February 2011 Local Action

Photos by Dave Ingles

Two days after the big blizzard, on Feb. 4th, snow was still piled high, of course. At the Amron Spur switch on the south side of Waukesha, five units led a 129-car CN northbound at 3:50 p.m.

A week later, it is snowing some more as CN #335 comes through town, passing the site of the old "Main St. Yard" in Waukesha. The subdivision on the left, "Phoenix Heights," is built on a former brownfield that saw a big reclamation effort for this new, modest, affordable housing. This was the site of the original Wisconsin Central roundhouse and shops. CN units here are 2601/5554. With all the new units, both GE and EMD, that CN is receiving, you rarely see these SD60F's anymore (trailing unit 5554), and they might be stored or off the roster.

Lincoln's Birthday, Feb. 12 (a State holiday in Illinois!) found this CP #391 train, led by CSX 7641, coming thru Duplainville ahead of the Empire Builder, at 3:49 p.m. He'd wait at end of double track in Pewaukee for Amtrak #7 to pass.

Two fans on hand to watch #7 go thru on-time at 4:16 p.m. Notice he is crossing from 1 Track to 2 Track to overtake 391.

UP won the coal contract for the power plant in Green Bay from BNSF effective Jan. 1st, so the coal trains thru town on the CN aren't as exciting for power anymore. UP 7155/6015 cross Spring Creek bridge along the Duplainville passing siding, MP 103.5 on Feb. 13th at 1040 a.m.

The sun came out as the DPU passed, under Capitol Drive, MP 103. The old barn is a woodworking shop.

CN local L504, with a GTW GP38, leaves Duplainville after fetching cars from the "set-out track," and heads south for Burlington, at 10:47 a.m., having waited for the coal train to pass. We would get this unit again after a month with the grubbiest unit on the CN system, GP40W 9513, assigned here, still in factory paint from 1974! This GTW unit was built as MoPac 893, then became MP 2044, then GTW 5705, then 4905. Built in 1987, she still wears blue, albeit a lighter shade!

Going back out on the sunny Sunday of Feb. 13th for the customary late-afternoon flurry of action first yielded CN #347 up toward North Duplainville switch behind 5705/8944 with 61 cars at 3:55 (1555 to the railroad). He's making a set-out off the passing siding and awaits the passage of the stack train, #198.

Fairly fresh from the factory at London, Ontario. These SD70M-2's run from No. 8000-8024 and then from 8800-8964.

CN #198 isn't close, to there is time to dart over to the CP, as Amtrak #7 skirts the industrial park retention pond at MP 103 in Pewaukee on-time at 1617 hours. The P42's up front (147-60-139) indicate that BNSF has officially declared it "winter," requiring three units. A train is parked at MP 104 awaiting a re-crewing, so #7 is on No. 2 Track.

Back at the Weyer Road crossing on the CN, MP 104.75, at 1630 hours for No. 198 behind 5650/2675. The power is ho-hum, but it's a nice sunny day with snow cover. The train has 107 wells.

Passing the waiting #347.

Conductor of #347 gives the rollby.

This looks like the same day, but is not. It's the next day, Valentine's Day, a Monday, and this is #341, engines 8811/2535, at MP 104 at 1540 hours.

The CP detector at MP 108.2 west of Pewaukee alerts us to an eastbound, CP 276, "the DM&E train," coming thru Duplainville at 1606 behind CP 5917/IC&E 6457/NREX 5581/IC&E 6212 with 124 cars. Aren't those SD40-2's a nice relief from wide-nose modern GE's and EMD's! When CP bought the DM&E, it merged IC&E into DM&E, but the motive power hasn't changed. The lead unit is among 20 CP SD40-2's leased to DM&E/IC&E before the purchase, but they carry on. For the most part, DM&E/IC&E power stay on that system, but this train and its counterpart, 277, officially a Huron, S.Dak.-Chicago (Bensenville) train changed from an all-DM&E/IC&E routing via Savanna, Ill., to a joint DM&E-CP routing via Winona, Minn.

The Empire Builder's P42's suffered thru a bad winter like many of us, and BNSF had to help out on many occasions. Here is #7, with BNSF "Northern" 1097 leading Amtrak 204 and 186, on-time at Duplainville at 1615 with the usual 11 cars. Amtrak is returning the BNSF unit to home rails, but given BNSF's insistence on 3 units, it may stay on all the way to Seattle.

Down at Amron Spur in Waukesha at 1650, here is CN #340 behind 8006/BCOL 4615. The trailing unit is the first repaint from BCOL red-white-and-blue I've seen.

The DPU's mid-train on this 170-car monster were even better: CN 2105/BCOL 4651. The 2105 is one of the ex-C&NW Dash 8 GE's CN bought from UP. The makeup of the train was 108 cars ahead of the DPU's and 62 cars behind them.

It's dirty, but it's really solid blue, BCOL's last pre-CN color scheme.

The dreary winter that won't stop continues. This is Feb. 22, Washington's birthday, when a trip into town nets a southbound with 85 cars at 1010 hours at the old Main St. yard site, engines 2562/2282. Nothing unusual.

Next day, Feb. 23, here's CN #336 at Grand Avenue with IC 1021 leading and 2418 trailing, a bit of a relief from unending newer units. Grand Ave., once upon a time the Soo-C&NW diamond, now is where WSOR diverges off CN trackage rights for Whitewater, Milton, and Janesville. The WSOR right of way shifts from ex-C&NW to ex-MILW at the west end of Waukesha. The old C&NW west is the Glacial Drumlin bike trail.

I'll never figure out CP's four-light signals, and it doesn't matter. They're approach lit. We're at Pewaukee, beginning of two main tracks eastward to Milwaukee, on Feb. 24 at 1615 hours and the light is "medium low green."

It's a grain train behind CSX 332 and leaser NREX 8092, ex-BN, with 67 cars.

The signal changes from "medium low green" to "second-in-command red." I'll let the railroaders translate to "approach, clear," etc.

Right on-time here a 1618 is Amtrak #7, 166/91/113, 10 cars.

A brighter day the next afternoon, FEb. 25, at Weyer Road as a CN southbound with 100 cars approaches at 1509 behind 2622/2569/2501, all GE's. The remnants of the trackside pole line undoubtedly will be gone in a few months ... or years.

At Duplainville, a "one-unit wonder" of CP's, #498 with 59 cars, approaches at 1520 behind 8565. The 8500's on paper are owned by Soo Line, still an entity, but nothing on the unit's exterior gives that away.

Back to Pewaukee for #7, 85/123/186, 10 cars, on-time at 1616.

And just beating sunset at 1651 at Oakton Ave./Capitol Dr. in Pewaukee is #283, engine 8736, with 67 cars. We call this crossing "the Pewaukee Amtrak station" because during the 1997 extension of Hiawathas to Watertown during a freeway construction project, the crossing had a graveled area with a small shelter thrown up for the Pewaukee stop. A city park nearby offered parking. The trial was a flop, but made for good pictures. Certain of the then existing schedules were just extended, making no sense for commuting into Milwaukee for all but one or two of the schedules. It was a typical governmental bureaucratic boondoggle, and CP understandably was dragged kicking and screaming into participating. We also call this "wooden owl crossing" for the "predator" perched on the crossarm of the sole remaining pole at left by the business building.

Here's #808 at Duplainville on-time at 1335 on Feb. 28 with 6 cars behind consecutively numbered P42's 124/125 up front and friend Craig Willett ("America's Hogger") at the throttle. The Empire Builder was plagued all winter by service outages west of the Twin Cities owing to blizzards, BNSF freight derailments, and then later on, high water in North Dakota, but Amtrak usually operated #807-808 as Chicago-Twin Cities stub trains with coaches and a Sightseer lounge.

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