At my advanced age, my wife and I are not going to go out and imbibe and celebrate the coming of the new year 2010. We have literally been there and done that for more years than we care to remember.:tb-cool: Rather, I propose that all of you who have had railfanning experiences this past year, 2009, post the highlights of your rides, chases, journeys, accompanied with photos. I also wish all of you a Happy New Year.:mbiggrin: I will put my own experiences up on the next message.
You guys know I am a steam nut, 12 inch to the foot scale. Here are the highlights of my 2009 railfan experiences. Starting in May, the NRHS chapter, Pacific Northwest, cooperated with Amtrak to host an event at Portland, OR, Union Station, Train Day. I volunteered there and conducted tours through the passenger cars and caboose. SP 4449 helped to attract some 5,000 people to the event, about 10 times the number of the previous years visitors. Then, the most exciting thing in my railfan history took place when the Friends of 4449 invited me to be part of the crew accompanying 4449 and her consist in a major cross country trip, to Minneapolis, MN. I did so, and helped to sell merchandise at each of our overnight stops. The photo is from the train climbing through Marias Pass. Then in August I visited the Mt. Rainier Scenic for the debut of Willamette No. 2, accompanied by Hammond Lumber 17 and Climax 10. That same weekend, went to the Chehalis & Centralia, for a cab ride in 2-8-2 No. 15.
Oh Yeah, then volunteered at the annual Holiday Express in Portland in December, on the first weekend when SP&S 700 did the work. Happy New Year everyone.
Now thats what I call a great year of railfanning......not just railfanning, but being a part of history!
That #700 is beautiful. Standing next to it in June was awesome. Of course #4449 was next to it,enough said. That little engine house is packed with power & history.
For the most part, a lot of my railfanning was done around in Cedar Rapids as the case was today. New Years Eve afternoon--http://easterniarail.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-years-eve-afternoon-2009.html I will add a couple more from the year in the next post.
eastern iowa railpics 2009 highlights January: Iowa Interstate's ICCR passing MP 246, westbound Earlier on that day, I caught the Southwest Chief in Ft. Madison February 10: An Illinois Central visitor on homerails Feb. 25: IAIS 503 leading CR-IC away from town
eastern iowa railpics 2009 highlights pt 2 Feb 22: UPY 657 heading for Cargill SE with 4 tankers March 30: A majority of my railfanning time was devoted to covering the rebuild of the CRANDIC bridge over the Cedar River. Here the crew works on getting the pillars poured on the west-side of the river April 1: PECR at Walford, IA. The train was carrying new NOKL cars April 9: GTW 5859 pulling into downtown Cedar Rapids
TrainBlog I've been recording all my Railfaning RRAdventures within TrainBlog and they can be found using this tag: 2009 Railfanning Summary: Colorado Railroad Museum - Pile Driver Ghostfanning (Part 3 of 3) Ghostfanning (Part 2 of 3) Ghostfanning (Part 1 of 3) Denver and Intermountain Railroad #25 Colorado Railroad Museum - 50th Anniversary Celebration Disney's A Christmas Carol Train Tour Colorado Railroad Museum - Goosefest Look for TrainBoard topics on all these showing up after I complete my 2008 RRAdventures topics... Yea, Yea, I'm running a bit slow these days... :tb-sad: :tb-sad: :tb-sad: :tb-sad:
eastern iowa railpics 2009 highlights pt 3 April 15: The CN Cedar Rapids job passing by the grain mills of Alburnett, IA The Cedar Rapids job crossing the Wapsipinicon River in Central City, IA May 29 A former GTW transfer caboose sits in the CRANDIC Wilson Yard waiting to return with the Iowa Northern South Job June 9 My son Isaac watches the CN Cedar Rapids job working the "A" yard
eastern iowa railpics 2009 highlights pt 4 July 1 The return of the CRANDIC over the Cedar River. The ballast train lays ballast down on the completed trestle July 18 Took a weekend trip up to Wisconsin to visit my in-laws and managed to snag the Wisconsin & Southern heading for Stoughton, WI August 18 CRANDIC's Job 12 makes an appearance in downtown Cedar Rapids after crossing the new bridge over the Cedar River and his close call with a moving truck on the sharp turn near the UP/CIC switch on 8th Avenue SE Little bit later after dropping off/picking up at the CN, Job 12 again had to crawl at a snail's pace to squeak by the Penske truck(right)
eastern iowa railpics 2009 highlights pt 5 Aug 21 A possible detour train from the DME/ICE passes by Beverly on the UP with DME 6094 and three other sisters trailing Another IC visitor on homerails in town Sep 17 UP 674 smokes it up as its sister UPY 657 push cars back to Beverly Yard Oct 2 My shot of the CN Cedar Rapids job in the rain. This shot won the Prototype Contest titled "Tracks"
eastern iowa railpics 2009 highlights pt 6 Oct 6 CRPE passing Walford, IA Oct 9 Going vintage with a shot of the Vinton Depot and a Western Union sign Later in the afternoon near Jesup, IA; an eastbound goes on a "rollercoaster" ride Nov 23 GTW 4904 waits as the conductor walks to the rear to set up the EOT
eastern iowa railpics 2009 highlights pt 7 Nov 23 GTW 4904 leading the Cedar Rapids job back north near McCloud Place CRANDIC's Job 2 pulls 65 loads up the new "P" Main Dec 22 Iowa Interstate's CR-IC with #500 leading climbs out of town at Fairfax On the same day, CN's Cedar Rapids job departs town northbound at McCloud Place with SD40u #6000 leading and 38 cars And so is my year of railfanning Eastern Iowa, Cedar Rapids and beyond. Happy New Year to one and all. See ya in 2010!!!
My railfanning has been mostly restricted to the ex-Katy from about Stringtown north to Wagoner. I did get a couple of trips to Tulsa in to shoot the Sand Springs and Tulsa-Sapulpa UNion, as well as BNSF and UP action. August 2009 found me in Carthage shooting what I could of Missouri & North Arkansas motive power, and last month allowed me to shoot stuff at the Oklahoma Railway Museum, Stillwater Central and Arkansas-Oklahoma. I did discover two new hotspots to railfan- Cherokee Yard in Tulsa and the former MKT and MP diamonds at Wagoner (now all UP). My chances of railfanning a new location thousands of miles from home are extremely slim this new year, but no doubt I'll find plenty to capture my attention at my new-found haunts. Happy 2010, and may all your pics be well-lit and your days be sunny.
Chasing CSX #! south of Pittsburgh was probably the biggest highlight: Video: [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN-xmqzKcqk"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia] There were many other good moments throughout the year, for instance the time I caught two meets within an hour on the Nickel Plate.
Actually my best day railfanning was the last day of the year.I went down to Bridgeprt Alabama and got a few trains but it was slow so i went looking for shortlines like always.I went on a hunt for the Sequatchie Valley Railroad in South Pittsburg Tennessee but everyone in Bridgeport said it was hopeless to see it running.Well as I pulled into town guess what I saw?... [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBFq3cy_940"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]
2009 highlights? Without a doubt, 3 items stand out as highlights of the year. The first was taking 2000 pictures or so (and none are yet posted) of an Amtrak trip to Portland, OR to see the NSC Convention, and various tours. Seeing SP 4449, SP&S 700 and other great locos at Brooklyn roundhouse; the Oregon & Pacific tour, and seeing an ex-GN NW-5, and all sorts of ancient and rare rolling stock items was a treat! Number 2 was when Alaska GP49 came up north, and we "Took Montana By Storm". Number 3 was the SP 4449 chase back west over Marias Pass with my buddy Gary W.
