall of Giants in Palestine."        

RSJB18 it will be painted back to New York, New Haven & Hartford.  On the one side you can still see the old stencil of New York, New Haven & Hartford. 

Royal Gorge Co.  SD-9.

@pittsburghrailfan posted:

I was fortunate to catch all but 46 (which I had seen previously) on the trains to Newport News.

i caught 46 eastbound at Harpers Ferry, WVa on Sunday, 10/10/21

Here is some more photos from October 2nd 2021 611 at Strasburg.

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, Florida 2015.

Five miles North of Bishop CA. is the Law train yard and museum.

Located in East central Nevada in the Nevada Great Basin. The town of Baker Nevada, population of 58, is located near the Lehman caves. Here you will find a diamond that most of us would love to have. I have no additional information on this home.

Penn Central locomotives 3106 & 3202 at the engine house in Cadillac, Michigan in May, 1969.

I went over to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania today before coming to York. I think I found Lionel's new Vision Line Pilot B6!

Actually though from what I was told by one of the staff today while I was there, this B6 had come out of the paint shop(to the right) two weeks ago. I think he had said that it had been in the shops(not the paint shops but far left out of sight) for over two years. I would imagine that there is still quite a bit to get down before it gets it's final colors and back into the museum.

Also, more information that was given was that the turntable will have a roundhouse built around it in or about the next 5 to 10 years. They also will build a shop(or work with building a shop) on the adjacent property where the railroad tracks crossover for some of the smaller museum pieces. I think the man had said that the property is not owned by the museum, but by friends of the museum. That project may take a while longer to complete, maybe 15 years or more.

The other day, I was at Evaline, WA when a northbound rail train came through:

A few minutes earlier, I caught a 'warbonnet' in a consist heading south...

And a southbound Cascades (without the Talgo set, of which I think they only have one in service right now)

I stopped off at Strasburg on the way home from York, I got 475 waiting to come back out.

And some video

And one really long one.

Wow, this thread is getting a good bit of attention, there’s lots of really nice pictures of railroads from the past, present, and some nice layouts to. The pictures I’m posting are from the Caskey Yards, Oak Grove Kentucky.

@leapinlarry posted:

Wow, this thread is getting a good bit of attention, there’s lots of really nice pictures of railroads from the past, present, and some nice layouts to. The pictures I’m posting are from the Caskey Yards, Oak Grove Kentucky.

Some nice stuff there Larry. A lot of attention, yeah. Thing is I still have a ton of videos and pictures from October 2nd at Strasburg of 611 and 89. I just don't seem to get a lot of time to get things posted half the time, so I try to do what I can when I can.

Southern Rwy 722 leading a steam excursion in March 1979 in Manassas, Virginia.  Built by Baldwin in 1904, her remains now apparently lie dead and decaying in Dillsboro, North Carolina.

Another shot of Southern 722 and two of Canadian Pacific 2839 leased to the Southern Railway and passing through Manassas, Virginia in July 1979.  CP 2839 is now reportedly cosmetically restored and on static display in Sylmar, CA.

Was in Bluefield W Va. still has a coaling tower, and a locomotive shop. Pretty narrow space for Norfolk Southern to have much in this crease through steep hills. Surprised how dirty the equipment was on this coal train. Compared to UP or BNSF out of Wyoming. I was surprised also by only two engines both on front heading down. But maybe 50 to 60 cars or so.

A pic from this morning with two big (but different) NS units leading the BNSF on a mixed freight. The big radiator overhang unit, 2nd in line, never cease to create awe. Growled forward about a block, then returned. Not much of a switching move. I can never recall model numbers. Why BNSF is not leading?

Grand Trunk Western at Durand, Michigan. November 1968.

Michigan's Upper peninsula, Quincy mine, great trip taking in the history of the mines. 

A couple pics from a few days ago in Pittsburgh when the sun was shinning.

Lee, I wonder how many of the Warbonnets are left on the rails?

NYC Caboose in Stoneboro PA.

The Central had a crew terminal in this small town in Mercer County on their Stoneboro branch which went from Ashtabula out to the coal fields around Brookville and Clearfield.  The PRR had a branch that came up from New Castle, but was abandoned in 1937.  Conrail abandoned the Stoneboro branch, renamed the Clarion secondary in 1988.

Stoneboro was also the home of Mr. Fred Houser, a life long railroad enthusiast.

Over 120 Husky Stack cars behind 5 engines South of Las Vegas.

From my visit to Worchester, MA last week.  

Left TCA York at 2:30pm on Friday and went to Strasburg for dinner. Saw some great dessert!

With proper understanding of trespass and the allowed access to 611, you can get some good photos.

This was 3rd visit to 611 at SRR including a ride behind in 2019.

Walter M. Matuch

2 Franken engines at a scrap dealer in Council Tucky IA

FEF 1?  also in Council Tucky IA

A sunny weekend in June 1980 sees Southern Railway 2-8-0 Consolidation #722 pulling a passenger excursion through Bristow, Virginia.  Five years later her fires would be dropped forever.

What twenty-five years of weathering looks like...  Halloween 2021, Port of Kalama, Washington

Penn Central switch engine 8651 at the engine house in Cadillac, Michigan in December 1968.

Railroad Days, Durand Michigan  •  May 14, 2021

All images shot with a Canon DSLR - T6i & Processed with Adobe Photoshop.

Every model railroader started out rail-fanning!

Hope to see you out rail-fanning and posting your images on “Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum”. Any day and time. 😎

Gary 🚂

Just got back from a road trip to Phoenix and back. Drove past a LOT of stuff that I didnt stop for, bit I did manage to stop for quick visits at Ogden and Sacramento...

I just got back from a family vacation to the Southwest. We spent about a day and a half riding in the sleeper section of the California Zephyr. I tried to take pictures of everything that I saw, but there was just so much to see! Here are some of the high points.

We stopped briefly at Galesburg, IL on our way out of Chicago. They have a nice little train station with a collection of vintage rolling stock, including this CB&Q boxcar.

We crossed over the Mississippi River into Iowa while we were chowing down in the dining car. There's quite a bit of BNSF rolling stock around Burlington, IA, including a number of these interesting center-beam flatcars. I saw one that had an entire track switch on it-- I was too slow to get a picture, but it looked just like the ones from the MTH catalog a few years back!

I woke up about 2AM to find we were idling in front of what I presumed was Union Station in Omaha, Nebraska. I did some half-asleep window-watching as we rolled through the state. Strangest thing I saw in Nebraska was how active the agricultural towns were in the middle of the night. Combine harvesters and tractors working in the fields with headlights on, trucks moving around in town, even joggers getting their laps in several hours before sunrise! I guess that a lot of farmers and their families work the third shift during the harvest season.

In Denver the following morning, we passed by what appeared to be a BNSF diesel maintenance shop. Lots of engines scattered around here, including a battered Canadian Pacific and a Ferromex unit (I took a picture but it's too blurry to see anything).

Denver appears to have a lot of light rail service, the commuter trains paralleled the mainline for a good 15-20 miles outside of the city center.

My first trip west of the Mississippi and my first Amtrak rail journey. It was a fun experience overall. I didn't sleep much on the train, but the food was good, the crew were friendly and the views were really spectacular. It's really eye-opening to see what the interior of our great country looks like!

Hello everyone, I took these in the late seventies at a crossing here in Grand Rapids, MI when a freight stopped for a moment. I used a small Kodak with Kodachrome film, those colors really did pop! I thought that these were so cool sitting there waiting to go into the yard in Wyoming, MI.

milwaukee road rib side boxcar # 4982 seen better days the last 2 floods really took a toll