Western Railroad Discussion > Waiting for the Texas Eagle

I spent my first full day visiting the Land of Lincoln with Mr. Gary Helling ("shoptonfan" on TO). Gary is 1st cousin to Bob Helling, a longtime friend
& fellow fan from Salina, KS. I first met Gary in 1982 when he made a trek to Kansas to take in the magic of the Chase County Flint Hills on Santa Fe's
mainline (south)west out of Emporia.

Unfortunately we had about the most dismal weather you could imagine, but that wasn't going to stop either one of us from getting me introduced to Illinois
railfanning. While I don't count vestibule shooting off trains #4 & #16, I had only previously been to Illinois for a funeral in 1980 and managed just a few shots
in the Bloomington area. We opted to drive up & explore Galesburg. I had a tip that Amtrak #4 had BNSF biz car 'Santa Fe' on the tail end, and Gary had lived
in Galesburg for a number of years before his career took him to Springfield.

We shot a number of trains, both passenger & freight and I got a grand tour of some interesting shot locations around Galesburg. We never got any break at all
from the weatherman. Returning home we decided to cap the miserable day with some shots of Amtrak's Lincoln Service shuttle train #304 at the old GM&O depot in
downtown Springfield. We set up at Jefferson St in anticipation of the northbound train stopping right in the crossing area. As the wet & cold minutes dragged on,
it became apparent that #21, the Texas Eagle may just be the 1st train to show up. Then people started showing up on the passenger platform looking to the north.
We confirmed that #21 was now indeed the first train that would arrive. So we shifted our position to the Washington St crossing south of the platform. All the
while I was taking "exposure test shots" which ended up making this thread.

I'll have another thread coming up showing some interesting scenes during #21's station stop,
but for now I'll take a cup of steaming hot coffee & please pass me a kleenex...

1. UP train MBNAS is crossing Jefferson Street just north of the Amtrak (ex-GM&O) depot in downtown Springfield, IL.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 05:23 by santafe199.

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2. The view looking south from the Jefferson Street crossing area.

3. The view looking north across Washington Street just south of the depot.

4. The view looking south at the Adams Street crossing. (#21 is just minutes away from arrival, so stay tuned for a future thread)
All photos taken November 6, 2012.

Thank you Gary for being a great tour guide!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 08:20 by santafe199.

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i'm just now realizing that hardee's is a sister chain of carl's jr...very nice set of photos lance!

Carl's Jr. is the little sister of Hardee's. The both are part of CKE based in St. Louis.

Theodore Picraux
St. Peters, MO
Shuttletrain's Wanderings