December 6th, 2019
Traveling between Ottawa and home, I decided to finally take the time to look for the QGRY Friday run, which I had passed a few times without ever having time to watch it over the past few years. I found it faster than expected and chased it up the Buckingham spur to the end before carrying on.
Gatineau, Quebec
(map) Immediately across the border from Ottawa, Gatineau contains the formerly independent city of Hull and houses the Quebec-Gatineau Railway (QGRY) and Hull, Chelsea, and Wakefield (HCW) scenic steam railway.
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Follow along as I chase a QGRY local from Buckingham Junction up to End of Track.
December 24th, 2019
We took off on a social and exploratory road trip to the US, catching our first local UP near Watertown, New York.
Watertown, New York
Watertown is the first major community south of the Canada-US border on the I-81, with some CSX traffic.
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Heading north out of our hotel in Watertown, we heard a detector almost immediately, and found our way to the tracks just on time for this rather short first train of our road trip vacation.
December 26th, 2019
Leaving family near Buffalo, we continued westward, stopping for three eastbounds at the museum at North East. We found the Bessemer and Lake Erie with a rare BLE leader in the yard in Conneaut but could not get a good shot from the one forested vantage we found across the valley, and finished the day with a stop at the Napoleon, Defiance & Western Railroad, a railroad with the dubious distinction of being known for its rather exceptional lack of maintenance.
North East, Pennsylvania
(map) The town of North East is the home of an excellent museum of preserved railway equipment, including a weird GE-built "little Joe" Russian electric locomotive that was never delivered to the former Cold War adversary. The museum is on the web here. The museum is built around a well-preserved station on the busy CSX Buffalo-Chicago line and encourages railfans with a scanner blaring over the platform and a clear view of both the CSX and NS lines.
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We caught three eastbounds in quick succession at the museum in North East, with my wife and daughter each shooting them.
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We caught three eastbounds in quick succession at the museum in North East, with my wife and daughter each shooting them - this is my 5 year old's video!
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We caught three eastbounds in quick succession at the museum in North East, with my wife and daughter each shooting them.
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We caught three eastbounds in quick succession at the museum in North East, with my wife and daughter each shooting them - this is my 5 year old's video!
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We caught three eastbounds in quick succession at the museum in North East, with my wife and daughter each shooting them.
Conneaut, Ohio
Steve told me I needed to check Conneaut -- and you do too. It is an interesting town on the south shore of Lake Erie which is not easy to explore but has plenty to see if you are willing to go down small single lane roads to their ends.
Napolean, Ohio
Napolean is the northern limit of the Napolean, Defiance, and Western Railroad. Chasing this line is relatively easy -- even on foot.
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We went looking for parked Napoleon, Defiance & Western Railroad power after hours and stumbled across their local still at work in Napolean, catching it gingerly inching over the worst tracks I have ever seen at twilight.
December 27th, 2019
Railfanning Chicago is rather like shooting fish in a barrel if you handle the city itself. I am a country boy and so it isn't really my cup of tea. We did manage to catch a little bit of action as we entered and exited the city for (non-railfan) touristy reasons, although the day was off toa slightly bad start when I followed a different line from the one I thought I was following out of the city: with an EOT squawking away nearby but no sign of the train it was attached to, we admired the diamond at Stillwell for a few minutes before carrying on.
Stillwell, Indiana
Stillwell is the junction of the CN and the Anacostia and Pacific.
Gary, Indiana
Gary is the Indiana side of Chicago and is a fairly significant rail hub in its own right.
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Arriving in Chicago, we caught ex-IC and EJE power working a hump yard on the Gary side of the border.
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is without a doubt the rail capital of North America, but it does require some preparation to explore and a lot of patience to deal with what passes for traffic flow in the city.
Shabbona, Illinois
Shabbona is a small town along the BNSF westbound out of Chicago and is where the tracks diverge (westbound) from easy following after miles of running next to a major road.
December 28th, 2019
We followed the Iowa Interstate (IAIS) from Davenport to Omaha, catching an eastbound intermodal and ethanol train almost immediately, and parked but noisy power with a work clearance but not moving at Newport. We finished the day at the west end of the line watching headlights reflecting off the sides of nearby freight cars without the power ever actually materialising, to the amusement of a friendly railway security officer.
Walcott, Iowa
Walcott is the first town west of Davenport on the IAIS.
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We had planned to extensively follow the IAIS looking for activity as we left Davenport, Iowa for Omaha, Nebraska, and caught this train barely two miles into our hunt.
Newport, Iowa
Newport is east of Des Moines on the Iowa Interstate Railroad.
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs is the Iowa side of the city of Omaha, Nebraska and is the western terminus of the IAIS.
December 29th, 2019
We wandered our way from Omaha, Nebraska to the middle of Kansas and had a banner day of catching parked shortline equipment and briefly chasing a westbound coal train.
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is a great spot to explore. Kenefik Park is home to a DD40 and Big Boy 4-8-8-4 twinned together in a static display on a hill top, a tribute to UP's rich heritage in the city. There is also plenty of BNSF activity and other systems nearby and over the river in Iowa.
Ashland, Nebraska
Ashland is just west of Omaha along the BNSF with heavy coal traffic.
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We spotted a BNSF coal train heading north as we crossed a bridge on the I-80 and had just enough time to catch it eastbound along state highway 6.
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We got ahead of the coal train as it slowed down for a meet, catching a BNSF westbound loaded coal train as well.
Waverly, Nebraska
Waverly is between Omaha and Lincoln on the I-80 and BNSF corridors.
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The final of three videos on our BNSF coal chase along route 6, going through the town of Waverly, Nebraska.
Fairmont, Nebraska
Fairmont is just south of the I-80 on state highway 81 and host to a petrochemical company with extensive rail service and a local switcher.
Geneva, Nebraska
Geneva is along the state highway 81 corridor south of York, Nebraska and home to some obscure abandoned equipment along the side of the highway.
Concordia, Kansas
Concordia is along the KYLE in north-central Kansas.
Salina, Kansas
Salina is a very busy railroad meeting spot in central Kansas.
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We were following the tracks when surprised by a horn, quickly jumping out for this eastbound UP manifest freight.
Solomon, Kansas
Solomon is between Salina and Abilene on the KYLE, UP, and BNSF.
Abilene, Kansas
Abilene is the home of the President Eisenhower library and a diverse set of rail operations leaving little room for railfan boredom. A must-see if you are in Kansas.
December 30th, 2019
Heading south out of Kansas, we just barely caught a six-engine eastbound BNSF whose symbol we didn't catch in Newton and stayed in the town of Ardmore, Oklahoma, where we caught a slightly different kind of train...
Newton, Kansas
Newton is the home of significant yard and easily viewed locomotive shop on the BNSF in central Kansas.
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Six BNSF locomotives including a warbonnet lead this long, slow eastbound through Newton, Kansas.
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BNSF's shops in Newton are easily observed from the road and a park in the downtown.
Wellington, Kansas
Wellington is a BNSF junction near the Oklahoma border along the I-35.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City is the state capitol and home to several railways.
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The Stillwater Central Railroad switches in the yard by their shops in twilight.
Ardmore, Oklahoma
Ardmore is a town near the Oklahoma-Texas border with a significant public, free Christmas-season light show.
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At the end of a day of traveling, we found Ardmore's Christmas light show and found this train the park...
December 31st, 2019
We worked our way through the jungles of Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston Texas on our way to spend New Year in the tourist trap of Galveston.
Carrollton, Texas
Carrollton is one of the northern parts of the 11-county country-sized metroplex known as Dallas-Fort Worth, and is home to a chaotic junction of several lines.
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On a quiet New Years Eve, most of the activity at the junction in Carrollton was static, but there were regular twin articulated commuters passing over top.
Wilmer, Texas
On the southern end of the Dalls-Fort Worth metroplex is Wilmer, with a significant UP intermodal yard using contract switchers.
