In 1974 I lived in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I wasn't really a railfan but I liked trains. One day while driving past the yard I spotted a small engine on the sand track. I took a lot of photos of it and did not think about it for many years. The engine was C&NW SW-1 #618. A good friend is modeling C&NW in N scale and while we were looking a slides he decided to do a model of it. that model is done and it is beautiful. I was doing some internet research and discovered that the engine is still hard at work for an industry in Illinois. On 6/23/09, 35 years later, my friend and I are going to take our annual road trip. I have contacted the manager of the industry and received permission to photograph the unit. Anybody done anything similar?
Enjoy the adventure. The closest thing I did to that was contact the RF&P requesting some information about a section of the line in the Doswell, VA area. They sent me copies of blue prints for about a 5 mile section of the line. Gary
About the only thing close to this was the time I tracked down a landowner, and secured permission to hike a portion of the old Milwaukee Road, and visit 4 tunnels and 2 trestles. And it was worth the effort! Sounds like you have your quest well planned. Goodluck!
Very cool to see! Its not everyday you can find a piece of equipment (especially an Alco) still running about active! We used to have an S 2 in the area,but I dont know where it went.We will be expecting pictures you know
Old friend found Took a while but here is the result of my trek in June. Before(C&NW 618 taken in 1978) and after (same engine 40 years later as WATCO 100 taken in Wood River,Illinois-June 2009.