Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren

This is the power of an eastbound freight sitting at the east end of Leewood Yard in Memphis blocking the Highland Ave. crossing.

At the west end of Leewood Yard, we see the slug set with a transfer run ready to head to the auto unloading yard on in the UP in Marion, AR.

On our way to Madison, WI, we got off of I55 for a drive thru lunch at the Litchfield, IL Arby's. After picking up our lunches, I spotted this Tri-County unit parked across the street.

I had to settle for a grab shot of the Rochelle switcher. Usually this is a clean shot, but there was a pile of "white stuff" common to the "frozen north" in winter blocking the view. However, clean shots of this engine in action would be made upon our return trip.

As we crossed the BNSF tracks at Railfan Park, the westbound signal for the main was "Clear" so I headed to my favorite spot west of the the diamonds for this sequence. As the third unit passed, I felt that "Southern" unit "shiver" in the cold of this day in the "teens". The "going away shot" was again blocked by piles of that "northern white stuff". Did I hear someone say Christmas Card 2010?

Apparently these Yankees don't like this white coating that someone had put on their parking lot and tried to scrape it off into 6' hight piles around utility poles. They sure did not do a very good job of getting it all off.

Back at Railfan Park, there were a fair number of cars, all with IL licenses except for our TN. There was a nice coating of that "northern white stuff". After about 10 minutes a big rig truck pulls into the lot. The lettering on the cab door is Batesville, AR! A railfan from the White River Division of the MP.

The only UP train during our 1.5 hours at the Park was this one with 7 units on the point, mostly DIT (Dead-In-Tow).

As the sun begins to set over Global III, the signals are all red, and all the fans have left the pavillion, we head to Holiday Inn Express to check in.

The next morning I am at trackside at the Railfan Park in Rochelle before 7:30. When I arrived, there was one person asleep in his car. After the first train, he left. Thus the parking lot was empty except for our SUV. When I got into the car the temperature read 0 F! I discovered quickly why one does not leave a digital camera and spare batteries in the car on such a cold night. Both batteries were dead! As well as the battery of the new video camera which is identical to the still camera batteries. IT IS A CANON, YOU KNOW. After warming and charging the batteries, I am back in business. However, I had missed two trains!

It was still pretty dark for the first UP train.

The only other train that I shot before having to leave for my meeting in Madison was this UP.

Before leaving Madison, we drove by the WSOR yard where I blew the exposure because I did not reset after some inside pictures at my meeting.

Tuesday night was spent in the Milwaukee area having supper with friends at the Waukesha Steak 'n Shake and slides with the Tuesday Night Slide Group. Wednesday morning we began our journey back home with a stop in Rochelle. Note the late morning temperature on the car thermometer when we got to the Railfan Park. The park was desserted as you can see with the photo below.

This train had a surprise, UP 1996, the SP Heritage unit.

The next train was this eastbound stack train on the UP.

The action then shifted to the BNSF with this eastbound stack with a "warbonnet" on the point kicking up the snow.

The next action was announced by the crossing bell on the BNSF as the local switcher was delivering some cars to the UP connection.

Our last UP train was a stack train coming out of Global III. It had a pair of units mid-train working hard as it passed. Not expecting any such movement, I missed that action.

The very last train in Rochelle, following lunch trackside from the local Subway, was the returning BNSF delivery to the UP.

We then headed out for Decatur, IL and Jan's appointment with a church leader there. While Jan was in her meeting, I explored Decatur some. My two previous trips to Decatur had involved the Wabash Station which I easily discovered. From its parking lot I got a view of the former Wabash engine servicing facility.

As seen in the previous sequence, a NS train was leaving as seen here crossing the IC where a tower once stood.

Down the IC 2 blocks is this former IC freight house.

We then headed out to get ahead of the approaching snow storm. Our plan was to spend the night in St. Louis and visit with friends, but the weather report kept getting worse. We finally cancelled our reservation in St. Louis and made a new one for Rolla. We stopped for gas in Eureka, MO. While filling the tank the snow began with light flurries. We grabbed malts at the local Steak 'n Shake and pushed on. The snow gradually got worse, but we tried to follow trucks which were kicking up the snow off the road. At times it was near "white-out" in the dark as it was now around 5pm. The snow slacked up as we approached Rolla, and we checked into our Hampton Inn for the night.

The next morning the car was covered with several inches of snow. The temperature was in the single digits. After leaving Rolla, we headed for Springfield. The highway was partially covered with snow, but no ice. Going was slow at first but picked up. The only snow packed areas were the exits. In Springfield we met and had lunch with some Frisco friends in the Frisco Crossing restaurant inside the Frisco building.

Lunch was in the Board room. On the south wall was a 1/2 size photo of 4-8-2 #1500. On the north wall was a 1/2 size photo of #2005 in the "cat whisker" scheme used after the E7s were rebuilt to look like E8s. On the outside of the restaurant was a floor to ceiling photo of the Springfield station. There were a couple of display cases with Frisco artifacts. On the walls of the hallways were various photos from the official Frisco files. Inside the restrooms, were photos of wrecks. I tired to shoot some digital images, but the battery was dead again and the charger had gotten lost in the mess of the back seat. The next morning I found the charger in the toe of my snow boots which I had not needed to wear on this trip.

After running some errands in Van Buren, AR, we headed toward the UP yard. As we passed over the A&M tracks at Copp Siding, I noticed a train switching. We tried to shoot it there, but it started on its way back to Springdale. We gave chase, missing it at Meadors and barely reaching the town of Rudy, only to be able to get a going away shot.

This train was the last shot on this large "figure 8" trip, Memphis to Beloit, WI; to Madison, WI; to Waukesha, WI; to Beloit, WI; to Decatur, IL; to St. Louis; to Springfield, MO; to Van Buren, AR; and back to Memphis. We arrived home to find snow in the shadows of the front yard.