Western Railroad Discussion > Ring bell and Whistle freely

Early spring weather hit Wisconsin last week so on Saturday morning I went south to Victory for some early trains. Unfortunately the Galena backlog still left the railroad a mess with trains parked everywhere and no crews. To compound the issue the heavy MOW activity had multiple sites with form B active and speed restrictions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 17:32 by pyroman.

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With BNSF still congested I headed north and over the river to Dakota.

Heading north I had another red blip on ATCS so pulled in at Donewhower to see what showed. Nice! - but only two 40's on a loaded coke train. Might have been ok on the flat river line but heading out of the river valley if grade at Bangor doesn't get him Raymore will (yes they stalled).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 18:10 by pyroman.

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More red lines so headed north to find plenty of power on the next train at Homer. Amtrak was next but I was stuck in stoplight purgatory. One more red blip to check on before heading for the barn, hum BNSF veichle Portland take a wrong turn at St Croix? No just CP train that stole some BNSF power - but the view was nice.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 18:11 by pyroman.

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Sunday was the annual Shelby FD Chicken Q, best meal of the week and a nice place to watch action for the morning. As things wrapped up I grabed this eastbound working it way out of La Crosse. Since the day was warm and BNSF was fixing to push out some eastbounds I headed north to Graf for some action ans oil train #1.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 17:44 by pyroman.

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One at the old depot site and one at the golf course crossing. Bridge parts are on site and should be put in when Graf get's it switches put in.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 17:46 by pyroman.

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Oil train #3 and #4 pass under Highway 16 as the sun makes an appearance, but the day is getting long so head back to the barn. Grab one more at Graf to call it a day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 17:49 by pyroman.

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Graf was supposed to be cutover on Monday but Galena had traffic too messed up. So been quite there for a few days with. This afternoon I had a dentist appointment and since Graf was on the way see if any activity. Found more equipment had shown up and "Mount Graf" next to the overpass.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 17:53 by pyroman.

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Dentist appoint over so lets swing by Graf once more, its only a few blocks detour and only take a minute right? Wrong! A Hulcher pickup crossed my path and that is not a bad omen in this case. Looking up the road I see a ton of trucks coming in for a landing! The installation of new switches is upon us.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 17:56 by pyroman.

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Lot of heavy iron here and a Cat rep would be smiling, I think there is one small Komatsu dozer - rest is all Cat! I tried count the pieces here but lost track as semis kept coming and coming. There are at least 5 side booms, about a dozen excavators (some of them very beefy), 4 dozers and 6 loaders (and some of those are not too the puny model either.)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 18:14 by pyroman.

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Weather has gone back to a bit of winter but still not too cold; clouds look like snow. So I hit the bridge as a loaded ore train slowly made its way past the site. Last photos of a train passing the Q era Graf station board? Probably.

Note that Graf will have 4 switches total for the second main but only 3 are going to be installed for now. Next up the CP at Genoa or Desoto?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/15 18:07 by pyroman.

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Love the first shot of the DM&E with those neat class lights above the numberboards. The CP, three NS consist is nice as well.

Nice pics! Do you know when they are installing the switches? I'm going to be in the area this weekend for the train show and was going to check the progress out. TIA
Mark

Thurs AM for the switches at Graf. CTC is partly in service but all the signals are in place to PdC. Genoa pad is ready for the install and Desoto should be too. I believed they will go down to Genoa when Graf is done and do the switches there while CTC gets turned on (and the searchlights fall), then repeat for Desoto, Lynxville, etc. Genoa - Graf must get done as they do the bridge replacement south of Stoddard (parts already there - waiting on the CTC).

Great catch of the cowl units as well. Great shots of the progress. Glad to see the movable point frogs. Improves velocity:)

Hulcher seems to subscribe to the theory : "Go big --- or go home."

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

pyroman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thurs AM for the switches at Graf. CTC is partly
> in service but all the signals are in place to
> PdC. Genoa pad is ready for the install and
> Desoto should be too. I believed they will go
> down to Genoa when Graf is done and do the
> switches there while CTC gets turned on (and the
> searchlights fall), then repeat for Desoto,
> Lynxville, etc. Genoa - Graf must get done as
> they do the bridge replacement south of Stoddard
> (parts already there - waiting on the CTC).

So, it looks like that Aurora Sub is losing its ABS. Could you give us all the locations of the new universal crossovers, or are they all already listed in your post?

sums007 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> pyroman Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Thurs AM for the switches at Graf. CTC is
> partly
> > in service but all the signals are in place to
> > PdC. Genoa pad is ready for the install and
> > Desoto should be too. I believed they will go
> > down to Genoa when Graf is done and do the
> > switches there while CTC gets turned on (and
> the
> > searchlights fall), then repeat for Desoto,
> > Lynxville, etc. Genoa - Graf must get done as
> > they do the bridge replacement south of
> Stoddard
> > (parts already there - waiting on the CTC).
>
> So, it looks like that Aurora Sub is losing its
> ABS. Could you give us all the locations of the
> new universal crossovers, or are they all already
> listed in your post?

Pyroman listed the ones closest to La Crosse in his post. I've
seen signals in place for Lynxville and there was a crew doing
dirt work near the Charme detector north of PDC. The Galena
derailment has things all messed up. Plus, there's a bridge
just south of Stoddard, Coon Creek, that's being replaced too.

Thanks for the update, pyroman, please keep them coming.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Great photos and coverage, thank you for sharing!

Al Seever
Phoenix, AZ

GREAT stuff...!!! Thanks for sharing. Nice variety!!

Outstanding bunch! That is a great area to fan with unreal variety and MAY get revisited by this Coloradoan before this year ends ;-)
JB