Western Railroad Discussion > Crisp Autumn Morning on the GSR

This morning, after spening the night 10 miles away, and despite it being cloudy, I headed off to the GSR in hopes of bagging a few trains. I managed 4 trains in a span of 3 hours, never a disappointment for this line, which seems to be a haven of fleeting trains with long waits in between fleets. UP was nice, and made each train a bit more interesting than normal.

1) With an increasingly hard to find SPatch 3rd in the consist, UP 6579 rolls a DPU-less grain train west between Alma and McFarland.

2-3) After meeting the grain empty at Volland, UP 5983 heads east past Alma with a grain train consisting almost entirely of FXE hoppers.

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4) After bagging the grain empty at Alma, I tried to beat it to Paxico but missed by a long shot, not to worry as UP 2678 snuck up on me with an eastbound Z train in tow, this being the first time I've caught a UP Tier 4 unit leading.

5-6) With two eastbounds back to back I got curious about a meet at Maple Hill, I headed to Snokomo Road east of Paxico to wait it out, and my instincts paid off with UP 5761 leading a Herington bound manifest west, with an NS SD70 4th out in the consist. Heavy rain was the theme overnight and the puddle is a testament to the 3-7 inches that fell.

Thanks for looking!
mg8711



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/16 18:12 by mg8711.

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Great set of photos! The unit FXE grain train looks good, nice scheme on those cars.

-Dalton 

Not bad at all, despite the cruddy weather!

Great cloudy-day shots Lucas--#2 is neat and I sure like the look of the elephant-style power.
Brian Stevens

Photo #5 is nicely framed.
John

Really nice photos.

Ronda Thomas

Where is this?

Paul B
Canton, GA

In addition to what's already been mentioned, the first shot has a no wing nose on the point
which is also getting rarer and rarer.  Who'd have thought twenty years ago someone would
mention that.  

Good stuff, Lucas, thanks for posting.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

SD608708 Wrote: > ... Where is this?
Alma & Maple Hill are towns in Kansas between Topeka & Herington, a former Rock Island crew change terminal (it still is for the UP). GSR stands for "Golden State Route" a moniker for the territory served by the joint Rock Island-SP Chicago ~ Los Angeles premium passenger train, the "Golden State Limited". Most railfans today continue to call in the former Rock Island territory southwest of Topeka "GSR"...

Lance/199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/16 07:31 by santafe199.

Fantastic shots taken in less than ideal weather! Great job!

Thanks everyone!
mg8711