Richard's American Train Adventures
- Thread starter richard carr
- Start date
mickoo
Western Thunderer
CSX Winston Yard FL runs three locals, some out as far as 50 miles away in a day.
Locals are misleading in that some can travel hundreds of miles, there's a BNSF one out of Barstow to Cadiz (90 miles) then heads south and the next town is a further 80 miles away, usually five or six units up front and loads to 50+.
Locals are better defined as anything that runs from a hub interchange to an end user, some of those are a long way away.
CSX Taft FL runs one out to SW Orlando, can't be more than 5 miles of trackage as it intertwines around the industries but it serves a hell of a lot of them and takes most of the day.
In Richards case it's more developed so I'd expect locals to be running maybe 30-50 miles and switching several industries along the way.
Locals are misleading in that some can travel hundreds of miles, there's a BNSF one out of Barstow to Cadiz (90 miles) then heads south and the next town is a further 80 miles away, usually five or six units up front and loads to 50+.
Locals are better defined as anything that runs from a hub interchange to an end user, some of those are a long way away.
CSX Taft FL runs one out to SW Orlando, can't be more than 5 miles of trackage as it intertwines around the industries but it serves a hell of a lot of them and takes most of the day.
In Richards case it's more developed so I'd expect locals to be running maybe 30-50 miles and switching several industries along the way.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
hi Graham
I can't tell you where exactly where that train came from, I would put my money on Lafayette 80 miles away, as NS has a large yard there, but it could have been Danville only about 30 miles away but I think the yard there is CSX. As to where it went to drop off its freight cars, I have no definitive answer, there are 2 spurs near to Tolono, it may have gone all the way to Decatur, but I doubt it had enough time to do that before we saw it return, as it is over 30 miles away, but it did drop off at least 10 freight cars, I have the outward trip on video.
Richard
I can't tell you where exactly where that train came from, I would put my money on Lafayette 80 miles away, as NS has a large yard there, but it could have been Danville only about 30 miles away but I think the yard there is CSX. As to where it went to drop off its freight cars, I have no definitive answer, there are 2 spurs near to Tolono, it may have gone all the way to Decatur, but I doubt it had enough time to do that before we saw it return, as it is over 30 miles away, but it did drop off at least 10 freight cars, I have the outward trip on video.
Richard
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
NS has a small yard in Tilton, which is just southwest of Danville. Google satellite shows an sd40 of some variant parked in the yard, while street view shows a gp60. Both Decatur and Tilton are 30-40 miles either side of Tolono, so it's a crap shoot as to where the local originates and terminates.
The train appears to have scrap gondolas and coil cars in it's consist, which makes me think it's going to and from a steel recycling plant, quite possibly a smaller one with an electric arc furnace. We have something similar west of town here, about 24 miles out, that takes scrap inbound daily and coil steel outbound. Or it could simply be supplying coil steel to a fabricator of some sort, they use it for all sorts of things. I guess that doesn't really narrow things down at all 
.
Oops, I appear to have mixed up my locals. I was looking at the one with the big GE leading long hood forward.
.Oops, I appear to have mixed up my locals. I was looking at the one with the big GE leading long hood forward.
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richard carr
Western Thunderer
Here's the video from Tolono, we came back here in the morning so it covers Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning.
This is the local on Friday afternoon heading east with just 3 freight cars in tow, so you can have a small train if you want.
It did look like this was allowed to go into the next single line section ahead of this.
This train ended with a rake of brand new wagons all with May 23 build dates
Saturday morning, Robin was planning to go to Chicago for the day and meet us in Galesburg, his train though was over 3 hours late arriving in Champaign, but he got there eventually. We went back to Tolono to see what was happening, the answer was not a lot. There was nothing on the NS Wabash line, but eventually this appeared heading south on the IC mainline
A pair of CN SD70s in Illinois Central black livery.
Then it got quiet again, so we started looking for anything worth taking a photo of, this bird was on one of the signalling communication poles
Then the fox appeared, I think it was the same one we had seen on Friday
It got bored with the lack of trains and left.
Robins train finally turned up, it's on the video so did this oil train
After this we decided to head to Decatur to see what was happening there.
Richard
This is the local on Friday afternoon heading east with just 3 freight cars in tow, so you can have a small train if you want.
It did look like this was allowed to go into the next single line section ahead of this.
This train ended with a rake of brand new wagons all with May 23 build dates
Saturday morning, Robin was planning to go to Chicago for the day and meet us in Galesburg, his train though was over 3 hours late arriving in Champaign, but he got there eventually. We went back to Tolono to see what was happening, the answer was not a lot. There was nothing on the NS Wabash line, but eventually this appeared heading south on the IC mainline
A pair of CN SD70s in Illinois Central black livery.
Then it got quiet again, so we started looking for anything worth taking a photo of, this bird was on one of the signalling communication poles
Then the fox appeared, I think it was the same one we had seen on Friday
It got bored with the lack of trains and left.
Robins train finally turned up, it's on the video so did this oil train
After this we decided to head to Decatur to see what was happening there.
Richard
richard carr
Western Thunderer
It is about 30 miles to Decatur, to the west of Champaign so it took about an hour to get there.
After a quick lunch in burger king we found ourselves at WABIC, the Wabash Illinois Central crossing. It even has it's own sign post
As we drove down there a NS stack train was blocking our path, but we were able to drive round it as it went into the yard there.
The first train to arrive was a long line of loaded wheat hoppers hauled by the 2 GP38-2s above. The Canadian National yard is couple of miles to the north, but you can't see it from where we were.
9620 definately has had a bump or 2 during it's life.
There must have been over 100 hoppers, they were then handing this over to 2 SD40s from the Decatur and Eastern Illinois Railroad, they were then taking it to Casner.
They joined on to the back of the train and then pulled it round into the NS yard and onto the D& EI line.
A stack train then arrived from the west on the NS lines and went into the yard.
The CN locos then headed back to the CN yard.
We then decided to try and find the hopper train having finally worked out where casner was.
Casner was tiny village about 10 miles to the east of Decatur, the train was just parked there, there was no crew present, we had hoped to catch it a bit further up the line
but no such luck, it clearly wasn't going anywhere probably until monday.
One of the locals told us that that kind of transfer takes place 25 times a day during the week, but not that often on saturdays.
We did have a look in the NS yard as we drove past but you can't get a good view anywhere, we did see these though.
Another pair of GP38-2s
Here's the video with all the action
After a quick lunch in burger king we found ourselves at WABIC, the Wabash Illinois Central crossing. It even has it's own sign post
As we drove down there a NS stack train was blocking our path, but we were able to drive round it as it went into the yard there.
The first train to arrive was a long line of loaded wheat hoppers hauled by the 2 GP38-2s above. The Canadian National yard is couple of miles to the north, but you can't see it from where we were.
9620 definately has had a bump or 2 during it's life.
There must have been over 100 hoppers, they were then handing this over to 2 SD40s from the Decatur and Eastern Illinois Railroad, they were then taking it to Casner.
They joined on to the back of the train and then pulled it round into the NS yard and onto the D& EI line.
A stack train then arrived from the west on the NS lines and went into the yard.
The CN locos then headed back to the CN yard.
We then decided to try and find the hopper train having finally worked out where casner was.
Casner was tiny village about 10 miles to the east of Decatur, the train was just parked there, there was no crew present, we had hoped to catch it a bit further up the line
but no such luck, it clearly wasn't going anywhere probably until monday.
One of the locals told us that that kind of transfer takes place 25 times a day during the week, but not that often on saturdays.
We did have a look in the NS yard as we drove past but you can't get a good view anywhere, we did see these though.
Another pair of GP38-2s
Here's the video with all the action
richard carr
Western Thunderer
We were spending Saturday evening in Galesburg, a good 2 hour drive from Decatur, we arrived at the Amtrak station at about 5pm and came across this.
It's switching a huge cut of freight cars, an SD40 and proper switcher.
Then this came into the yard
After this it was time to go to the hotel.
It's switching a huge cut of freight cars, an SD40 and proper switcher.
Then this came into the yard
After this it was time to go to the hotel.
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
Not quite. It's actually a mother/slug set. The "proper switcher" is a TEBC6 (Tractive Effort Booster, 6 axle), rebuilt from an sd9 with prime mover removed. The cab was added so the set could be controlled from the end cab if desired.
I always had plans to build one, because I like switchers in general and the idea of a six axle version really appealed to me. I was considering modifying an sd40-2 for the slug, as a more modern nod. All of this was when I was still in HO years ago, when the hood could be fabricated easily from Cannon and Co. stock, and a donor chassis would be relatively inexpensive. Since I moved to O, the interest has waned, so it's now a very back-burner type of project. I should probably finish the other switcher project that's years in the making, before I start the next one.
Although with 3d printing available, I may need to reconsider.Jim
richard carr
Western Thunderer
As you might have seen from the photos above, Galesburg is prime BNSF territory. Transcon 2 runs through the town bypassing the yard. There are though connectors from it that run into the yard from the north and south. So on Sunday morning we headed back to the station.
This was the first thing that came through
Followed by this one coming into the yard from the north
Then it was the turn of Amtrak
Followed by this coming out of the yard
and finally a bit more switching.
This was the first thing that came through
Followed by this one coming into the yard from the north
Then it was the turn of Amtrak
Followed by this coming out of the yard
and finally a bit more switching.
Brian McKenzie
Western Thunderer
Would the fuel tank be filled with water - to assist traction??
garethashenden
Western Thunderer
Unlikely. Water would cause rust. Could be filled with concrete though. That's not unheard of.
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
Agree with the concrete. If the fuel tank isn't removed, it's normally filled for ballast weight. Alternatively, the tanks are often removed, and the volume inside the hood where the prime mover would have been is filled with ballast.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
For Sunday afternoon we headed down to Cameron, a small village a few miles to the south west of Galesburg, here you can find a multitude of connectors between Transcon 2 (which heads south west to Fort Madison) , the main yard and the line west to Burlington. We found a good spot beside Transcon 2.
This was the first train to arrive
It stopped beside us as it was waiting for the signal to take the route through to the yard
A bogie close of an ES44C4
This ones an ACE
Next it was the turn of Amtrak to go charging through
Then the next freight arrived
We also had a couple of stack trains, which I only took video of, so that will follow later.
This was the first train to arrive
It stopped beside us as it was waiting for the signal to take the route through to the yard
A bogie close of an ES44C4
This ones an ACE
Next it was the turn of Amtrak to go charging through
Then the next freight arrived
We also had a couple of stack trains, which I only took video of, so that will follow later.
Dog Star
Western Thunderer
I think that I have got most of that, found the general yard to the east of the Wyes.
What is the rail connected facility on the west edge of the yard? The "organised" nature of the place has a feeling of a military complex... apart from the plant at the very western edge of this area.
Google knows nothing about Emils Landing, so where is this?
regards, Graham
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Hi GRaham
I see what you mean about a military feel to it, but I cannot help I'm afraid, google suggests it is BNSF and all their facilities make it very clear that you are not welcome to visit, so we didn't !
E Mils landing is in Cameron, it is off Morris street, if you use satellite view you can see as the road curves round you can get access to the railway.
FOrtunately there were no big visitors not welcome signs present.
I see what you mean about a military feel to it, but I cannot help I'm afraid, google suggests it is BNSF and all their facilities make it very clear that you are not welcome to visit, so we didn't !
E Mils landing is in Cameron, it is off Morris street, if you use satellite view you can see as the road curves round you can get access to the railway.
FOrtunately there were no big visitors not welcome signs present.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
So after Cameron we headed off to our next destination of Dubuque Iowa, a 2 hours or so drive north west from Galesburg.
Dubuque is on the west bank of the Mississippi River, the BNSF line north to Minneapolis runs along the east bank and Canadian National and Pacific run trains on the west bank. There is then a line from Dubuque west to Waterloo and Cedar Falls.
Our main reason for being here was to visit Caboose Stop hobbies on Main Street Cedar Falls. This is one of the main 2 rail O Scale dealers in the US. We set off on Monday morning arriving just before 10 , so we had time to grab a quick coffee before they opened.
Although the store has a website with a couple of stock listings they only have a rough idea of what they actually still have in stock.
A couple hours later and considerably poorer we all left, wishing we had brough some more suitcases.
We decided to head to the yard at Waterloo, it is a former Illinois central yard so is now Canadian National, to our surprise but delight we found this was doing some switching.
This is an SD38-2 still in Elgin Joliet and Eastern Livery, CN bought this line back in 2008. The EJ&E is the outer loop line around Chicago, so this loco is well away from home turf. It spent an hour or so switching the yard and then headed off west.
We guessed it must be heading a couple of miles up the road to another small set
of sidings, we were right, we found it switching cars there.
Here's a link to the video on Youtube.
If you haven't subscribed to my channel please do it woudl really help if I can get a 1000 subscribers.
Eventually it returned to the main yard. Once it had a CN train left the yard heading West
Dubuque is on the west bank of the Mississippi River, the BNSF line north to Minneapolis runs along the east bank and Canadian National and Pacific run trains on the west bank. There is then a line from Dubuque west to Waterloo and Cedar Falls.
Our main reason for being here was to visit Caboose Stop hobbies on Main Street Cedar Falls. This is one of the main 2 rail O Scale dealers in the US. We set off on Monday morning arriving just before 10 , so we had time to grab a quick coffee before they opened.
Although the store has a website with a couple of stock listings they only have a rough idea of what they actually still have in stock.
A couple hours later and considerably poorer we all left, wishing we had brough some more suitcases.
We decided to head to the yard at Waterloo, it is a former Illinois central yard so is now Canadian National, to our surprise but delight we found this was doing some switching.
This is an SD38-2 still in Elgin Joliet and Eastern Livery, CN bought this line back in 2008. The EJ&E is the outer loop line around Chicago, so this loco is well away from home turf. It spent an hour or so switching the yard and then headed off west.
We guessed it must be heading a couple of miles up the road to another small set
of sidings, we were right, we found it switching cars there.Here's a link to the video on Youtube.
If you haven't subscribed to my channel please do it woudl really help if I can get a 1000 subscribers.
Eventually it returned to the main yard. Once it had a CN train left the yard heading West
Jordan
Mid-Western Thunderer
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
If you are referencing this area......
it's a combination of BNSF and related 3rd party support businesses. If I zoom in on Google maps, I can see that Hulcher is located in the building next to the one marked here as BNSF Railway. Hulcher is a service company that helps railroad clean up derailments, do track maintenance and construction, and field locomotive and car repair. In the yard to the left of the building are located any number of low boy tractor/trailer rigs with side boom dozers loaded, and various pieces of track construction and maintenance equipment is spread all throughout the area. The track equipment could belong to BNSF as well.
All along the bottom edge of the yard are stacks of railroad ties. Koppers does pressure treatment of railroad ties. I had thought that the grey stacks might be concrete ties, but the street view suggests otherwise. Based on what I see in the aerial view, the treatment plant is at the east end by the yard lead, and there is possibly a chipping plant at the west end to deal with waste. That's all just a guess though.
In between the maintenance equipment yard at the top and the tie plant at the bottom, it looks like some general stores for parts. I also see an area with stock of snap track panels, which again are likely for quick track replacement in the event of a derailment.
Hope that helps,
Jim