Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
The first thing I noticed about the Tokyo trains is how clean they look.
Richard's American Train Adventures
- Thread starter richard carr
- Start date
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Next there was another container train this time east bound. This was followed by another Chicago bound container train, it's on the video.
After this I decided it was time to continue exploring. If you look at map of this area there are numerous yards and lots of routes crisscrossing the area. I had seen a video of one of these that appeared to be taken from an over bridge on 169th street, as it was beside a small shopping there would be easy parking. It took about 15 minutes to drive there crossing several lines on the way there.
The mall was just a couple of small super markets, there were a couple of homeless looking people hanging around and almost no one else. I decided to stay in the car for a little while and see if much happened, I had a good view of the tracks but no trains appeared while I was there.
I then moved on a found the road that lead to the tracks and the grade crossing over them. I then carried on heading back towards the lake where the steel works was located.
I reached one grade crossing where the gates were down, then another car approached from the other side and promptly drove round the barriers, then another one did it. I'm thinking something's going on here, there are 5 tracks to cross.
I parked up on the other side and went to explore.
This ws the view on one direction and this the other way
yes a freight car repair depot
I'm stood in the middle of the crossing taking this one, there's no sign of a train and I've been there over 10 minutes now. A couple of other cars have driven round the barriers. So what am I going to do, turn round or go over.
Unfortunately I didn't take a view of the crossing from the road with the barriers down, I decided to risk it and drive over.
The road lead down to the steel plant and a casino with a marina. I drove over to the casino, it passed by 200 plus loaded coal cars in 5 sidings, I also saw 2 Norfolk Southern GP38-2s parked up. Unfortunately there was no where to park up and take photos, the road also crossed over the mainline that passes through Hammond station. I turn round in the casino car park and as I'm driving out a train goes by !
I then found a road that skirts round the edge of the steel plant, then a BP refinery and then a BP water purification plant.
Then I ended up on the road back to down town Hammond.
After this I decided it was time to continue exploring. If you look at map of this area there are numerous yards and lots of routes crisscrossing the area. I had seen a video of one of these that appeared to be taken from an over bridge on 169th street, as it was beside a small shopping there would be easy parking. It took about 15 minutes to drive there crossing several lines on the way there.
The mall was just a couple of small super markets, there were a couple of homeless looking people hanging around and almost no one else. I decided to stay in the car for a little while and see if much happened, I had a good view of the tracks but no trains appeared while I was there.
I then moved on a found the road that lead to the tracks and the grade crossing over them. I then carried on heading back towards the lake where the steel works was located.
I reached one grade crossing where the gates were down, then another car approached from the other side and promptly drove round the barriers, then another one did it. I'm thinking something's going on here, there are 5 tracks to cross.
I parked up on the other side and went to explore.
This ws the view on one direction and this the other way
yes a freight car repair depot
I'm stood in the middle of the crossing taking this one, there's no sign of a train and I've been there over 10 minutes now. A couple of other cars have driven round the barriers. So what am I going to do, turn round or go over.
Unfortunately I didn't take a view of the crossing from the road with the barriers down, I decided to risk it and drive over.
The road lead down to the steel plant and a casino with a marina. I drove over to the casino, it passed by 200 plus loaded coal cars in 5 sidings, I also saw 2 Norfolk Southern GP38-2s parked up. Unfortunately there was no where to park up and take photos, the road also crossed over the mainline that passes through Hammond station. I turn round in the casino car park and as I'm driving out a train goes by !
I then found a road that skirts round the edge of the steel plant, then a BP refinery and then a BP water purification plant.
Then I ended up on the road back to down town Hammond.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Hi Tim
Yes you are correct Tim, the Wolverine services do stop, but nothing else, I think quite few other long distance trains like the Lake Shore Ltd used to stop there, but not now.
Richard
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Hi Stephen
Yes there does appear to be a shortage of them, but I think we saw them on CSX trains and everything going through here is almost certainly NS.
Richard
Yes there does appear to be a shortage of them, but I think we saw them on CSX trains and everything going through here is almost certainly NS.
Richard
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Once back at Hammond I headed to Whiting Lakefront Park, a mile or 2 south of Hammond station. There is a decent car, toilets and a short walk back to the crossing.
Does this look familiar ?
yes it's the train I saw in the distance from the crossing at Hammond station, it's still there with no crew 4 hours later.
This was beginning to feel a like a bit of Deja vu. Everything on red, and nothing for almost an hour.
Then it all kicked off with this grain train
followed by this mixed freight, why it needed 5 locos, I've no idea ?
It then passed a stack, while the grain train had pulled up to be passed about a mile down the tracks. Thats all on the video.
I was almost back at the car when this one appeared, it even had a DPU
This is the view south from the park, there are 3 steel plants going round the bottom of the lake
This is the crossing where I stood for well over an hour.
It was no gone 2pm and I decided to head back to Elmhurst to see what was happening on the UP mainline there.
There is also a good curry house just up from the station.
Does this look familiar ?
yes it's the train I saw in the distance from the crossing at Hammond station, it's still there with no crew 4 hours later.
This was beginning to feel a like a bit of Deja vu. Everything on red, and nothing for almost an hour.
Then it all kicked off with this grain train
followed by this mixed freight, why it needed 5 locos, I've no idea ?
It then passed a stack, while the grain train had pulled up to be passed about a mile down the tracks. Thats all on the video.
I was almost back at the car when this one appeared, it even had a DPU
This is the view south from the park, there are 3 steel plants going round the bottom of the lake
This is the crossing where I stood for well over an hour.
It was no gone 2pm and I decided to head back to Elmhurst to see what was happening on the UP mainline there.
There is also a good curry house just up from the station.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Here's the video from Sunday, it starts in Hammond then moves onto Elmhurst.
The photos from Elmhurst will follow shortly.
The photos from Elmhurst will follow shortly.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
So I headed off to Elmhurst, the route takes you along I90 the Chicago Skyway toll road ($7.80 for a car). This also happens to follow the railway into Chicago and I passed all 3 of the west (North) bound stack trains that I had filmed parked up waiting to get into the terminal.
I continued as there's no where to stop, and even if there was that's one part of Chicago I wouldn't have stopped !
I've been to Elmhurst a few times now on a Sunday afternoon and it's always been busy, so it was on Sunday.
I'd only been there a few minutes and this west bound stack train appeared. The main yard is about 3 miles to east of here so the trains are generally accelerating way west bound and slowing down if going east.
It's an ACe for the last of the 4 locos.
This also had 2 pushers on the back, it was clearly in a hurry, that's over 25,000 horses
Next the metra passenger train arrived, these only run every 2 hours on a Sunday.
Then an eastbound train arrive, it was the metra too, but that and the rest of the trains are on the video.
Try to do both with 1 camera is not easy, all that generally happens is that both the photos and video are poor quality, so usually I don't bother even trying now. I did try with the BNSF train in Hammond, the photos are ok but the video was a mess.
After this there is a west bound manifest, followed by an eastbound coal train, then another west bound stack train, and finally the pushers on the back of the coal train, this is all on the video.
After this I went for a curry !
Richard
I continued as there's no where to stop, and even if there was that's one part of Chicago I wouldn't have stopped !
I've been to Elmhurst a few times now on a Sunday afternoon and it's always been busy, so it was on Sunday.
I'd only been there a few minutes and this west bound stack train appeared. The main yard is about 3 miles to east of here so the trains are generally accelerating way west bound and slowing down if going east.
It's an ACe for the last of the 4 locos.
This also had 2 pushers on the back, it was clearly in a hurry, that's over 25,000 horses
Next the metra passenger train arrived, these only run every 2 hours on a Sunday.
Then an eastbound train arrive, it was the metra too, but that and the rest of the trains are on the video.
Try to do both with 1 camera is not easy, all that generally happens is that both the photos and video are poor quality, so usually I don't bother even trying now. I did try with the BNSF train in Hammond, the photos are ok but the video was a mess.
After this there is a west bound manifest, followed by an eastbound coal train, then another west bound stack train, and finally the pushers on the back of the coal train, this is all on the video.
After this I went for a curry !
Richard
richard carr
Western Thunderer
I'm back in the US again, Chicago as usual. I landed Thursday afternoon and drove over to Elkhart
It doesn't get light until about 7:30am at this time of year, so I set off then and headed south to Goshen, I stopped at Meijer's supermarket to pickup a few supplies, including Peanut Butter M&Ms for Robin, getting back inthe car I saw a couple of trains go by.
As I arrived in Goshen there was a tank train parked up with a crew, so they were not going to be there too long, it also had an ACe on the point.
Thats a coal train going by but I never managed to pass it
Up to this point it had been a fairly quiet morning, I'd been watching the station webcam and not a lot had been passing through. The Grand Elk had arrived but then headed almost straight back light engine at 6:30 that morning.
Next up was a stack train heading east then this west bound CP manifest
Then it all got a bit mad, you can see the green signal in the photo above, so it didn't take long for the next stack train to arrive, this was followed by an empty grain train heading west and before that had passed another eastbound stack passed through. The Ace driver kept coming out of his cab he seemed to be impatient to get going. After all those he did get the signal and headed off. All this is on the video that I'll post up later.
Once the tank train had gone, the Goshen local arrived pushing 7 freight cars and the caboose.
I headed off to where he would do the switching by which point he had crossed over all the track s from main 3 to main 1, below he's moving over to the yard road at Goshen
The conductor then got off to guide the train over the next crossing
He then moved off to the yard
By now it was nearly 10am and I wanted to get to Leipsic, a few miles south of Deshler, I was hoping to see the CSX local from Lima pickup the interchange traffic and head to Deshler to run round.
It doesn't get light until about 7:30am at this time of year, so I set off then and headed south to Goshen, I stopped at Meijer's supermarket to pickup a few supplies, including Peanut Butter M&Ms for Robin, getting back inthe car I saw a couple of trains go by.
As I arrived in Goshen there was a tank train parked up with a crew, so they were not going to be there too long, it also had an ACe on the point.
Thats a coal train going by but I never managed to pass it
Up to this point it had been a fairly quiet morning, I'd been watching the station webcam and not a lot had been passing through. The Grand Elk had arrived but then headed almost straight back light engine at 6:30 that morning.
Next up was a stack train heading east then this west bound CP manifest
Then it all got a bit mad, you can see the green signal in the photo above, so it didn't take long for the next stack train to arrive, this was followed by an empty grain train heading west and before that had passed another eastbound stack passed through. The Ace driver kept coming out of his cab he seemed to be impatient to get going. After all those he did get the signal and headed off. All this is on the video that I'll post up later.
Once the tank train had gone, the Goshen local arrived pushing 7 freight cars and the caboose.
I headed off to where he would do the switching by which point he had crossed over all the track s from main 3 to main 1, below he's moving over to the yard road at Goshen
The conductor then got off to guide the train over the next crossing
He then moved off to the yard
By now it was nearly 10am and I wanted to get to Leipsic, a few miles south of Deshler, I was hoping to see the CSX local from Lima pickup the interchange traffic and head to Deshler to run round.
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
I don't know that it's a rule, because I don't see crews do it in all instances, but I do think it's a best practice or courtesy for the crew of a stopped train to exit the cab and visually inspect another train as it's passing. Normally that would mean getting down on the ground, in my experience, and sometimes even crossing to the opposite side of the train to view the far side.
Or he could just be having a smoke. Or several.
timbowales
Western Thunderer
It used to be a rule that crews of stationary trains had to get off and do a run-by inspection of passing trains. In the days of many people crewing a train they had to inspect both sides. I can't quote the actual rule number as I can't find my rule book 
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Well I've learnt something there, I didn;t see hi somking so I suppose he must have been observing.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
So once I'd filmed the local I set off for Leipsic, about 2 and half hours away a relatively easy cruise along fairly empty roads.
I got there at just the wrong time, a train was heading north to Deshler, I tried to follow but I soon realised that was pointless. There was a steel train stationary on the other track so I turned round and headed off to find that. I eventually just got a head of it asit was moving off and managed to grab this.
Once it had gone by I chased after it to Ottawa about 7 miles further along the tracks, but it moving through there at speed and at that point gave up and came back to Leipsic.
I was hoping to catch the transfer freight that comes up from Lima picks up at Leipsic and then heads to Deshler to run round and head back south. I've been watching it on virtual railfan and it seems to happen most days in the early afternoon. But not today, there was no sign of it at all.
There was though some switching going on at the protech steel plant with an NS SD40 and possibly an SD60
They disappeared into the plant and they are quite a distance away, that's a cropped in photo taken with a 400mm lens.
I hung around for a while then decided to go an get some coffee, it wasn't that cold but the wind was very strong and made it feel freezing.
When I got back they had finished switching and were ready to leave, in the Bellevue direction going away from me !
It was time to go to Deshler
I got there at just the wrong time, a train was heading north to Deshler, I tried to follow but I soon realised that was pointless. There was a steel train stationary on the other track so I turned round and headed off to find that. I eventually just got a head of it asit was moving off and managed to grab this.
Once it had gone by I chased after it to Ottawa about 7 miles further along the tracks, but it moving through there at speed and at that point gave up and came back to Leipsic.
I was hoping to catch the transfer freight that comes up from Lima picks up at Leipsic and then heads to Deshler to run round and head back south. I've been watching it on virtual railfan and it seems to happen most days in the early afternoon. But not today, there was no sign of it at all.
There was though some switching going on at the protech steel plant with an NS SD40 and possibly an SD60
They disappeared into the plant and they are quite a distance away, that's a cropped in photo taken with a 400mm lens.
I hung around for a while then decided to go an get some coffee, it wasn't that cold but the wind was very strong and made it feel freezing.
When I got back they had finished switching and were ready to leave, in the Bellevue direction going away from me !
It was time to go to Deshler
Jordan
Mid-Western Thunderer
That local is a modeller's dream!!
....well, a space-starved modeller's dream, anyway.... 
*whistles innocently* .....
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
NS 5810 is an ex-Southern gp50, rebuilt to a gp38-3. I'm not all that sure what that means, but it's clearly been de-rated in horsepower, had cooling capacity reduced in corresponding fashion, and had a gp/sd38 style paper air filter box added. It probably has new electronics as well.
NS 6912 is an ex-CNW spartan cab unit (CNW 8019) that's been rebuilt as an sd60e. Again, not sure on all the changes, but the obvious one is the new wide-nose cab with improved crash-worthiness. From other photos online, it looks to have received a new fuel tank as well. One odd detail is that earlier photos show a revision to the inertial air filter grilles, where they protrude further from the carbody, while Richard's current photo seems to indicate a return to the traditional style. Curious.
richard carr
Western Thunderer
I really do need to pay a bit more attention to my own photos, at least I got the SD60 part correct (although that was a bit of a guess)
Jim, from reading up on the GP38-3 from a few internet sources, it does not have new electronics, just the super slip control of a normal GP50.
Were these originally high hoods as it says they now have 81 inch low hoods compared to normal low hood GP50s that had 88 inch low hoods.
Richard
Jim, from reading up on the GP38-3 from a few internet sources, it does not have new electronics, just the super slip control of a normal GP50.
Were these originally high hoods as it says they now have 81 inch low hoods compared to normal low hood GP50s that had 88 inch low hoods.
Richard
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
I'm not aware of any Southern locos delivered with low hoods, so I'm confident the nose would have been replaced at some point after the N&W/Southern merger. Photos of the unit pre-merger show a high short hood, and it stayed that way well into its NS life. I see pictures of SOU 7082, NS 7082 with its original nose into the early 2000's, and photos of NS 5810 with a low nose as early as the early 2010's. So somewhere in the late 2000's it must have been rebuilt. What's interesting is that it does not have the NS Admiral cab replacement, rather a bog standard EMD cab and nose.
SOU 7082
NS 7082
NS 5810
SOU 7082
NS 7082
NS 5810
richard carr
Western Thunderer
Here's the video for the morning at Goshen.