Brad and Jim's Excellent Adventures

As the title may allude to, "Paintdrummer" and I have made a few excursions over the years to see the busy Marysville line on the UP. In the past we've ventured up to the UP transcontinental main and the BNSF Powder River line as well, usually all in one very long summer day that covered hundreds of miles of Kansas and Nebraska. And no trip is complete without a visit to the Abilene and Smokey Valley Ry. where Jim is a volunteer.

These photos are samples from the last trip in June '07 when we stuck to the Marysville line and also ignore those I've already posted. We have visited this line several times before. In fact, the last time I was there, the yard below the new bridge was still under construction and this spot didn't exist. The line used to go right through downtown Marysville and we sat in the shade of the town park to watch the parade go by in front of us. We even ate at the diner that feeds the crews. This is a crew change point so the "paddy wagons" are in constant motion between the depot and the trains. That's all shifted a bit now. It's almost like they are lined up at a drag strip waiting for the lights to drop!
On this last trip we followed the Marysville line north toward Gibbon Jct. but ran out of light around Fairbury, NE. The trains are plentiful and the ratio of coal to freight is about what you see above. It's awe inspiring to see concrete ties, high speed universal crossovers and and wide roadbed separations on a two track, reverse signalled line. The shear volume of coal over this line (headed for Kansas City and points east/south) is mind numbing. Of course, it might be a tad dull to see the same old stuff all day too but the constant traffic is "wicked decent" compared to here where such things don't exist. It is a bit difficult to find a good "italian" sandwich though and you might have to settle for bierocks or Rocky Mountain oysters. Just remember, all this is just a slice of what's coming off the original mainline at Gibbon Jct. That main is even busier.

The shot at this link inspired me to finally post this addition to Jim's first post: PRB Coal Trains. After all, where does all that coal come from? We have gotten as far west on BNSF's PRB Line as Ravenna, NE which is the next crew change point east of Alliance, NE. It's also east of the well known Crawford Hill area. This line is beyond maxed out and new track is going in anywhere it can be done. The photo at the link is in the coal fields closer to the source, just a few more hours of driving beyond our limit. There was nothing near that part of Wyoming but dusty CB&Q or C&NW extensions when I was a high school railfan, though talk of new track and such was thick. No one guessed then what it would be like today!

I'll have to play more with old photos of those trips over the holidays. I end with the third photo from the tiny town of Steel City, NE. I think the biggest thing going on in town was the grade crossing upgrade we were taking advantage of for this eastbound. A few friendly folks stopped to see if we were broken down. Most wondered if a special train was coming when they found out what we were doing. We caught 3 trains here before just making Fairbury with enough light for dark photos of the CRI&P depot, now historical society.

TTFN

BC

New Pictures!

I posted the rest of the Danville Junction plan pictures on NERail.org Go check em out! I also did a tour of district 1 today from Orono (MP45) to Danville (MP169) following the tracks as close as possible. I saw a grand total of 0 mainline freights! Since there was a large storm last night, I'm assuming that rail operations were behind schedule. A lot of trains that usually leave before I get out of town were still sitting in there respective yards. Also a lot of Track Cars were out checking the rails. I noticed a lot of flooding towards Waterville and Lewiston. Thats about all for now up here in Maine, glad to hear about everything you guys are doing out west!

Maine Lives In California!

This weekend was one filled with adventure. I'll wait for the slides to post a report here. I collected only one county, that containing Kingman AZ. I came across something that MUST be noted. It was the find of the trip, really of all my time in SoCal.

I was coming back west from Barstow and decided to follow old Rte 66 as much as was possible. That road roughly parallels the Santa Fe all the way to downtown Victorville. Just before Victorville (2-3 miles east) there is a large asphalt plant. It has its own power for switching. On display for all to see - BAR 326 was in use as a plant switcher, in the Iron Roads blue livery. No changes have been made to the paint, as far as I could see from the road.

Those slides (Kingman, Needles, Daggett, Barstow, and more) are on their way to the processor, courtesy of the Rancho Cucamonga Walmart. Driving through the Mojave was awesome.

P.S. - Winter is coming to Maine. I'm listening to the scanner feed from my room in 72 degree Ontario CA. I'm hearing 3 Guilford detectors - Readfield (134.1), Lewiston (157.2) and Grey (176.7). That becomes possible once the trees drop their foliage for the winter.

Random Shots From My Summer In Monterrey NL Mexico

One Hour Radius: Pittsburgh

Last January, during the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, the Wheelman and I took a semi-short notice, drive like mad, trip to the Pittsburgh area. Our destination was the Fallston Flagstop north of Pittsburgh. This was our first venture west of Johnstown for serious railfan adventures and it turned out very nicely indeed. As it turns out, most of what we saw was within an hour drive of our base at the Fallston Flagstop.

The Wheelman was working in Wilkes-Barre, PA at the time so this trip wasn't as nutty as it might sound. I simply drove down on Thursday and took Friday off from work (which got "snowed out" anyway). Unfortunately, our planning did not allow for our usual diversion to Altoona. Time was pretty tight for this mission since the Wheelman was actually working right up to the minute we left. In fact he was working when I got a call from him that one of the D&H units was leading a local and I could drive here and there to get ahead of it at the far (south) bridge of the old WBCR. It wasn't too long later that we bee-lined it to Fallston.

I can't recommend the Fallston Flagstop highly enough for what we were doing. We wanted to sample all the railroading in the region in a measly three nights and two days. The Fallston Flagstop is ideally situated for heading off in all directions with many roads radiating from the area. With Terry Stuart's guidance and the Wheelman's navigation abilities (and luck) we got a taste of most of the area's shortlines, regionals and class I's. The sampling of photos include mainly the regionals and local shortlines: Allegheny Valley, Union, Pittsburgh and Ohio Central (McKees Rocks), Wheeling and Lake Erie (Rook Yard). We caught those on the first or second day along with the Class I's that I've mainly left off here. The last place we went was Youngstown, via Newcastle. We did some fossil hunting in Newcastle after viewing the CSX yard and mainly found Ohio Central in Youngstown proper. On the way back to Fallston though we found the Youngstown and SouthEastern in North Lima, OH. Headed back home on Monday, we caught the elusive ones: Buffalo and Pittsburgh (Butler), Bessemer and Lake Erie (Butler), RJ Corman (Clearfield).

Pittsburgh turned out to be a place I could return to many more times (already been back once, see August posts) and probably not run out of things to see and explore. There are still many regional pockets from Youngstown to Connellsville that need a good checking out. That means plenty more trips and plenty more research. Odds are, if the Fallston Flagstop is available, we'll be booking the room. Even if it isn't available, we'll probably drop by to visit Terry anyway and view the parade that goes by his porch every day.



BC



Check out the link for the Fallston Flagstop on the right side of the page!

Greetings From Araz Jct CA

A visit from Debate Coach clued me in on the $80 slide scanner offered at our local Walmart. I've felt bad at not being able to post my pictures. Well, here are a few, fresh out of the scanner. Let me know if the scanner is a keeper...

Here are some shots from Araz Jct California, about 5 miles west of Yuma AZ on the Sunset Route. I found a bluff which proved to be a great grandstand for the eastbound parade I experienced in the 102 degree heat.

Also found here is a fine example of the rapidly disappearing classic cantilever signals that once defined this route.

Season's Greetings From Oz

As I was telling BC, I'm trying to make more of an effort to increase my online presence. I haven't done jack with my facebook page. I haven't even blogged on the site my niece set up for her 2 new twins. I tried but it no likey me. Ah, technology.

If yet to cross Oracle paths with the famed Paul Apollo. I work with oracle databases here at KSU in Manhattan. Enough work talk.

I gave Brad a heads up on a steam loco restoration project I've been involved in. Go to youtube and search on "ATSF 3415". She's a 1919 Baldwin Pacific and we got her steamed up and moving last Saturday. Great stuff!

Things like that are what usually take me trackside. I'm also trying to get out more and catch day to day operations that I have taken for granted over the years. The town where Brad & I went to school has been without rail service for over 10 years now. They weren't kiddin...shoot em while you can!

My long range plans for 2009 (for me, 12 months is WAY out there) call for an Amtrak trip back to you guys's neck of the woods so I can grab some more lobster, Italian subs, micro brews and a few knick knacks from the store next to the BFI at, uh...Sacco was it? I can't uhmember.

Bon-Ton Stores Inc. Awards Schneider Intermodal

The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. presented its 2007 Award for Transportation Excellence to Schneider National Intermodal.The award recognizes the transportation and logistics service provider’s on-time pickup and delivery, and customer service efforts.“Schneider stepped in and showed us how we could use intermodal services to help get products into our stores,” said Robert Hook, divisional vice president-transportation for first-time intermodal user Bon-Ton Stores. “After a successful trial run, we implemented Schneider Intermodal into our day-to-day transportation plan and have shifted a significant amount of freight to rail.”

Watch for "BIG ORANGE" Trains to hit The State Of Maine.

Halloween Special - Night time video at Cresson

Hi there,

Fiddler here.

Was having some fun with my video editing software and the Background music generator. I have some great spooky sounding music to add so I took some video I have of some containor trains at Cresson that I filmed last summer (with fellow HAPTers Brad Conant, and Paul Lodge), edited it down, added some of this music and voila -

Cresson at Night

An epic tale of Containorized Horror!

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ_HMsTBPUE

Nov. Picture Worth A Thousand Words

This photo is a mixture of "what do you do while waiting for that train that never comes" and "look at all that ancient track". The piece of track in question is on the old Belfast and Moosehead Lake RR wye/interchange at Burnham Jct., Maine. We were waiting for a train last July and took the time to look over some of the track.

For those used to looking at a well maintained mainline somewhere, this is like a time capsule of all the "old ways" railroads used to maintain regular track and the ways they patched up old track. Upon closer inspection the rails say things like "Open Hearth 85A" and "L S Co Buffalo 850", probably for the Lackawanna Steel plant in Buffalo, NY. It probably also means the rail is 85 lbs. to the yard, light rail by today's standards. In the crossing, just out of sight, were some places that were "enhanced" a bit by welding rods to add some metal at key points, probably because it would be a bear to change out a lightly used rail just because a bit of metal was worn down on the ends.

The ties are a mix of eras dating back to the 1940's if you can believe the date nails - yes date nails - which were still firmly in place. It is hard to believe that a tie from 1945 is still in service anywhere in Maine without some kind of serious mutation in the tree or copious chemical enhancements. Either way, date nails haven't been used in many decades and even concrete ties may not last that long (some of the earliest from the 1970's are being replaced already).

Look at some of the patchwork. Two different fishplates are next to each other. One is probably the original at the end of the rail. The other added when the rail broke. Gauge bars all over the place. I was told once that these were used mainly on curves for strength and such to keep the rails together but this wasn't that curvy - though at the end of a wye. And, if it works so well on curves it would work real well on weak straight track, right?

Finally, look at the ballast. Mostly cinders and gravel. The B&ML did have that Swedish steamer a few years back but they've really been dieselized for over half a century. Cinders can still be found along the rails most anywhere, but usually in heaps that have been pushed out of the way of the tracks. It holds track really well but doesn't drain as well as crushed rock.

Not much exciting in the shot. We were waiting for the Waterville switcher to come down from Detroit and took the time to study the track detail and some of the other "ferroequinarchaeology" in the vicinity. Ironically, the switcher was waiting for a broken rail repair on the Pan Am mainline near MP 100.

Maybe Paul will send us something exciting to look at from California this weekend.

BC