Western Railroad Discussion > NS in Tampa! (& other accidents...)

It was one of those rare times when I would be free the next day so I made arrangements to pick up Lucas McIntyre to go 'out on the chase'. Lucas is another up & coming young railfan in the current Kansas Gang, but still being in school in St. George, his mobility is a ways off yet. He had never seen the A&SV darling 4-6-2 in person so we headed to Abilene. We covered the 10 AM departure & round trip, after which we had no set plan. We decided on moseying down to the ex-Rock Island mainline west of Herington along with Bob Helling ('PRose' on your TO dial) who had joined us for the A&SV adventure. We hop-scotched our way down the BNSF Strong City Sub toward Ramona. The BNSF line crosses the UP (ex-Rock Island) main just a stone's throw to the east of Ramona. But with no line-up or other info we kind-sorta back doored our way into a few decent shots. Details as follows...

(all photos taken September 3, 2011. And for you few Google-less people; all photos were taken in Kansas;-)
1. The Abilene & Smoky Valley boys put on a great show as usual. Here we have the back-door view of the 10 AM excursion returning to Abilene. The ex-AT&SF 3415 is about to cross South Campbell St. and park in its spot between the Eisenhower Center & Old Abilene Town. The Pacific has no way to turn at either end of the run so it's always in back-up mode when returning from Enterprise. Sorta fits the theme of the day...

2. Our first order of 'modern' business is this visitor from the east. NS 9592 has stopped at Ramona with a grainer to meet an EB autorack train.

3. The meet is history and we've set up at Tampa (Kansas, not Florida btw ;-) for the next shot.

After hanging around Lost Springs for a dry, fruitless hour or so Bob parted ways with us citing a prior engagement back in Salina. Lucas & I toughed it out for another 45 minutes and came to the conclusion that a side trip to DQ for a Blizzard was more photogenic than nobly hanging around this dry, dusty & HOT place. Off we go to Herington, but UP has other plans. We met a southbound manifest just as we came into town, so we about-faced, grabbed a quick shot departing town and doubled back a little further south to Lincolnville for another shot. Unfortunately "Mr. Cloud" dive-bombed our location. DQ; Here we come (again).



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/23 05:30 by santafe199.

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4. Whoops! UP has another trick... I mean train up its sleeve. This time we settle on a rural crossing south of Herington for this shot of UP 8154 on another southbound manifest. We follow it a ways and watch as it takes the siding at Lost Springs. Alrighty then, a meet! So we wait. And we wait some more.

5. The wait was turning out to be in vain. My RR career experience tells me that train to be met could be anywhere between Lost Springs & Wichita. We snoop our way into where the UP 8154 is parked for this artsy-fartsy shot posed behind an ancient oil rig. The rig was actually pumping, bit was squeaking, moaning & groaning just the same. We decide to take another shot at DQ.

6. Wouldn't ya know it! 'Meanwhile back at the ranch' the BNSF boys have sneaked into the back-door at Lost Springs on an AT&SF painted unit 3169 with the Abilene to Newton local, and just sit there waiting to enter UP trackage. There's just gotta be a meet soon! The UP 8154 is still sitting in the siding & the BNSF local is not entering the UP main. After another wait we circle around the south end of the siding to see what we can find, the head back north. By this time the BNSF boys have authority to enter the main & run around the UP manifest. Yes Virginia, these are the 2 key players in my "What's Wrong With this Picture" thread from a few days ago...



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/23 05:50 by santafe199.

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OK, no foolin' this time! we're gonna get that Blizzard come hell or another train. Success! Thank-you Uncle Pete for that DQ break!

7. & 8. With a 'Strawberry Cheese-Quake' now just a pleasant memory, we roam around Herington Yard. But there's nothing exciting to shoot so we head northeast to follow the main up toward Alta Vista. At Latimer the signal system gives us evidence of an eminent EB train. We set up just east of Latimer for this coming & going view of UP 4453 in the fading evening light. UP must stand for Unusual Pip-squeak as this train was by us before we knew it. Kinda left us with the "I want my money back" feeling...

9. I thought we could give one final chase up to Dwight for another shot. But in having to go square corners we attained a pace usually only legal in the Indianapolis area...;-p We sailed into town with time to jump out of the car for a 'last-gasp' shot of Uncle Pip-squeak 4453 at the west end of 2 main tracks between Dwight & Volland.
(all photos taken September 3, 2011)

Thanks for putting on your seat belt!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/23 05:52 by santafe199.

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Nice work. I hate the road situation between Dwight and Herington!

good stuff ... nice photos

Nice shots, Lance! I think that shorty train was prolly the MHNHN. He runs from Herington to Topeka, and back to Herington. They usually run the gambit from very short to very long depending upon traffic.

imrl Wrote:
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> Nice shots, Lance! I think that shorty train was
> prolly the MHNHN. He runs from Herington to
> Topeka, and back to Herington. They usually run
> the gambit from very short to very long depending
> upon traffic.

Thanks! That helps to explain the autoracks on such a short train...

Those corners between Dwight and Herington suck when trying to chase a train, actually they stink anytime I've driven through there. Sounds and looks like a fun day though! You taught the youngster plenty of bad habits, but hey someone's gotta do it lol. :P

Keep up the posts Lance, I enjoy them very much

Great train chasing escapades, nice to hear these stories, reminds me of chases from "back in the day"! Also nice to see that you are helping to bring up the new breed of "master" railfans!

BrooklynHauler Wrote:


> ................................... Sounds and
> looks like a fun day though! You taught the
> youngster plenty of bad habits, but ..........

On the surface you're probably right, though I prefer to call it "getting results" ;-p

SP 8595 also makes a good point about the 'new breed' of fans coming along. But I get the definite feeling that not nearly enough new fans are coming out of this generation. We may very well be losing more fans than we're producing and I find that sad. There's a very rich history in railroading that ties in closely with the history of our country. And part of that RR history can only be passed along properly in person from the old generation to the new. I feel blessed to have a couple of the new generation around to share my 35 years of experiences and memories with. It's sad to think that there may be railfans my age out there who may not get that chance.

Lance



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/16 11:27 by santafe199.