Nov-Dec 2015
Local Action

by Dave Ingles

My November local photography was again sporadic, done on only 7 different days, dictated by either sunny weather or a rare locomotive regardless of weather. On Sunday the 1st, the first day back on Standard Time, I went out and got 5 trains in an hour. First was the usual CN northbound afternoon stacker, I think #119 (or #199, I can't keep track), up around Weyer Road along Duplainville siding, units 2297-5676, at 3:55.

Back near the CP-CN diamond, CP stacker #198 showed up at 4:05 with 9723 up front and leaser CREX 1048 as DPU on the rear.

Amtrak #7, which won't be shootable in our area much longer, was on-time at 4:17 with P42s 90 and 183 with the usual 11 cars.

CN southbound stacker 198 was next, at 4:21 with units 2424/2278, at Green Road in lengthening shadows. It's always nice to see the 2400s, among my favorite CN models.

Right behind 198 was #312, caught up near Weyer Road in a last gap of sunlight at 4:31 with units 2889/2933/2818.

On the way home 20 minutes later, I couldn't resist this dusk shot of the Majestic Theater complex's marquee along Springdale Road, just south of I-94.

Tuesday the 3rd was sunny, and a quick foray to Duplainville yielded this eastbound with 56 cars behind CSX 5258 at 1:13 p.m.

Nothing else was imminent, so I returned home, fetched Carol, and we got lunch to-go at the local John's Root Beer stand (since 1937, looks like and may have been, historically, an A&W), and, as we do on some warm days, parked at Frame Park within sight of the CN main line to "dine." Along came CN #357 with 2587/BC 4653 on a whopping 137 cars, which cleared at 2:22. The rear unit is one of 14 Dash-9-44CWs built in 1995 (4) and 2000 (10), all delivered in solid blue, and i'm not sure any have been repainted CN. To us, they are rare birds.

Amtrak #8 was running almost 2 hours late, so I got him passing the office-park pond at MP103 at 3:30, engines 5/181 with the usual 11 cars.

Next was a 69-car CN northbound, crossing Spring Creek along Duplainville passing siding at 3:38 behind2538/2628.

Knowing this was probably my "action farewell" for the fall season for Amtrak #7 near home, I went over to Brookfield, thinking of a shot of it passing the depot. I photographed the building but decided the shadows were too strong and too much, and drove west on the city's road to its recycling center, about a quarter mile to the west. Allegedly there is a deal between the City of Brookfield and CP to move the depot a bit west and site it, as a trailhead or museum or something, along that road near my vantage point here, but the building is still in use by MofW folks and nothing has happened about the move. It is allegedly the oldest railroad building still in use in the state.

Train #7 came along on-time at 4:10 with units 133/142 and 11 cars.

On the way home, the sun glinting off the roadside wires along North Avenue caught my eye and I made this shot thru the van's windshield.

Two days later, I set up at Pewaukee's Village Park to shoot #8, only about an hour late, but the sun popped out at the wrong time for my vantage point, north of the track, but here it is anyway -- units 183/90, now 10 cars, at 2:38.

Two weeks went by before my next photo outing, on Thursday the 19th, and it was only to downtown Waukesha where I discovered that La Casa Esperanza, the local Mexican-American charity, had razed the old empty ex-Soo Line freight house, creating a wide-open vantage point from the west, across from the depot where the L504 local's unit is usually parked. I spotted a replacement for the CN-IC GP40 we'd had for weeks, in the form of Grand Trunk Western GP38-2 6221, one of eight remaining ex-DT&I units in that class, built in 1975. Turns out, 6221 didn't stay long, and this was my only shot of it during this stint.

Thanks mainly to Brian Schmidt of the TRAINS staff, on a dark, gray Wed., November 25th afternoon, I captured my 10th NS Heritage unit, and arguably one of my most favorite of the original 20, the 1074, DL&W/Lackawanna, leading CP oil train #586. Naturally after a sunny morning, the afternoon weather turned dark, but I stayed with it. I left the CLASSIC TRAINS office at Kalmbach around 1:40 pm and went to the Pewaukee Lake-front parking lot for Amtrak #8, running only about 20 minutes late; it's a favorite curve angle when one can shoot from the north side in the afternoon. He came by at 2:01, normal 11-car consist behind P42s 181/124 at 2 p.m., only about 20 minutes late. I then ate my bag lunch I'd taken to the office.

I kept in touch with Brian by phone, and there allegedly were 3 more eastbound CP freights in the picture, spaced out nicely, and no westbounds. So I hung around and read my Chicago Tribune. The next one, which we didn't think was our oil train, started blowing for west-lake crossings about an hour later, and lo, it was "our man," by me at 3:01 p.m., with trailing unit NS 1015. We thought there was one normal CP freight coming first. I got the nice digitals you see, but I fumbled the slide -- it was so dark, and with a gray unit, I wasn't fast enough raising the N90, so I took a going-away slide, started the van, called Brian (at Brookfield depot), who called others, reported in to my own d.s. at home, and off I went for Hwy. 16 and I-94 to go to downtown Milwaukee, weekday rush hour or not.

Pre-rush-hour traffic on I-94 had only one bad slowdown, in Brookfield, and once past the Zoo interchange (I-41/894), it was back to track speed. I didn't see him at Miller Park, so went on to my planned 13th St. exit, to the tracks, saw a red signal toward the Amtrak depot, and no sign of him. I knew I'd beaten him downtown as I made better time than Åmtrak's best (22 minutes between Duplainville and the MKE depot). I drove west via Canal St., 26th St. and then along the track on the dead-end that used to go to Cut-Off Tower, in case they routed him thru the yard, which I thought unlikely. Wondering if he'd been told to "Hold at Harwood" (in Wauwatosa -- my scanner wasn't working), I called Brian and Rob. Brian reported him via ATCS stopped somewhere west of Grand Ave. Rob was close to the Amtrak station. So I got on I-94 at 28th St., went north on what's now the Wis. 175 (formerly US 41) freeway, off at State St., and west toward Wauwatosa, figuring I'd see him from State St. before Hawley Road or afterward, thru 'Tosa, where the tracks are alongside the street. I was envisioning being able to shoot him (a slide) sitting still just west of "the village," i.e., downtown 'Tosa, while "stopped at Harwood." It was really getting dark by this time. I told Rob I'd call him if I saw him moving.

Well, I was sitting in traffic back from the 68th St. red light when ahead, I saw headlights coming at me, so I really lucked out. I managed a quick wye maneuver (traffic lights were red, so no traffic was coming at me) and went back to the private dead-end crossing just west of the Hawley Road overpass and shot him, including a slide or two at 1/60th second at f2 wide open. (I'd set digital ISO from 800 to 1600). Obviously CP had done what we guessed, i.e., holding that "bomb train" back from the MKE depot and all the people present for Amtrak #7 (depot time usually 3:40 or so to 3:52), as when I o.s'ed him by me at 3:54 to Rob, he reported Amtrak #7 had just passed him.

So I waited for #7, got him at 3:59, normal consist behind P42s 197/3, at 3:59. then took the non-freeway route home. For the record, the others of NS's first 20 I've seen are (in more or less order): Wab, ITC, CofG, NYC, MGA, VGN, PC, PRR, Erie, and DL&W. Some I've seen more than once, and all have been either on NS proper, or CN and/or CP around here, plus 1 on BNSF near Rochelle. But I haven't really gone after them.

On November 26th I noticed that our local switcher, GT 6221, the ex-DT&I GP38-2, had already been replaced, by CN-IC GP40 3103, a sister to 3102 which we'd had since at least early October, when it had replaced CN GP38-2 4705. Taking no chances in my quest to try to record each unit assigned to Waukesha, I shot it sitting there.

The third of three trains I shot on Sunday, Nov. 29 to conclude the month's photo activity, and the only one of which I got a decent photo, was CN #446 (or the equivalent, i've lost track of CN train numbers) with a new GE, 3028, leading 2913 on 142 cars. I'd seen him at Duplainville up behind Quad/Graphics waiting for the CP to clear, and knowing a fresh unit was leading, set up at Grand AVenue in Waukesha at the Carroll Univ. parking lot, empty on weekends. For an unknown reason he approached doing about 10 mph; he had a clear home signal, but I didn't have my scanner and so had no clue why. It took him 13 minutes to pass, finally clearing as he gathered a bit of speed up "cemetery hill" at 1:28 pm. I'd first seen him at Dupy about 12:15 or so. Two CP eastbounds went by, a merchandise train with CSX 369/540, and an oil train with two BNSF GEs, then CN #199 northbound, totally backlit, led by  2257/2443.

My first photo of December was an accident, as I'd just gone to Duplainville on a cloudy afternoon to watch Amtrak #7 go by. But when I saw he had Amfleet cars up front, I had time to raise the D700 and shoot. Units 14/17 had 17 cars in tow, 6 Amfleet coaches followed by the normal 11-car consist, on-time at 4:13. I don't know what special train the Amfleets were heading west for, nor did several friends I asked.

The CP Holiday Train comes thru here annually en route from Chicagoland to Milwaukee to Portage, Wis., and then points west, and most years we go look at it, although we didn't do so last year. But I knew that engine 9824, assigned maybe since new in 2004, had been replaced by a small GP30ECO unit, 2246. The 9824 had kept its wiring for the Christmas lights, if not the bulbs, all year. Whether 2246 will or not, I don't know. Its closest stop these days is out at Hartland, but unlike Pewaukee, the previous local stopping point, the site isn't accessible unless you want to wallow in the crowds. Two years ago we watched it from way back of the tracks in Brookfield, seeing a panorama passage. The time is after 8 pm, so no photos. This year with the D700, I tried, and some of the sequence follows. Every grade crossing had crowds, and none have ambient trackside lighting, so when we found a parking spot near the track, we chose the Willow Grove grade crossing in Pewaukee, just west of where two main tracks become one. He went by at 8:52. It would make a better movie, but I don't do that.

Saturday, Dec. 5th was a nice sunny day but started out oddly. In late morning I took a break and made a Duplainville circuit, and wound up home about an hour later having shot 3 trains, all from the driver's seat of my mini-van. I've never experienced anything like it, and the photos are, i think, just good enough to include. I drove north on Springdale Road and less than a city block from the  CP tracks the lights and gates activated. Two cars were ahead of me, so I stopped short of them and made the first shot that follows: Eastbound with NS 9275/9283, at 11:23 a.m., and a couple of usual Duplainville railfans shooting from the road shoulder. I drove over to the CN, went north to Highway K to see if there was a southbound lineup. There was not, so I headed for home on Highway F. Before I reached I-94, there went the northbound morning CN stack train, so I made a U and sped north to Highway K, and although he was going slow, the gates came down about halfway to the track, so i just pulled over and deliberately took the same type of shot, showing units 5719/2018 at 11:51. The train had 157 wells. This done -- I counted wells as I went south on the road along the tracks -- I returned to F and headed into Waukesha, going home. Just as I reached the CN at Frame Park, and the south switch to Waukesha siding, the gates on Moreland Blvd. activated, and i again was 1 or 2 cars behind the gates! So I shot the engines, shady side or not, 8932/2428 on what i guess was a second #119, with 112 wells, at 12:12.

Back home, I was not intending to go out again, at least right away, when Denny Hamilton called. He was with his wife at the Amtrak Milwaukee Airport station ready to board the 1 p.m. Hiawatha for Chicago for the afternoon and evening, but called to report that CP #281 was going by, led by an ECO GP and NS's Wabash Heritage unit! So I packed a sandwich and headed back to Duplainville, so as to get Amtrak #8, running on-time! He had 44/121 and 11 cars, at 1:43 p.m.

I then went to Pewaukee Oakton St. for a slightly better light angle, and an eastbound oil train showed up first, 8827/8802, at 2:10 p.m.

Finally #281 showed up, 2302/NS 1070 (Wabash -- my 4th or 5th encounter with it!) and116 cars, including 40 trilevels, at 2:26. Several fans came over from Duplainville, knowing of the oil train and fearing it might skunk them on a clear shot of #281.

As December continued, the days were mostly warmer than normal, mostly cloudy or gray, with some rain, finally, but no snow. On Wed., December 9th, a momentous occasion in JDI's "automotive history" occurred, as the odometer in our 2009 Chryslter Town & Country mini-van turned to six figures. I made sure, mostly by luck, that the changeover occurred on our subdivision's side streets, just blocks from the house, and in daylight, so I could photograph this event.

Resuming our normal "train of thought," pun intended, there did occur occasional train photography, and I emphasize "occasional." On Dec. 20th, the next day I shot any photos, I was in downtown Waukesha and saw from a distance the usual midday northbound CN stack start by. With only one unit on the point (2895), I assumed -- correctly -- that there'd be a DPU on the rear, so I positioned myself in the auto parts store's parking lot across the track from the depot so as to get the "newly available" view, and sure enough, unit 8891 was pointed backwards and made a nice shot juxtaposed with local switcher CN-IC GP40 3103, not at work on Sunday.

Christmas Eve day was the next day with quasi-nice weather, so I got out and about, first for Amtrak #8, running on-time as it had been lately, and lucked out at Pewaukee when Heritage unit 184 showed up on the point, with unit 3 trailing and 11 cars, at 1:37.

CN stack train #119 was next, passing the rear end of a southbound in the Duplainville siding at 2 p.m., unit 2928 up front with DPU (not photographed) 2919 on the back.

CP stack train #199 followed him, at 3:03, but the two dirty red GEs on the point make it unworthy of inclusion here. I went back into Waukesha for the waiting CN southbound, which turned out to be #348, by the depot and passing the 3103 during 3:20-3:24. He had 122 cars.

Every year, Carol and I take one evening to cruise several Waukesha neighborhoods to gawk at the outdoor Christmas decorations, which we did on Christmas evening, since daughter Suzy, a Walgreen's store manager, was at work, which meant the gift exchange would take place later on a different day. My D70's flash would not function after I shot the first home, so after just a few attempts, I gave up photography. The lack of snow cover makes a BIG difference. First, here's the "train" in Jim Hediger's house, in Lisbon Town, which I photographed on Dec. 8th when I was up there going thru slides with him. A widower (one of their three kids lives in this area), Jim retired from the MODEL RAILROADER staff a few months ago.

Here is a home, with a train, on Stardust Lane a few blocks from our home, then a highly decorated (every year, and for several holidays throughout the year) home on Melody Lane about 3 blocks north of us, then one more nearby to the west about three blocks, after which I gave up shooting and just "watched." We finally got snow after Christmas, but we'd lost our impetus to "cruise."

For my annual "last train of the year," I chose an easy one on Dec. 31st, as Amtrak #8 was basically on-time, so I went to Pewaukee for the lakefront crossing view -- now with a snow cover to complement the village's street wreath decoration -- and he surprised us by having 4 units on his 11 cars, by us in a whoosh at 1:47, about 10 minutes down. We didn't get the 2nd unit number, but 137 was in the lead and the rear two were 200 and 188. This concluded my 2015 digital photography.

 

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