Northbound empty ethanol train rounds the curve south of Bellevue, IA with a CSXT YN3, CSXT YN2 and a BNSF GE. Train originated from the NS in Chicago. October 14, 2020 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Boy, that's a mix of roads, and power, and none NS. Thank the Lord for computers. If Power by the Hour, or any other method of keeping track of which loco was used, in which consist, on which road, on which day/hour, was calculated by hand with pencil, paper, and Frieden Calculator, the accountant couldn't afford all his adult beverage each evening.
Taken in July 1976, Hudson, OH was a fine spot for train watching. CR is four months old and the painters have been busy with their stencils.
Found this old one from 2003 in my dusty archives. Loads of overspray, paint was still curing as I recall. Cheyenne, WY at the UP Steam shop.
Two of the MILW here. The first is west of Chicago at Elgin, IL with the 96C leading a freight. The other is at Deval Interlocking at Des Plaines, IL, where the 350 is leading its train across the CN&W's busy Harvard Sub. Note the semaphore signals in the background. These date from 1975 or 1976.
I think it's a sanding facility. Why the hopper is marooned on a panel of track, I donno. But the car is still there, according to Google Earth.
Maybe it's painted the same color as the sanding tower just to say, "I'm with the tall skinny guy". It could be a sand storage bin, to hold it before it gets dried and sent up the sanding tower. There's a pipe from the building to the sanding tower, so it's likely there's some kind of conveyor running from under the hopper (with convenient dumping equipment!) into the drying facility inside the building. Or they adopted the hopper as a pet and called it Hedda or Dennis...
Earth for some reason has a Street View path that drives right by the weird hopper. I wonder who let the Google Earth car drive around the train yard? It is pretty low resolution, so it may be older data. I think Santa Fe had a few cars like that. I seem to remember seeing a photo of a Santa Fe hopper on a frame being used as an overhead flood loader. Does anybody have that photo?
