Quad Cities Train Festival, 2011
Rock Island, Ill., July 21-24

Friday, July 22nd
NKP 765 excursion, then home

Photos by Dave Ingles

Thursday evening we watched -- from the safety of our motel -- two loud and impressive lightning and thunderstorms rake Bettendorf, giving our gravel-road-dusty van a free nature's car-wash. Friday morning dawned a bit cooler, still humid, and cloudy. Pushing the 10 a.m. departure time for the NKP 765 excursion east over IAIS to Bureau, Ill., a bit, gassing up the car one more time and icing the cooler, we took the Centennial Bridge to Rock Island after it became obvious on the radio that the train would not leave on time. So I was able to make photos at the event site itself, free and from over the fence, parking on the side lane on the street as a few others did. Here's the Centennial bridge, and the casino on the Davenport riverfront, as a backdrop for my only photo of 2-10-2 7081, at 9:51 a.m. The Caritas is about 2/3 of the way toward the back end of 765's train.

IAIS's ex-Montreal commuter cars, at right, will go on the shuttle to Walcott again.

BNSF 6688 is one of the six-axle units that can become A1A-A1A wheel arrangement with the center idler axle either on the rail, or above it. IAIS 701 is on the east end of the Walcott shuttle. Behind the IC&E blue and yellow unit is IAIS 513, the Rock Island-painted new GE, which was a shame -- I have yet to see it up close or in a good photo position.

You can glimpse IAIS 513 at rear toward the far left in this over-the-fence overview of the grounds. The red nose of Amtrak 156 is visible at right -- it's behind NKP 765 on the excursion consist.

Here's the oldest-looking newest-built steam engine present.

In Owosso, the three little saddletankers did some moves in the yard as a "tripleheader"--don't know if they repeated that  here.

The BNSF unit a bit closer-up.

As we left and went through downtown Rock Island, we spotted this mural; it's 10:08 a.m. and 765 isn't yet ready to leave.

At 44th St., this unusual GP38-2/SD38-2 pair is waiting for the steam train to get out of the way of their "real work."

Almost taking us by surprise, NKP 765 chuffs by at 10:29 a.m.

From 44th St. we drove straight to Geneseo to set up for an action shot by the restored depot, which years ago the last time I saw it was Rock Island white, with a blue and black and white "The Rock" style station sign, and kind of listing a bit to one side. I don't know its use or ownership status now, but it looks nice.

Rolling a good 45 mph or better, 765 storms through town at 11:07.

Despite driving 75 mph on I-80, to Route 40, south to Route 6, then west toward Sheffield 3 miles, we top a rise and see the train is already going thru Sheffield; reports of it doing as much as 60 mph were rampant but unconfirmed, but he was MOVING, let's leave it at that. We hustled back to the Route 40 grade crossing for a grab shot. The premium spots on the track's south side were more than taken, but no matter. In Rock Island Rocket days, this was an overhead bridge (ditto in Sheffield on U.S. 6), but the railroad was a busy double track with signals and passenger trains. These days it normally sees only 2 to 4 trains a day, and is "dark" single track.

The train's back end is clearing the UP (ex-C&NW "Southern Illinois line") underpass, invisible from the road now owing to growth of foliage (or as we photographers call is, "foil-age"). Time is 12:12 p.m.

Nearing Tiskilwa on back roads, figuring the train is long gone and into Bureau, we find people at crossings, reporting the train has not passed. Turns out it made an unscheduled "mechanical" stop, also a silent one on the radio. We drove on into Tiskilwa to set up.

Soon, at 12:43, here she comes.

And there she goes, to Bureau. Friend Rick Moser is also here to photograph (he's chasing it solo), so the three of us adjourn to Princeton, 8 miles north, for a leisurely lunch while the train wyes at Bureau, unloads for an in-the-park lunch, and stages a photo runby.

Once into Bureau, we find the train is reloading passengers for departure. A delay in loading a passenger in need of lift assistance will give us time to make a quick photo and get down the road for our one anticipated return-leg action shot. Time here is 2:08 p.m.

We are aiming for Sheffield, and take I-180 around Princeton onto I-80, then west to Route 40. Just before the 40 exit, I make sure to try a digital of the C&NW sign still on the "S.I. line" viaduct. The emblem on each side is partially obscured by rust spots in back of it. After making this thru-the-windshield view, I exit onto 40, turn south, and move into the left (wrong lane) on the overpass over I-80 to take a telephoto slide of the emblem on the sunny side. Just as I aim my lens, what should pop into the frame but a northbound UP stack train! (Remember, slides only of it.) Totally taken by surprise, we go south and make a U-turn and head north for an action shot.

Missing a first road to turn off on, we find a private farm crossing 1.5 miles north of I-80 that's even better, with a curve and the train above the cornfield. This is a train off the BNSF at the new Edelsetein connection track. Units are 7370/4195/3897, with a DPU (not shot--we were moving south by then) of 5536. We don't linger to count wells; time is 2:37.

We arrive at the west end of Sheffield, perhaps 6 miles from the UP freight photo site, in plenty of time to wait about 25 minutes or more for NKP 765 to storm through westbound, at 3:11 p.m. It makes for a grand steam finale for us.

Now it's time to go to Princeton and shoot Amtrak #5, the westbound California Zephyr, running just a few minutes late. as we begin the trek home. En route into town over the back roads off U.S. 6, we pass thru the 5-year-old Captain Swift covered bridge, at 3:44.

Here comes #5, engines 190/194, 10 cars, making a double-stop (2nd for sleeper passengers, cars on rear) at 3:56 thru 4:00 p.m.

During the stop, a BNSF hi-railer zooms west, in reverse!

Lots of people got off, as well as on.

The last "true"  (i.e., old, wooden, original) covered bridge in Illinois that you can drive through is the "red bridge" just north of Princeton and west of Route 26. I don't believe I've been thru it since I got a digital camera, so it's time for another visit, at 4:12 p.m. This photo looks north.

The pole in the foreground holds a light and a video camera, necessary protection in this day and age, alas.

This view looks south on the west side.

A BNSF coal train is approaching from the west, but we never actually see it. We drive the back roads over to Arlington to intercept Amtrak #3, the Southwest Chief, running a half hour late out of Chicago. (The eastbound Zephyr and Chief, incidentally, due thru here midday, are both lots of hours late.) Arlington had an old wooden grain elevator that finally was taken down over last winter after years of dis-use, so we just set up at the Route 89 crossing for our photo, this digital being taken by Carol from our van. Engines 167/113, 9 cars, at 5:08 p.m.

Mendota has the usual GP38 assigned as local engine, 5:27 p.m., parked across from the depot.

We are about to get on I-39 east of town when we spot a westbound BNSF merchandise freight going by, so hightail it back into town for this grab shot at 1st Avenue. Note the old signal gantry is still up, tho no longer in use. (See my Mendota Sub old-CB&Q signal study photos from 2010 in a separate file at  http://condrenrails.com/JDI/Mendota-Sub/Mendota-Sub.html). Units are 4657/KCS 4039/BNSF 1076, with 137 cars at 5:39 p.m.

Two units are parked across the tracks near the old roundhouse site, apparently on a work train: 5109/7298.

I have about 6 or 7 slides left on the roll in the N90 to use up so I can mail them for processing, so we enter Rochelle with high hopes, and of course are greeted with total radio silence. So I expose some film and pixels on the new Lincoln Highway mural and restored gas station downtown; it's 6:25 p.m.

We are giving the city one last chance, making a circuit around the west end of town when voila! -- there's a headlight on the BNSF up at Flagg Center, which turns out to be a coal load, a rarity on the C&I line (Aurora Sub) but probably a refugee from flood reroutes, engines 9923/9557 at 6:33. He had a DPU, 6023, but we didn't shoot it and don't count the cars. It's time to head home.

The slide roll is all exposed, but at our gas fill-up stop in S. Beloit ($3.62/gallon, vs. $3.75 at home) south of the Wisconsin border, this thunderhead over Chicago with the sun on the top part only, makes for a nice photo to end the trip. After a dinner stop in Rockford at Ruby Tuesday, we are home by 9:30, having put 990 miles on the van since Tuesday.

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