Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Ore train Drone images

Last Monday, my buddy and I took our drones out to have a little R&R on the RR.  We decided to head to Savanna, Illinois and had a couple of trains heading down the Peavine (Savanna, Illinois to Galesburg, Illinois)  Our first train was a unit ore train that, back when I kept track of train symbols, was called NT 400  It is a unit train destined for the USS works at Granite City, Illinois.   We shot  him where the BN crosses the CNW and US 30.  This is a shot that doesn't amount to much if you don't have a drone.  There are power lines and there just isn't a good angle from the ground.  The train had the trashiest looking SD70MAC I have ever seen as it's DPU.

All three images, 7/8/2019 @ Fulton, Illinois

More to come. 

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The next train was a loaded potash heading south as well.   This was the first time I have flown the drone with another drone operator along.  We were both standing next to each other while capturing the images.  It was pretty simple and we didn't have any issues.  We just communicated with each other and each chose an altitude and stuck with it.  If you look closely at the 2nd image, in the upper left you can see his drone.

Have a great Saturday!

Dave

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Good work. You are right about it not being much of a photo from the ground.

GBW309 Wrote:
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> Last Monday, my buddy and I took our drones out to
> have a little R&R on the RR.  We decided to head
> to Savanna, Illinois and had a couple of trains
> heading down the Peavine (Savanna, Illinois to
> Galesburg, Illinois)  Our first train was a unit
> ore train that, back when I kept track of train
> symbols, was called NT 400  It is a unit train
> destined for the USS works at Granite City,
> Illinois.   We shot  him where the BN crosses
> the CNW and US 30.  This is a shot that doesn't
> amount to much if you don't have a drone.  There
> are power lines and there just isn't a good angle
> from the ground.  The train had the trashiest
> looking SD70MAC I have ever seen as it's DPU.
>
> All three images, 7/8/2019 @ Fulton, Illinois
>
> More to come. 

All those beautiful SD70MACS in storage in BNSF let that one die a slow death. Seriously how much does it cost to repaint one locomotive?

Posted from Android

Man some of those ore cars are really loaded! Heavy stuff. Nice bunch.
JB

Interesting how that middle bridge pier seems to be cracking alot......note the protective applications over the cracks....

Fantastic angles.  Spent many trips rolling over  the "CN&W"  over the years.  On occasion  going wwd  with traffic ahead,  I would stop  with our lead motor siting on top of the "CN&W" main waiting  for the now UP to roll trains thru.   Thanks for sharing..

This train is a U KEEMAD ( Keewatin, Mn  to Madison, IL.  BNSF has settled on 157 loads  0 empties.  Around 21,000 tons depending on how many pellets fly off.  With somewhat shorter ore cars train length near 5700 ft.  

Pat



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/19 21:17 by Quakerengr.

Im told these ore trains weigh 20,000 tons. The poor TRRA crews have to make a 3 mile shove to get these trains into U.S Steel.
                                                                                                                          Mark Mautner