October 2015 Local Action

Photos by Dave Ingles

My local photography activity during October was sporadic. Fall colors were gradual, and on a scale of 1 to 5 for vibrancy or brightness, overall was about a 3.5. There will be a few non-railroad scenes in this selection, just to add a bit of variety. The first good sunny day with lots of action, after our October 1st trip to Rochelle (see separate file), was Saturday the 10th, when between 1:30 pm and 4:30 pm, I shot 6 trains, 4 of them more than once, plus our local switcher. I saw Amtrak #8 go by at a distance at 1:36, nothing different, just the usual 2 P42 motors and 11 cars. Waiting for him at Pewaukee, end of double track, was CP #281, which I'd checked on at the MP104 "crew-change stairway" as he waited. It was worth a return to Oakton Ave. crossing for an action sequence. Power is two NS units, and three CP family SD40-2s, two of them still wearing the multi-mark: NS 9942/NS 8162/CP 6029/CP 5927/DM&E 6073, at 1:43 pm.

I wasn't quick enough back to Duplainville to shoot CP #199, the stack train, at 1:54, but no harm no foul. Then the CN got busy. Next up was a grain extra south behind two of its newest GEs, 3006/3027, which I shot only slides of, at 2:02 at Joseph Road just south of the diamonds. In Waukesha, he met a 131-car northbound CN with 6 units, which crossed the CP at 2:21. I followed him up to Weyer Road for a shot showing all the units: 8900/2908/8860/2107/2030/8808, a few minutes later.

Meanwhile, I'd shot slides of a second southbound with a new unit leading, 3010/2877, up at Weyer Road at 2:09. He crossed the CP at 2:26, and in that digital shot notice the "unknown railfan outstanding in his field" -- actually on the pile of sawdust in the recently cleared-off lot at the diamonds' southwest quadrant. I then bolted south to Waukesha, and just beat him to the Newhall Ave. overpass of West Ave. on what we (and the old Soo Line) call "cemetery hill," at 2:41. He turned out to have 172 cars, with 131 up front, then DPU 2860, and 41 cars on the rear.

He was to meet another northbound down at Vernon siding, 5 miles south, so I went back up to Duplainville, and shot him at 3:42 pm near Weyer Road with 4 units, the rear one being the first I've seen of NS's ex-UP SD9043MACs, still in UP colors: CN 2914/CN 2925/NS 7538/NS 7293, with 87 cars.

The 2914 North held at Duplainville North to meet stack train #198, which usually has ho-hum new GEs (2800s, 2900s) and/or EMDs (2200s, 8800s, etc.). But when I saw at a distance he had a normal-cab unit leading, I headed back to Waukesha and shot him at White Rock Ave., with 2036/2121, both secondhanders (ex-UP), up front, at 3:57, with 111 container wells. It was easy to forego Amtrak #7 for this!

After he cleared, the Waukesha South home signal, just to the north here, changed to approach diverging, which meant local L504 was coming home from Burlington, undoubtedly to meet #198 at Vernon. i hung around and got him coming past the old Main Street yard site at 4:24 pm with GP40 CN-!C 3102 and 3 cars. My vantage point was just south of the one for #198.

Of note on the local Waukesha scene, Le Casa de Esperanza, the local Mexican-American charity, which has been expanding its footprint (school, restaurant, social-service offices) just north of the depot area, had just razed the empty old Soo Line freight house across the tracks from the depot. This left a "new" view of the depot, and the "tie-up track" west of the main track, where the L504 unit usually parks for the night. I took a photo from the parking lot of an auto parts store of the depot to finish the day's photography, at 4:28.

I then went back the next afternoon, Oct. 11th, to shoot the unit parked just right, at 4:03 p.m.

From there, I went up for Amtrak #7 at Duplainville, trying a "different angle" since there was no line of parked train-watchers' cars in the way, and the trees along Marjean Lane were colorful.

Two days later, on Tues., Oct. 13th, I went fall-color-and-train-hunting to the north. The first two scenes are at a favorite backdrop, a subdivision just west of Highway 164 just inside Washiington County, north of Highway Q (the county line). This is just south of Monches Road, an east-west crossroad. The shots of the farm, following, are taken from Monches Road looking north, and east from Highway 164 at the farm itself. From there I went on north to the Rugby Junction/Ackerville area on CN's Waukesha Subdivision.

I knew I was ahead of a CN northbound, from the signal indication at Duplainville North, and I also heard a Wisconsin & Southern train on the radio, working at Ackerville, the small CN-WSOR interchange yard and a lengthened CN passing siding. So I parked at the Hillside Road grade crossing just west of the CN's siding's south switch. The WSOR man, units 3804/3810 with 35 cars, returning to Milwaukee was first, at 1:55 pm. I made the shot, then took the back way (Fond du Lac Road) to Rugby Jct. and went on south to Pioneer Road, to escape a cloud, for the better 2nd shot. Sure enough, right after he cleared at 2:01, the northbound CN man, which turned out to be stack train (#199, I think), the 8100 North, showed up. I made a grab shot at 2:03 into the sun on Pioneer Road, then headed for Interstate 41 (formerly US 41) since 8100 is one of the 4 ex-EMD demos, which CN has finally repainted from GM blue and silver into normal colors. I had not seen or shot any of the 4 as pure CN.

I figured I could make it around Slinger and up to Allenton, off I-41 and down to the tracks, in time for a shot, and I had about 5 minutes to spare before getting a nice shot at 2:20. He turned out to have 154 container wells behind units 8100/2805, no DPU. Note that the local lumber company in Allenton still has rail service --- that's an empty bulkhead lumber flatcar at the right.

With nothing else imminent on the CN or WSOR, I returned south, got to Duplainville and found CP #484, with a four-unit CSX power set, sitting on Track 1  waiting for room to advance into Milwaukee. I first shot him sitting at 3:10, and he would not leave until 4:21. Units: CSX 5373/CITX 3089/CSX 7711/CEFX 3109, the leasers being SD40-2s, so quasi-worthwhile.

His wait was for two CN freights and then Amtrak's Empire Builder in each direction. First was an empty WPSX coal train from Green Bay with UP power, 5573/6247 with DPU 5889, at 3:20.

Another southbound, #342 with 5 units (2841/2822/5441/2105/5620, was next, passing Weyer Road at 3:46 and eventually stopping for the CP crossing home signal, behind Quad/Graphics' plant.

Then it was time for the two Amtrak trains, #8 running a bit over 2 hours late and #7 on-time. First, #8 overtook the stopped CP #484 at 3:56. Amtrak had unit 133/41 and the usual 11 cars.

Then 18 minutes later, #7 appeared, crossing over from Track 1 to 2 just west of the CN diamonds to pass the stopped #484, at 4:14. His having Heritage unit 184 on the front was a totally serendipitous surprise, and in fact, I got out of the car to shoot photos with only the digital camera -- my bad! (My excuse: The sun was in an out by this time and I wasn't confident it would be out as #7 passed; that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) His trailing unit was 164 ahead of the normal 11 cars.

At this point, with CP quieting down, I went back into Waukesha, south to the Amron Industrial Spur switch atop Cemetery Hill, where the sun got better for my 2nd shot of CN #342 with its 5 units and 90 cars, including one string of 39 presumably loaded oil tank cars, at 4:50..

We weren't done, as CN #446 had caught up to #342 at Duplainville, and I caught him as I drove back thru town toward home, at the WSOR divergence at Grand Avenue, with units 2944/3026/2010/2920 and 149 cars at 5:04. I shot him despite the sun dimming.

Still not done, a I heard via radio of a meet down at Vernon, so I waited by Whiterock Avenue in town for what turned out to be a northbound 89-car potash empty behind 3014/2935 at 5:34. Then it was time to go home for dinner.

The next day, Wed. the 14th, was nice and sunny, so i went out just for grins, first getting Amtrak #8, engines 155/14 with 11 cars, on-time at 1:41 p.m. along Parkside Road, a dead-end between the track and Lake Pewaukee a mile or so west of the village center along the east-end lakefront.

We'd been seeing the "rock train" -- aka U700, a shuttle between quarries at Cedar Lake (Allenton) and Sussex and aggregates customers at Mundelein and Grayslake, Ill. — in daylight again, but with a 35-car trainset whose northernmost car (they're original CN ore jennies, via WC ownership for aggregates with SSAM reporting marks) is badly "tagged" and whose unit, 5785, is ugly enough to begin with (IMHO) and facing south to boot. Nevertheless, here's a shot crossing Spring Creek at 2:22 p.m.

He slowed down along Duplainville's passing siding because #342 was approaching, passing Weyer Road at 2:43, as birds took flight, behind 2916/2894 with 174 cars, with DPU 2940 137 cars back from the front end. That finished my photos for this day.

On Friday the 16th, I went out again in mid-afternoon, and after a routine CN northbound (2581/8923) and Amtrak #7 (130/91), CN stack train #198 showed up at 4:40 behind 8996/BC 4645, the trailing unit from a small group not seen here often. The shots are at Joseph Road south of the CP diamonds.

Finishing the short afternoon was a CN northbound with NS 8125/1134 a Weyer Road at 5:01 p.m.

Having assumed that the motive power on Amtrak's Empire Builder would do its normal flip back from Seattle 4 days after going west, I was at Duplainville (with numerous other fans) on Sat.,Oct. 17, expecting Heritage unit 184 to be leading #8 east as it had on #7 west on Oct. 13th. We were not disappointed, as 184 did lead, tho now with 115 trailing, on the usual 11 cars at 2:06 pm, only about a half hour late.

Six minutes later, an apparent combined CP #281 and #199 came by, with about 20 tri-levels up front of a long string of stacks that I didn't count, power being 9658/8567. I shot only a slide. Finishing an abbreviated day of photography was a southbound CN train with many empty auto tri-levels among its 127 cars, power being 8917/2451, photographed at the dead end of Joseph Road south of the CP diamonds a half mile at 2:22..

On Sunday the 18th, Carol and I began a quasi-reprise of my foray north 5 days previous, hunting for some good fall color, and perhaps some trains. We did better on the former than the latter, starting up at Monches Road and Highway 164 again, for her to see "our favorite line of trees and farmstead. I shot a one new angle at that intersection, and a scene thru our windshield to the west on Monches Road, as we headed west knowing nothing was about on the CN.

We headed west to the Mapleton area, but heard nothing on the UP Adams Sub, then checked out the CP's Cooney Siding area between Ixonia and Oconomowoc (ditto on CP), then drove on the back roads into Oconomowoc, at least finding this colorful tree at Locust & South streets, and then snapped both the ex-Milwaukee Road depot (now a good restaurant) and the old railroad car they have displayed to the east, used as a special dinner event room. Friends I asked about the car's history came up with this, from the late Bob Bullermann in a 2002 local NRHS publication: Built in 1910 by Barney & Smith for Northern Pacific as first-class coach 1091. Pullman rebuilt it in 1922, adding a steel frame and siding to cover the wood, renumbered it 1268. NP rebuilt it into business car 1923 in 1949. The late Richard Hinebaugh bought it from NP in 1968 and moved it to Mid-Continent museum in North Freedom, Wis. He then started the Kettle Moraine tourist railroad in North Lake, Wis., and moved the car there in 1971, where it remained until after the railroad shut down several years ago. Similar coaches served on the Rio Grande Ski Train, then the Algoma Central.

CP was quiet, so we went on home for lunch, then I went out again when it was time for Amtrak #7, at Brookfield, since the change to Standard Time was coming, after which shots of on-time #7 here are gone until late winter. At least this version was different in that PV Caritas, in which i've ridden thousands of miles, was on the rear; power was 134/23 at 4:19, only about 5 minutes late.

The last train of the day was this northbound CN stacker, included only because a cowl Dash-8, 2428, was leading, with 2242/2674 trailing, at 4:53 in Waukesha.

Tuesday the 20th was cloudy, but I went out just to take a break and got lucky when a frac-sand extra with 93 cars showed up led by one of the few black IC SD70s left on CN proper. Many of this class, only some of which have been repainted full CN, now are, I'm told, on CN's Bessemer & Lake Erie. Trailing units: 2260/2465 (itself "IC" and ex-LMS/Conrail), crossing Spring Creek and then at Green Road (Duplainville) at 2:33.

On the 21st, I was in central Waukesha when this southbound empty coal train from Green Bay showed up, units UP 5868/6700/7283 at Milepost 98, Hartwell Ave., at 12:15 p.m. The blue and white building to the left is Trackside Car Wash, which we do of course patronize.

The third train I shot on Thurs., Oct. 22, after CN stacker #198 with three usual GE units, and the rock train, still with the 5785 and the tagged car first back, was CP #280, approaching Duplainville at 2:45 pm behind NS 6953/9168.

I may have had advance word on the next train, a northbound 94-car CN frac-sand empty led by BNSF power, the first unit a "Warbonnet." The four were 777/6611/7671/7347, very unusual for this area. I shot him at the CP diamond at 2:55, mainly to get the units' numbers, and again to the north at Weyer Road 5 minutes later.

Not far behind him was local L504, with CN-IC 3102, and 5 cars, crossing the CP at 3:09. Having been to Burlington, he would leave his cars up by Weyer Road on the "set-out track" for pickup by Shops Yard-based night local L510 and/or southbound thru trains, then return light-engine to the "tie-up track" by the Waukesha depot. Sometimes during the week if traffic is heavy enough (CN and/or CP), or his crew is close to max hours, he will just back into the tie-up track in Waukesha with his train and let the night crew -- which mainly switches Quad/Graphics plants at Duplainville and Sussex, and the Amron Spur's two customers in Waukesha's south end -- take the cars north to set out.

The next day, Saturday,Oct. 24th, Brian Schmidt and I drove to Naperville, Ill., for a slide show but spent some time on the BNSF main line before it began. The weather, alas, was dark after a sunny morning; those images are in a separate file. Back home for Sunday the 25th, the weather was nice, and I went out in the afternoon and wound up seeing 9 trains in 2 1/2 hours! The first was CN #342 at Milepost 104 behind 2883/2817.

After a routine Amtrak #8 passed, running about an hour late, CP #199 showed up at Duplainville at 2:55 with 148 cars (all but 5 container wells) behind 9704/8876.

CN #342 then proceeded south, and 20 minutes later at 3:25, CP #551, an empty oil train, came west with 8840/8876, routine power, but whose first "separator car" was a Soo Line covered hopper, too neat to not post here!

Six minutes later, a monster CN southbound took 6 minutes to pass, with 2830/3010 up font, then 110 cars, DPU 2821, and 60 more cars for 170 total.

For the day's 6th train, I went over into Brookfield near MP 101 for CP #687, an unfamiliar number but a train with CSX power, 334/504, with 103 cars, 32 tri-levels as if it were #281 and then 71 grain hoppers. This is a short stretch where the residential Barberry Street, connecting two subdivisions, is right along the track, across from Fox Brook County Park. The first photo is a cropped shot after which I shot slides, then I went to Pewaukee to get him again after Amtrak #7 went by.

Here's #7 at Oakton Ave. in Pewaukee, routine with units 5/181 and 11 cars, on-time at 4:16, followed by 687 again 7 minutes later.

The 687 undoubtedly met the next train, an eastbound with mixed power of CSX 673/NS 9155, at Nashotah, for he came thru Pewaukee village at 4:47. Of course the beautiful low sunlight that blessed my mid-train shot of 687 going away, taken from the lakefront, disappeared when the 673 East, an oil train, showed up, but I did what I could.

Another westbound, CP #289, was waiting at end of double track (CP's "Pewaukee," MP 104.25 or so), so I went back to the lakefront behind the closed gas station and shot him on the curve, with the sun again out, at 4:55. I then headed home, shooting some fall color in Pewaukee en route to end the day, and digital photography for the month, tho I did shoot slides of two CP trains on the 26th in good low sunlight.

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