Western Railroad Discussion > More from the Chariton Trip

One of the things I like about the trips to Iowa is that the eastbound California Zephyr is a daylight train. Of course, in the dead of winter, it's barely daylight but it works!

Shots of this train on the S curves at Chariton are always interesting for me, especially with that old elevator in the view. Could have done without the fox tails!

These 3 shots are of #6 at those curves.

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BNSF provided a little entertainment too! BNSF 9125 and 8435 (no dpu) are coming out of the curves with a coal empty in the first 2 shots.

Traveling with non-railfans, you don't do a lot of dawdling on the road. But on the way home, I did get a shot of CREX 1417 and BNSF 5928 from the overpass east of Creston, IA. They were dpu's on a coal empty. We didn't stop of course but did slow enough for a shot.

A good weekend!

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I have an eternal soft spot for Chariton thanks to great childhood memories of camping at Red Haw state park, hearing the BN throughout the night and seeing Amtrak and mostly coal trains in town on the famous S-curve. In 1979 we were in town with all 6 of us packed into Dad's almost brand new '78 Oldsmobile, going under the underpass and heard a train coming so I begged/pleaded/ordered him to pull over and he did while we watched a heritage fleet #6 cruise over the street behind us out the back window. Big stuff for a 10yr old!

Andy

My dad's first Conservation Officer posting was at Red Haw, from 1957 to 1959. He remembered hearing trains all the time from the Burlington line just to the south. My mom worked in Chariton for an attorney.

Al

Chariton had a couple of interesting freight cars around the depot at one point, neat little town.

Out

Nice stuff from both threads, Tom! During my overnight stop in Chariton I completely missed the UP. After peeking at Google Maps I can see why. I was too busy concentrating on the BNSF to notice Uncle Pete sneaking through town under the highway. I'll have to make a return trip and correct that boo-boo...

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The same thing happened to us Lance; our entire first camping trip there we never realized there was another line in town. An oversight we too corrected on the next trip.

Andy