North Platte or Bust - The Series

This was quite an ambitious, yet nearly "off the cuff" railfan adventure started when Charles "The Fiddler" Kadyk wondered if I might be interested in a railfan trip to Kansas City in August.  This was in April while we were on one of our usual tours of Altoona.  It seems he had a wedding to go to in KCK and he might as well drive as fly.  An idea was born.  Since I'm a huge fan of Kansas City, have friends there and personal history there, it didn't take any convincing. 

The following are 12 "episodes" covering that adventure.  They are broken down into smaller chunks to spread things out a bit.  As of Sept. 3rd all are filled in with some commentary.  I tried out the new caption feature on many photos but the new Blogger format takes some practice.  Errors can still be found.  It was a long trip for me beginning on August 2 and ending on August 20.  It has been another long trip writing about it and arranging photos in "AWYSIWYG" computer formatting. 

Charles and I will have "war stories" about this trip for decades.  

Here are the links:
Part 1, "Getting There".....................................Poughkeepsie Bridge, Dennison Depot, Marion
Part 2, "Marion, Bellevue and Fostoria"..........New parks and infrastructure in the works
Part 3, "Lima to Homewood"...........................Mid-west odds and ends plus Chicago commuter
Part 4, "Joliet and Rochelle".............................Busy locations
Part 5, "Mississippi River"...............................IL, IA and MO locations
Part 6, "Kansas City"........................................KC "Bottoms"
Part 7, "Nebraska"............................................Following the transcontinental route.
Part 8, "North Platte"........................................Bailey Yard, Cody Park and some BNSF
Part 9, "Steam".................................................UP 844 and the KP
Part 10, "Goodbye Mid-West"..........................Pacific, MO and assorted IL
Part 11, "La Grange, KY .................................Street running in KY
Part 12, "Finale"...........................................Landgraff, Bluefield, WV, Roanoke, Ellicott City, MD


I figured having one page to start with rather than linking all to one another would be the easiest to read or ignore.  Of course you could use the August 2012 link to the right to get the same thing.

BC

North Platte or Bust: Part 12, Finale

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

Our last overnight stop was to stay in the Elkhorn Inn in Landgraff, WV.  It was a bit off the beaten path but it came highly recommended by "The Wheelman".  We were not disappointed.  The main trick for us was crossing West Virginia on US 52.  We were approaching from the west, which allowed us to really sample a variety of the states roads.  We veered off the road now and then to see rail activity in such N&W railroad towns as Williamson, Jaeger and Bluefield.  The area was worthy of more attention than we could give at the moment.  Unfortunately, lighting was fading and good camera access was challenging as we headed east. 

From the Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

"Short range sensors"(GPS; Star Trek reference) constantly showed us squiggly lines representing roads that made US 52 look pretty good, that is, when it showed anything other than our road.  This was an area that made me think of towns in Maine like Rumford, Livermore Falls or Millinocket, which are prosperous by comparison.  The Wheelman concurs that Newcastle, PA also comes to mind.  Abandoned buildings and blight were mixed in with the homes of people hanging on somehow.  Statistically the same amount or more of coal is moving, but technology has made manpower to produce it less necessary.  It's also true that in this part of the world, if there is any flat ground, the railroad got there first.  Roads, building plots and sometimes even streams, had to be carved out of the hillsides.  Industry got what level land there was so any that happened to be leftover had houses. 

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

The Elkhorn Inn is a restored coal company boarding house and entertainment hall.  The owners have taken it from a wrecked shell and turned it into a small hotel.  It is perfectly located for the rail

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

enthusiast.  You are right across the street from the old Norfolk and Western mainline.  You cannot miss any train that goes by.  Charles and I were the only guests, so they gave us two single rooms with the best view of the tracks for our stay.  There was a balcony we could survey the tracks from or you could wander out to the tracks.  I tried both.  A computer with ATCS gave us some warning that traffic was near.  It appears that they have a receiver that gets signals several miles each way in the valleys.

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

I was intrigued by the many old N&W color position signals that were still in place.  Some were located a bit west of us.  I found that I could pull them in a bit with a telephoto.  It was just a matter of time before I had a train running under them.  ATCS helped.

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

When I came back to check ATCS and shoot the breeze with Dan the owner, I saw yet another train coming.  This one happened to be a

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

local.  It also had a caboose!  As it turned out, old cabooses are common in this part of the world in order to give a train a "pushing platform" for back up moves.  A crewman can hang out back there and keep in touch by radio with the locomotive.  I suspect it doesn't hurt to have the shelter and a place to work in this relatively isolated part of the world.  This particular caboose looks like it hasn't changed much since the old NW logo was applied to the side originally.  However, it did appear that the numbering crew had a rough day applying new painted numbers.  This caboose also appears to have missed the usual "sterilization" that "riding cars" usually get in the form of removing windows, ladders and appliances. 

Elkhorn Inn, Landgraff, WV

Bluefield, WV

Around 11am or so Charles and I decided to move on.  We had had a blast chatting with the owners and watching trains but we had a long drive ahead.

Research Locomotive

  We bought some things from the gift shop and said our goodbyes.  Bluefield was down the road about 20-30 minutes.  We got lucky and found a geometry train parked at the depot, across from the locomotive shop.  There was an experimental research locomotive in the middle of the set. 

Bluefield, WV

Roanoke, VA

Once we left Bluefield, it wasn't long before we found four-lane highways again and made our way back to the Interstate Highway System.  Our route took us through Roanoke so we figured we'd detour in for a quick look at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.  The bulk of the museum is

Roanoke, VA

indoors and under cover but a few things were visible outdoors.  We could see some cool stuff as we drove over a bridge next to the museum.  Outdoors at the far end of the former warehouse we found a few good items, including the latest steamer to arrive for restoration. 

Roanoke, VA

There was an active yard next to the museum yard and just beyond the steamer we could see a few more of those cabeese.  Next to this area we could see some interesting and large locomotives from the past.  The place was full of stuff I'd like a closer look at someday.




The weather turned rainy as we moved north.  It was dark, gloomy and damp the rest of the way to Mohnton, PA.  But we got there in good shape, if kinda late.  But we had just finished a pretty good adventure.  We arrived in the middle of a power outage, but apparently it was being worked on because power came back about the time I was climbing into bed.  The fan was a great relief.



SATURDAY AUGUST 18, 2012

In the morning we cleared out the car and I said goodbye.  I was headed to my brother's new home

Ellicott City, MD

near Ellicott City outside of Baltimore.  His furniture hadn't arrived yet, but they had painting and such to do. 

Ellicott City, MD

I tried to make myself useful.  As the afternoon wore on we headed downtown to the old part of the city.  The B&O Museum in Baltimore has an annex at the Ellicott City station because it is the oldest depot building in the country and is located on the original mainline.

A Civil War reinactors group was encamped at the depot so there were people in period clothing wandering about and playing their parts.  This would explain some of the extra decoration too.

Ellicott City, MD

I found this depot area interesting because, as I read earlier, a lot of the design and architecture

Ellicott City, MD

was new at the time it was built.  No one had built a depot before and the bridge designs in the area were ground breaking engineering.  Thus, everything here was quickly surpassed by the thousands of other designs around the country to follow.  Leading edge.

Ellicott City, MD

Ellicott City, MD

These last two photos are pretty mundane.  I wanted a picture of the clock with the bridge in the background.  I also stuck my mini-camera through the fence to show the track in front the station.  I probably would have forgotten about the shots except for a tragic derailment on the following Monday night.  It took place on this piece of track and involved the same bridge in the background. 
A Baltimore Sun Article
I didn't know about the derailment when I got home on Monday night.  News hit Maine on Tuesday.




I was pretty much worn out from so much traveling when I got home finally.  5600 miles over 18 days was the final tally for me.  Suffice it to say, I vegetated for a couple of days afterward.  I spent quality time with my computer editing photos but it took a while to begin this report.  No one could have asked for better weather, better friends and better locales for this trip.  Charles and I will have some good war stories to tell for years to come.

BC

North Platte or Bust: Part 11, La Grange, KY

August 16

We deliberately stopped a bit north of Louisville in a smallish town called La Grange.  The fact that they have street trackage, and practically celebrate it, drew our attention.  It turned out to be a terrific town to spend a few hours in.  It was nearly the only railfanning we did on a "travel day".

The old L&N depot on the west end of town was the future home of some local railfan's visitor center.  We found the very European looking steamer sitting out front.

From the end of town we drove back down into the street trackage area.  A stretch of track running about two city blocks through a busy and vibrant downtown area.  There was room for curbside parking on both sides and two lanes of traffic.  However, trains pretty much used one lane when they passed.


We located a good place to sit on the east end.  There were benches on the street corners so we picked the one with the best camera angles and lighting.  These happened to be metal rockers.   I had to get Charles to pose for a shot to show the street, the rockers and our vantage point.  We call these L.A.R.F.'ing chairs.
(Lazy A-- Rail Fanning)  This time they were provided by the city of La Grange and not pulled from the car's trunk.



The city spent a lot of energy keeping the town clean and maintained.  The streets were swept.  Flowers were growing everywhere.  Businesses seemed to be doing well.  Rather than fight the trains (CSX puts up to 30 per day through town) they celebrate it.  The city logo and slogans referred to the trains.




Amazingly, when a train came along, chaos did not develop.  Locals knew the drill well.   The business people we chatted with seemed to expect train nuts to visit and they were friendly people anyway.





Once we caught a couple of northbounds we moved to the other end of the street trackage.  Here we were next to a courthouse square and more businesses.  While we were basking in the shade of the courthouse park, a local reporter came by and asked if we were from the media (Charles' camera looks like a reporter's).  We had stumbled into another sensational murder trial (locally big this time).  We looked around and saw the people in a new light.  Lots of media types, security types and lawyer types.  I crossed the street for the next train.

We ate lunch outdoors at the One Nineteen Restaurant.  They had sidewalk tables that kept us about ten feet from the tracks.  Before, during and after we saw about 3 trains from that spot.  The staff was tickled to have a couple of rail enthusiasts around.  They were as excited about the trains as we were.  Of course, they had a business that was also across from the courthouse.  The food was good and our perky waitress kept my iced tea full.  We could see the end of the street trackage from out seats.


The light had shifted in the four hours we were around.  We decided it was time to leave.  However, there was a set of signals on the north end of the street zone that told us that a train was out there.  Red told us it was a southbound and probably at the siding north of the depot.  We headed to our original perch by the "LARFing chairs".   This gave me a chance to try some more wide angle shots.




Thinking this was it for a while, we looked at the signals again to confirm.  Still lit.  Something else was around.  We had gotten the idea from someone earlier that a local we'd seen would return south.  Sure enough, it appeared fairly soon.  This time the GP30 slug was leading.

We could leave now that we saw it.










I don't recall where Eminence fit in on the map but it was an important stop on the L&N once.  The line is gone now but was cut back to here in recent times.  Apparently bourbon was one of the chief products of the town and today Eminence Speakers are produced there.  The depot was unique enough to photograph.  It turned out to be the last significant rail shot of the day.  We were traveling to our last night's stop at the Elkhorn Inn in Landgraff, West Virginia.

We were headed into the hills.  No more straight and level roads for a while.  We had to go past Frankfort and Lexington to get into the serious mountains, but it was already getting rugged outside of La Grange.  We'd see it all by the time we found the Elkhorn Inn.  It wasn't exactly off an Interstate highway on the prarie.

BC

North Platte or Bust: Part 10, Goodbye Mid-West

Pacific, MO

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2012:

We arose to one of the best accidental findings of the trip:  Pacific, Missouri
Pacific is a railfan hotspot, complete with park and visitor center that we barely knew existed - but should have.  The Trains "Hot Spots Guidebook" listed Eureka, the next town east.  Close.
The Route 66 Railfan Visitor Center is hosted by some great railfans who were as helpful as could be. The town also had some railroad and Civil War history to check out.  We were sitting near the point where the Missouri Pacific was vying for first transcontinental status and the Frisco was born.  That same history made it a target in the Civil War.  The two roads in town were one once and Frisco split from a branch that originated here.

Pacific, MO

Route 66 Railfan Visitors Center

And, we found it all by chance.  We asked Expedia for a motel in Eureka, but it found a better one in Pacific.  We may not have found it otherwise except that we thought we might as well see what this town had for trains, since we were here already.  So many ways we could have missed it all...

Back at the motel, we heard scanner chatter almost as soon as we turned the radio on.  We reconnoitered the area and headed to Hardee's for breakfast since it was handy.   Charles spotted the visitor's center on the first pass through town and I couldn't miss the covered

Returning local.  Pacific, MO

picnic tables next to the tracks.  We returned after eating and parked in the public parking between the old Frisco and MoPac lines.  Our first stop was the visitors center.  I thought it was just a well located hobby shop.  Charles went in first and didn't come out.  Curiosity led me in fairly soon after I determined that a train wasn't nearby. 

BNSF GE's Pacific, MO

The folks at the center were busy with organizing a fundraiser or something but they were exceedingly helpful with railfan information about the entire St. Louis area.  A computer provided ATCS information for both lines.  I'm not one for crowds so I walked over to the shelter to wait on a BNSF train I thought would appear from the west.  Charles stayed inside and got to know people.  I also had a vague idea that an Amtrak "Missouri River" train from KC was around.

Pacific, MO

  The BNSF did come along, but far later than I expected and the Amtrak totally surprised me.  I like the "old and new" paint schemes on the BNSF GE's.  The fact that I managed to line up the Civil War Monument with the passing of a relatively speedy Amtrak train is mostly luck.  It looks stopped, but wasn't.  A returning local on the UP side gave a chance to try some new angles.  This may have been the first train we heard earlier.

Unfortunately, without prior knowledge of this place, we didn't allow ourselves much time to stick around.  It seemed like a waste of good info to move on.  However, we both vowed to return with a vengeance.  The  St. Louis area has so much to offer railfans and the visitor center can help take the mystery out of such an adventure.

Ex-C&EI/L&N Nashville, IL

Nashville, IL

Down the road and over in Illinois again, we were tracking eastward over side roads again.  We crossed many lines that existed or had been pulled up.  At one point we stabilized on a route parallel with the Evansville Western Railway.  We pretty much followed it over most of its route, but saw no trains anywhere.  We investigated many of its interchanges too.  Nothing.  However, the chase did get us into a couple of other sights that we might have missed otherwise.

National Railway Equipment

National Railway Equipment, Mt. Vernon, IL

Mt. Vernon, Illinois is the known home of National Railway Equipment.  However, when we stumbled into it, I couldn't have told you that.  I never made the connection until I saw the signs.  Never have I seen such a collection of old relics.  There were FM's, BLW's, MLW's, ALCO's and GE's mixed in the stuff laying around.  Some of them had to be from the 1940's.  We were following a string of diamonds and interchanges on "short range sensors" when I spotted this final shot below.  That led us around the block to see what else was about.  Very cool but the place seemed hostile with plenty of no trespassing signs and fencing. 

National Railway Equipment, Mt. Vernon, IL

We continued east, checking out the various rail lines we encountered but didn't find anything significant for the rest of the day.  The last major railfan stop was Bluford (south of Centralia) where the old Southern crossed over the old IC.  Interesting but little access, bad light and not trains so no photos.  We were headed to La Grange, KY so we had some miles ahead of us.  Nearby I-64 got us started toward Louisville.  Interestingly, we passed the Indiana coal fields and even the massive pit where Peabody Coal came from.  The SPV atlas showed enough convincing detail to confirm it.  Too bad there weren't some of those Peabody yellow unit trains kicking around anymore...

BC