Western Railroad Discussion > Midwest 2012 trip-The End (finally!)

After several weeks of dragging my feet, it's time to mercifully get this trip report over. It included stops in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas from October 13th to the 21st. Here are the final 2 days.

1) Saturday morning found us still in Heavener, OK but a line up from a friendly yard foreman brought bad news. The next northbound train behind the UP stopped at the depot was just leaving Shreveport.

2) So we began our journey back north, this balloon from the festival in Poteau would have made for an interesting railfanning vehicle.

3) We waited for a southbound at a rural crossing outside of Sallisaw, OK. This little tractor provided the only action we saw during the first hour.

Several parts to follow...

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4) Finally just before noon, a southbound grain train with Belles 4058 and 4129 on the point.

5) Bringing up the rear was another Belle, 4052.

6) A little truck-fanning along Hwy 59.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/12 13:21 by oyw.

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7) South of Stillwell, another manifest led by GE 4783. The Geeps were picked up a few miles north at Watts.

8) Next, a BNSF coal load at the south end of Noel, MO with 5783 and 6097.

9) Grinstein Mac 9655 brings up the rear.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/12 13:33 by oyw.

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When we bumped into KCS 4100 South at Neosho, a decision was made to follow him even though we had just driven so many miles north. Knowing this would probably be the last KCS train of our trip, I'm glad we did. I have included 4 shots, probably a little overkill.

10) Rounding a 30MPH curve just south of Anderson, MO.

11) A couple of miles further south through the brush at Lanagan.

12) Back in Arkansas, crossing a little creek in Sulphur Springs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/12 13:53 by oyw.

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13) One final wedgie at Gravette, consist included 4100/4705/3967 and 4107 mid-train.

We stayed the night in Joplin, amazing progress has been made since the tragedy a year and a half ago. Sunday would be tough with clouds haunting us most of the day.

14) A little sun poked out on a couple of Geeps near the M&NA's Carthage shops.

15) Several hours later we found sun on this UP coming off the Spine Line at Birmingham, just east of KC. For those familiar with this location, I photoshopped out a bunch of wires in the sky, something I don't normally do.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/12 14:11 by oyw.

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With the clouds back again and our flight home a few hours away, we stayed close to town and checked out the BNSF St Joe line.

16) I was pleased to see the little cantilever from CB&Q days still standing at Armour, MO. Even more pleased to get BNSF 6402 beneath it.

17) Our short visit to Kansas netted us UP SD9043Mac 8107 at Atchison on a monster MKCMC21, 38 loads and 122 empties.

18) Back in Missouri, this pumpkin patch was the final photo of the trip.

Thanks for looking and hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving.

OYW



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/12 01:42 by oyw.

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Overkill? Never! Not when it comes to KCS's Southern Belle scheme.
Awesome shots

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/12 14:03 by GTWMISteve.

Simple said - this photos are good

Erwin from Austria

Nice series of images.

JMW

Very nice set once again.
JB