To Missouri By Train

BNSF Railway; La Plata, Mo.; October 20, 2012

Last month I was invited to be a speaker at a travel writing and photography workshop sponsored by the American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation and held at the Depot Inn & Suites in La Plata, Mo. As part of the deal, I was offered an Amtrak trip from New York to La Plata with sleeping accommodations each way. I opted to go out via the Lake Shore Limited from New York to Chicago and return via the Capitol Limited from Chicago to Washington, D.C. (and a Northeast Corridor train from D.C. back to New York). Travel between Chicago and La Plata would be on the Southwest Chief. Because of the train travel, this trip would be unique for me -- I wouldn't have a car, so every photo location had to be accessible via train and foot.

On Thursday, October 18, I got a ride from home to Dover, N.J., to begin my train travel via New Jersey Transit's Morris & Essex line to Penn Station in New York. I had sent most of my clothes out to Missouri ahead of me to keep what I was carrying to a minimum so I could do exploring between trains at various stops. My exploring started right in Penn Station where I found a remnant of old Pennsylvania Station (demolished in 1964) -- a door frame from the old station still remained in the Long Island Rail Road section of the new station. The doorway was located right next to a police kiosk, and I quickly explained to the officer on duty what I was doing -- shooting a doorway is not illegal, but might look a bit strange. "Knock yourself out," the officer laughed. "It's all good."

Train time found me settling into a roomette in a Viewliner sleeper. I had a room on the west side of the train for great views of the Hudson River at sunset and enjoyed dinner in the diner in the final glimmer of light. The train paused at the Albany-Rensselaer station for just under an hour as the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited was added to the train for the trip to Boston, which gave me some time to explore the station there.

Train time at Albany-Rensselaer, N.Y.; October 18, 2012

After departure the attendant made up my bed, and I was delighted to find that the bed was even with the window sill; no awkward propping up was necessary to watch the lights of the towns out the window as sleep approached. Morning was somewhere in Indiana.

CTA; Chicago, Ill.

Arrival in Chicago was in mid-morning and I had about five hours before getting on the Southwest Chief. I had seen photos of a pretty neat junction on the Chicago Transit Authority in the Loop that was shootable from a parking deck, and I made my way to the intersection of Canal and Wells and found the parking deck. Sure enough, it looked down on a crossing with interchange tracks in three of the four quadrants of the crossing. Trains were frequent and I tried a variety of angles. With so many geometric lines in the photo, it was a bit difficult to figure out which lines to make parallel to the edges of the photo (and the looking-down angle didn't help matters). The photo at right is heavily cropped and rotated, as I didn't like the looks of the lines in the original. The horizontal photo below is pretty much the way it was shot -- the horizontals were a little easier to frame up.

After getting several trains at the Loop, I headed out onto CTA on the Blue Line towards O'Hare Airport. The 2200-series cars are making their last stand on this line before being replaced by newer cars, and while none are used on the front or back of train sets (they are always sandwiched mid-train, making photos difficult) I did make sure to ride a few of the cars. It was cloudy, but I made a few stops for photos, some with the skyline in the background. The line ducked back underground for a couple of stations (the Belmont Station being particularly nice), but when the tracks went above ground again west of Belmont they were in the median of an interstate highway. Not caring for the noise, I turned back to downtown Chicago and explored Union Station before it was time to board the Chief.

Chicago Transit Authority; Chicago, Ill.; October 19, 2012

Chicago Transit Authority; Chicago, Ill.; October 19, 2012

I had a Superliner roomette on the Chief, but since I'd be detraining at about 9:00 p.m. the bed wasn't required. I enjoyed dinner in the dining car before retiring to my roomette until arrival at La Plata. Once there, a shuttle van met me at the station and took me to the Depot Inn & Suites.

On Saturday I enjoyed a railroadiana sale at the Silver Rails Event Center in La Plata, then enjoyed some train watching from the railroad overlook in town. The main line below is former Santa Fe, while the overlook is built on an embankment where the Wabash once crossed the Santa Fe on a bridge. I watched several trains go by (somewhere around ten in an hour -- see the photo at the top of the blog), then did the short hoof back to the Inn. The next few days (Sunday-Tuesday) had the seminars in the morning and usually a short afternoon activity including visits to the Silver Rails Art Gallery and the headquarters of Train Party which, as the name implies, stocks everything you could possibly want for your next train-themed event. Bob and Amy Cox were gracious hosts at both locations. Bob is also the caretaker of La Plata's Amtrak station, and he provided a historical tour of the facility.

The weather had deteriorated from Saturday, so I spent most afternoons at the Inn. I did get back to the overlook on Tuesday night to shoot the Southwest Chief making its evening stop at the La Plata depot.

Amtrak; La Plata, Mo.; October 23, 2012

La Plata is a typical midwest heartland town with the one-story row of businesses flanking a main street and the town square, along with a grain elevator. The highway has long bypassed downtown, so it has a feeling that time stopped a few decades ago. I quickly became attached to the town. All too soon, though, it was time to board Amtrak and head back east. Once again I was in a Superliner roomette for the ride back to Chicago.

CTA; Chicago, Ill.

During the week I had some time to evaluate my photos from the CTA junction that I had shot on Friday and decided I would go back there during my Windy City layover and try again if it was cloudy -- there would be too many contrasty shadows to deal with between the buildings if the sun was out. Well, the sun was out, so Plan B was to ride the Blue Line back out to get some of those skyline shots I had seen on Friday.

Western Avenue was my first stop, which showed the Sears Tower (I don't care what it's officially called now -- it will always be the Sears Tower) quite nicely. Next up was California, which also presented a nice scene from the end of the platform. My time was growing short to get back to Union Station but I still wanted one more shot at California. I moved myself to the middle of the platform near the steps -- if I saw an inbound train coming I could hustle down the stairs, cross under the tracks and get up to the inbound side. The shot I wanted was actually better from mid-platform that what it was at the end of the platform, so this maneuver was actually beneficial. Another outbound train showed up first, then I hustled over to the inbound side and rode back into downtown. I walked down the platform at Union Station alongside the Capitol Limited, and was soon in a Superliner roomette for the eastbound trip. My last dinner in the diner was held shortly after departure.

Chicago Transit Authority; Chicago, Ill.; October 24, 2012

I quickly discovered I like the Viewliner roomette I had going west more than I like the Superliner roomettes. They aren't laid out quite as nice, and the bed is below the window level by a few inches, requiring bending pillows to keep your eyes at a level to see out while lying down. A pleasant overnight ride was had, and I was enjoying breakfast as the train descended Sand Patch Grade in western Pennsylvania on the former Baltimore & Ohio. Since the miles east of Cumberland, Md., featured numerous tunnels and river crossings, I decided to enjoy the ride to Harpers Ferry from the Sightseer Lounge where I had unobstructed views out both sides of the train.

Arriving in Washington, I had over two hours between trains. I spent some time photographing Union Station (the original concourse is under reconstruction and the ill-conceived 1976 addition that now houses a mall is just dark and dreary). The Metrorail system features some nice stations nearby, so I headed down there for some quick riding and photography.

Metrorail; Washington, D.C.; October 25, 2012

As I was finishing up my shooting, I was going for one more shot from the platform at Gallery Place of a train heading back to Union Station. Just as I was ready to shoot, someone stepped out in front of me with a cell phone to take a picture of the train. The headlights put a rim light around the man, and you can see the train in his cell phone -- I wound up with a much better picture than I could have imagined!

Metrorail; Washington, D.C.; October 25, 2012

The line was long to board the Northeast Corridor train that would take me to New York, but I was near the front and easily found a window seat. The train was pretty crowded by the time we left Baltimore. At New York's Penn Station I had time for a fast food dinner, then boarded a New Jersey Transit train to Mount Olive. My ride was waiting there, ending my Missouri adventure.

Thanks to fellow presenters Henry Kisor and Carl Morrison for their hospitality in La Plata. Thanks also to Steve Grande for the train tickets and the lodging at the Depot Inn & Suites. And thanks to the staff at the Inn, Bob and Amy Cox, and the people of La Plata for a memorable stay.

Adirondack Weekend

Adirondack Scenic; McKeever, N.Y.; September 2, 2012

For Labor Day weekend I was invited up to the Adirondack Scenic Railroad to conduct a night photo session in conjuction with a railfan weekend and the 20th Anniversary celebration of the railroad. With events on Saturday and Sunday on the long weekend, I headed north from New Jersey on Thursday night.

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After getting a night shot at Susquehanna, Penn., of a New York, Susquehanna & Western freight under a massive coaling tower (a shot I detailed in this blog post) I continued my scheduled all-nighter by going up to Harpursville, N.Y., on the former Delaware & Hudson (now Canadian Pacific, but seeing a lot of Norfolk Southern traffic) and setting up my strobes for whatever came along crossing the bridge there. I had set up a little before midnight, and got an eastbound train a little later. There was another angle I wanted, so I kept the lights set up and fell asleep in the front seat of the car, hopeful that either a horn or a radio transmission would wake me up if anything else showed.

It was a radio transmission that got my attention. A train went through a defect detector just west of the bridge and I cleared my sleep cobwebs, grabbed my camera and ran out onto the parallel highway bridge. A couple of cars went by, probably wondering what I was doing in the dark with a camera pointed at the bridge. I soon heard the train blowing for the crossing just off the west end of the bridge and the train rumbled into the scene.

Norfolk Southern on Canadian National (D&H); Harpursville, N.Y.; August 31, 2012

It was only then that I noticed it was 5:30 a.m. and the sun was just beginning to brighten the eastern sky. There wouldn't be time for another train before daybreak, so I tore down the lights, got about another hour of sleep and headed north.

The plan was to spend the day on the Water Level Route of the former New York Central (now CSX Transportation). I had never been to Little Falls, N.Y., and did some exploring there, but wound up spending much of the day near Utica. The railroad was absolutely hopping, with trains running non-stop. As the day came to an end, I was on the platforms at the Utica Amtrak station getting trains in the last afternoon light before heading to the Adirondack Scenic at Thendara. Lodging would be Van Auken's Inn, directly across the street from the Thendara depot.

Amtrak; Utica, N.Y.; August 31, 2012

The next morning I watched the crews put the displays for the railfan weekend together and visited some of the displays at the depot (including a locomotive simulator, where I stalled a train in a snowstorm on a steep grade). The 20th Anniversary speeches occurred when the morning train from Utica arrived, then I rode first class from Thendara down to Otter Lake on the rear platform of a Baltimore & Ohio business car. At Otter Lake the two F-units powering the train ran around to the north end, putting them up against the rear platform for the return trip.

Adirondack Scenic; Otter Lake, N.Y.; September 1, 2012

Returning to Thedara, we found a rap group making a video on one of the railfan weekend display locomotives -- Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern M420W No. 2045. We watched with amusement as the group danced and recorded on the running boards of the locomotive, then had the rapper and part of his posse pose for a "railroad publicity shot."

Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern; Thendara, N.Y.; September 1, 2012

That evening we did several shots at the Thendara depot for the night photo session. Don Chaudruc, the mastermind behind the railfan weekend, posed in several of the shots at the classic ex-New York Central depot.

Adirondack Scenic; Thendara, N.Y.; September 1, 2012

On Sunday morning I took a drive through the busy tourist town of Old Forge, just up the street from Thendara. The sun was in and out, but I decided to drive down to McKeever to the bridge to photograph the morning train from Utica behind the railroad's freshly painted RS18s. It was cloudy when I walked into the bridge, but a large hole opened up at just the right time and I got a decent shot of the train in full sunlight (see the top photo in this entry). 

It was time to start heading back towards New Jersey, so I bid farewell to the great folks at the Adirondack Scenic and drove south (but only after another crack at the locomotive simulator -- this time I took an Amtrak train up the grade, topped the hill and promptly ran away down the opposite side at 80 m.p.h. until I wrecked). The Water Level Route was shut down to all freight because of a bridge replacement project near Albany, but Amtrak was getting through. Among the passenger trains I shot, I got the Lake Shore Limited passing eastbound through Amsterdam, N.Y.

Amtrak; Amsterdam, N.Y.; September 2, 2012

I had wanted to get over to Mechanicville and check out the restored railroad interlocking tower there. XO Tower at one time protected the crossing of the Boston & Maine and Delaware & Hudson; today it's Pan Am Railway and Canadian Pacific that pass by. Upon getting there, the sun wasn't quite where I expected -- it favored a northbound train, preferably on the D&H. I had about an hour I could wait, so the odds were against me seeing anything shootable -- but just as it was time to leave the northbound signal near the tower lit up and I was rewarded with a northbound CPR train, complete with a locomotive from CP component railroad Iowa, Chicago & Eastern in the lead.

Canadian Pacific; Mechanicville, N.Y.; September 2, 2012

From here it was time to head home. A quick stop at the new-ish station at Rensselaer revealed the platforms were off-limits to all but ticket holders, so I packed it in and headed back to the Garden State, wrapping up another adventure.

Lost And Found

Cincinnati Union Terminal

Moving along with our continuing travelogues, we'll jump to August (see, we're catching up!) and a trip to Summerail at CUT. Summerail is the big multi-media railroad photography exposition held inside Cincinnati Union Terminal (a place that used to see hundreds of trains a day but is now reduced to only seeing Amtrak run one train each way three times a week). Organized by David Oroszi of Dayton, Ohio, Summerail brings together some of the finest photographers from the heartland and across the country.

Cincinnati Union Terminal, built in 1933, is an art deco masterpiece, and the last of the great stations built in the U.S. before the decline of passenger trains as America's premier transportation mode. Other than a brief sure in traffic during World War II, the number of trains calling at the terminal was in decline almost as soon as the station opened. By 1971 Amtrak was down to two trains a day stopping at CUT, and Amtrak pulled out altogether in 1972. The building sat empty until 1980 when a shopping mall was opened inside it. By 1982 the building was empty again, then in 1990 it opened as its current incarnation as the Cincinnati Museum Center. Amtrak returned to the terminal in 1991. Summerail is held in the Museum Center's theatre, just off the grand half-dome rotunda.

The view from CUT Tower A

I headed west with Railfan & Railroad associate editor Otto Vondrak on August 9, driving straight through from New Jersey to Cincinnati. On August 10 we did some railfanning with local guide Willie Davis before heading to the traditional Friday evening meal at Camp Washington Chili, followed by an evening of slides in the CUT theatre.

Saturday, August 11, was the big day for Summerail. I spent the morning in Tower A located in the upper reaches of CUT. At one time Tower A controlled all the movements into and out of CUT; today it is operated as a museum by the Cincinnati Railroad Club. The tower provides a panoramic view of CSX's Queensgate Yard and Norfolk Southern's Gest Street Yard. To the south, the NS's ex-Southern Railway bridge into Kentucky is visible in the distance. A handful of trains from both CSX and NS came into the yard during my two hours there.

The multi-media shows were all tremendous -- one of the best line-ups of shows I have ever seen at Summerail (and I've been there every year since 1999). Dinner was the traditional Skyline Chili meal across the Ohio River in Covington, Ky., then more shows took us late into the evening.

The next morning Otto and I loaded up on supplies (cans of Skyline Chili, bottles of Ale-8-One, and more) then headed into Kentucky to shoot the Short Line of the former Louisville & Nashville (now CSX). In LaGrange CSX trains share the main street with auto traffic (the street running has become the town's biggest tourist draw) and we got one train each direction there. There was quite an assembled throng of photographers in town, and while most shot an eastbound train from the sunny side at the east end of the street running, I opted for a more unconventional angle passing the town clock.

CSX Transportation; LaGrange, Ky.; August 12, 2012

We needed to head further west for a night photo session in southwest Indiana, and the intel was that a Norfolk Southern heritage unit (No. 1066, painted for the New York Central) was working in helper service out of New Albany, Ind. Even though the heritage unit would be facing into the train while pushing, we decided to check things out and headed to New Albany. Much to our surprise, a young railfan there informed us that the next westbound train had locomotive trouble, and the two engine helper set (the heritage unit and one other engine) was going to be split up, with the NYC engine assigned to the point! We couldn't believe our luck! However, I am not going to show you any shots of that chase for reasons that will soon become clear.

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After a spectacular chase across Indiana, Otto (who is not into night photography like I am) opted to stay at the motel while I headed out to Boone, Ind., and the Squaw Creek Southern for a night photo session organized by Mark Mautner. I hadn't downloaded any of my photos so far on this trip to my computer and my digital cards were filling up fast. I had to pause twice during the night photo session to change cards, and during the first of those changes I took out the card containing the NYC heritage chase and unknowingly dropped it (I would not discover this until I was back home in New Jersey and found a gap in my photos). 

The Squaw Creek Southern is operated by Respondek Rail, and company president Terry Respondek posed for one of the scenes giving a thumbs-up to his locomotives.

Squaw Creek Southern; Boone, Ind.; August 12, 2012

Most of the night photo session was done with plenty of flash, but during one of the equipment moves I took advantage of the existing light at the shop and captured SD9 No. 204 poking out the back silhouetted by the shop lights.

Squaw Creek Southern; Boone, Ind.; August 12, 2012

The next day, August 13, we rocketed back home to New Jersey. Once there, I downloaded all my photos and noticed everything from the NYC chase was missing. I immediately knew where I had dropped the card -- in the Squaw Creek Southern yard -- and I pretty much knew where I was standing when I likely dropped it. However, my card was now 800 miles away. What to do?

After some thought, I remembered that Carstens Publications had an employee living in central Illinois about 200 miles from Boonville. In my capacity as editor of Railfan & Railroad, I "assigned" him a day of work to go down to Boonville and track down my card. After about a week of it lying on the ground, Jim Wiggin was able to find the card, right where I dropped it. He mailed it back to New Jersey, I loaded it into the computer, and -- voila -- I had my NYC shots back. So let's review the chase -- it started with a scene at the levee at New Albany, Ind., as more and more railfans gathered as the afternoon progressed.

Norfolk Southern; New Albany, Ind.; August 12, 2012

While most of the photographers followed the train for some extra shots, Otto and I decided to head directly to the tunnel at Maplewood, Ind. Good thing we did -- there was room for about five photographers comfortably. As the train popped out of the tunnel, the rest of the motorcading photographers jockeyed for position as 20 people tried to fit into the space that would accommodate about three.

Norfolk Southern; Maplewood, Ind.; August 12, 2012

We would continue along this ex-Southern Railway mainline on the way to Huntingburg, getting several fine photos along the way. About the time we were ready to break off the chase, I noticed we were only a few miles from Eckman. I had chased a freight through Eckman back in 2010 and knew it was a good shot, so we made our last stand there.

Norfolk Southern; Eckman, Ind.; August 12, 2012

From here it was the night photo session and back to New Jersey. What was an adventurous trip turned out to be a little too adventurous for my tastes, but thanks to Jim Wiggin it had a happy ending.

We Are Family

Norfolk Southern Family Portrait; Spencer, N.C.; July 2, 2012

After the conclusion of the marathon 18-day trip to Kansas City and Iowa (which took us four parts to cover in the blog), I was only home four days before heading south from New Jersey to Spencer, N.C. The occasion was the Family Portrait held by Norfolk Southern. NS had painted 20 new locomotives into old schemes of the railroads that have been merged or otherwise absorbed to make up the modern system. In addition to the two original primary components of NS -- Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western -- the paint schemes ranged from the obscure (Interstate Railroad) to the modern (Conrail) to the colorful (Illinois Terminal) to the weird (Penn Central).

Norfolk Southern came into existence in 1982 with the merger of the Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western. As its 30th anniversary approached, railroad artist Andy Fletcher made up a poster of proposed "heritage" paint schemes that could be applied to NS's current diesel fleet and sent the proposal to NS CEO Wick Moorman. Mr. Moorman liked the idea, and after kicking around ideas the company endorsed a program of painting 18 locomotives; two more would be subsequently added. NS paid attention to detail, gathering paint diagrams from historical societies and other resources, and adapted paint schemes that never appeared on diesels that were this modern to fit today's carbodies. The results were spectacular.

For this adventure I was joined by my brother Bruce and Railfan & Railroad Magazine associate editor Otto Vondrak. We began our journey from New Jersey on July 1, 2012, and, of course, our first stop had to be at the great train watching town of Ashland, Va., on CSX's for Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac route. We shot a couple of Amtrak trains at Ashland, then moved north to Doswell for the last light of the day where we got a northbound CSX freight on the RF&P clattering over the diamond where the line crosses Buckingham Branch Railroad's ex-Chesaeake & Ohio route.

CSX Transportation; Doswell, Va.; July 1, 2012

Norfolk Southern; Spencer, N.C.

The next morning we photographed Amtrak's Piedmont trains at High Point and Thomasville, N.C. While Amtrak's Carolinian to New York operates with conventional Amtrak locomotives and cars, the carriers in-state North Carolina routes use equipment purchased by the state and look different than anything else operated by Amtrak. We needed to be at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer shortly after lunch, so we paused for one final southbound Norfolk Southern freight from  the highway overpass just north of the museum grounds before heading in. While walking back to the car, Otto's glasses fell apart, with one lens plummeting from the bridge into the deep weeds below. This would necessitate a couple of runs to Lens Crafters down in Kannapolis the following day, but it did yield some good photography.

Getting back to our immediate story, however, we entered the museum grounds and there they were -- 20 brand new locomotives in a variety of paint schemes surrounding the turntable. There really isn't any place else other than Spencer where this event could be held, as Spencer has one of the largest surviving roundhouses in the country and the roundhouse actually sits further back from the turntable pit than most -- there was enough room between the turntable and the roundhouse to fit an entire locomotive without having part of the engine inside the roundhouse.

The museum generously provided a scissors lift to get media members onto the roundhouse roof, where the colorful locomotive line-up provided many photo angles.

Norfolk Southern Family Portrait; Spencer, N.C.; July 2, 2012

Norfolk Southern's company photographer, Casey Thomason, had a skyhook that lifted him way up in the air (and I mean way up) but the museum moved its scissors lift to the front of the scene, giving media members a nice elevated view of the lineup. The photo below is actually five photos stitched together into a panorama. The locomotive at the lower right, NS 1030, is painted in the current corporate scheme and was chosen to represent the current railroad and its 30th anniversary.

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Norfolk Southern Family Portrait; Spencer, N.C.; July 2, 2012

The next day the crowds poured into the museum for the opening of the two-day Family Portrait event. It took a little bit of time to get crowd control figured out, and NS scheduled a corporate photo shoot for the morning (hey, at $2.5 million per locomotive, NS had something like $52 million in corporate assets tied up in the event so they deserved to get a little mileage out of the show!). Sweltering heat and high humidity didn't help matters, but as the sun went down the venue turned into a warm summer night under the lights as photographers gathered around the turntable.

Norfolk Southern Family Portrait; Spencer, N.C.; July 3, 2012

While the heat and humidity could have generated thunderstorms and plenty of clouds, the weather cooperated for the most part. The sun was out for most of the day, and surprisingly clear skies displayed a full moon as it rose over the roundhouse.

Norfolk Southern Family Portrait; Spencer, N.C.; July 3, 2012

The next day a well-organized parade of power was presented, letting everyone get nicely lit roster shots of each unit in the large field at the south end of the museum grounds. We headed out at midday to shoot some regular trains and were rewarded with one of Amtrak's North Carolina trains passing the ice house in Salisbury (the large city just south of Spencer).

Amtrak; Salisbury, N.C.; July 4, 2012

When we got back to the museum, they were putting the locomotives back onto the roundhouse radial tracks, so we were able to shoot several of the heritage units on the turntable, such as the one representing the coal-hauling Monongahela Railway.

Norfolk Southern Family Portrait; July 4, 2012

Your writer with NS CEO Wick Moorman

That night we did another night photo session, then headed north on July 5. With not much time to spend trackside we caught Amtrak in Richmond and a little bit of action in Ashland, but mostly it was a straight shot home, bringing to an end what will probably go down as the railroad event of 2012. Was it worth the quick turnaround after the long midwest trip? You bet!

Land O' Corn - Part 5

This is Part 5 of what started out as a four-part entry on a trip to the Midwest to visit Kansas City and St. Louis before heading on to the convention of the National Railway Historical Society in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. However, the week of the NRHS Convention produced so many great photos that we gave it its own entry and made this a five-part story. In Part 1 we headed west towards Kansas City and in Part 2 we took a look around K.C. In Part 3 we spent a day in St. Louis and then headed up to Chicagoland. In Part 4 we attended the NRHS Convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In this part we'll look at a few other highlights of rail activity in Iowa, then head home.

Union Pacific; Clarence, Iowa; June 17, 2012

After chasing the NRHS Convention inbound trip on June 17 and getting it at Geneva and Nelson, Ill., (see last post) and once again at Calamus, Iowa, we broke off the chase in favor of hanging out on the Union Pacific (ex-Chicago & North Western) main line. An eastbound stack train came out of the setting sun at Clarence, but it had a Distributed Power Unit (helper locomotive) on the rear which we shot passing the Land O' Lakes Feeds elevator in Clarence. From there we headed into Cedar Rapids to check in for the convention.

The first day of the NRHS Convention went to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, to visit the Midwest Central Railroad and the Midwest Electric Railway. Mount Pleasant is on the route served by Amtrak's California Zephyr and during a break in the action we headed to the station in town to shoot the CZ as it made its stop.

Amtrak; Mount Pleasant, Iowa; June 18, 2012

As the events in Mount Pleasant wound down, we (my brother Bruce, Mike Burkhart and Frank Ferguson) headed east to Burlington, Iowa, where we found a lot of other photographers who had left the NRHS Convention trip to do the same thing we were doing -- waiting for the westbound California Zephyr to come snaking through the old industrial buildings not far from the Mississippi River.

Amtrak; Burlington, Iowa; June 18, 2012

Tuesday, June 19, was a busy day at the Convention, and we spent all day with activities there. But on Wednesday, June 20, the NRHS trip was running against the sun for most of the day so we chose to head out and do regular service trains on the Union Pacific. One of several trains we got included an eastbound stack train passing the elevators at Norway, Iowa.

Union Pacific; Norway, Iowa; June 20, 2012

Canadian National; Cedar Rapids, Iowa

A busy schedule of meetings the next couple of days kept me close to Cedar Rapids for the next couple of days, but there was a lot to see. Various industrial areas, mostly revolving around Iowa's prime export of corn, are located in and around Cedar Rapids. Down by the waterfront, near the sprawling Quaker Oats plant, one can find Union Pacific, Canadian National and Iowa Northern working the yards there, while nearby the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City and Iowa Interstate also work. Of special interest was CN, which had an SD38-2 from the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern working the yard (the EJ&E was merged into CN in 2009). We caught the unit working near the power plant on June 21.

While the Quaker Oats plant is large, even larger is the Archer Daniels Midland plant just south of Cedar Rapids. Served by the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City (CRANDIC), the plant also boasts its own small fleet of switchers. Unfortunately, ADM is pretty much off-limits to anyone -- especially photographers -- but fortunately the elevated right-of-way of U.S. 30 provides a nice view over the fences. The early morning of June 22 found us on the shoulder of the Lincoln Highway getting the elusive shot.

Archer Daniels Midland; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; June 22, 2012

We noticed the Quaker Oats plant was nicely illuminated at night, with the lights reflecting off the Cedar River. This made for a nice diversion for a night shot. Rail access is from the bridge at the left.

Quaker Oats; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; June 22, 2012

And, of course, that EJ&E locomotive was still hanging around on Canadian National over in the CN yard. Hard to let an opportunity like that slip by, so a quick visit to the yard was in order.

Canadian National; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; June 22, 2012

The rest of the Convention didn't allow for any non-Convention shooting, and soon it was time to head home. After shooting the outbound Convention trip between Cedar Rapids and Chicago at Morrison, Ill., (photo in last installment) on June 25 we took a more leisurely pace home and paused at the Rochelle Railroad Park in Rochelle, Ill. The ex-Chicago & North Western crosses the ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy on a diamond in the middle of town, and the city has established a park for train watching, complete with a pavilion, rest rooms and gift shop. A Union Pacific westbound train passed the park on the ex-C&NW.

Union Pacific; Rochelle, Ill.; June 25, 2012

The gift shop has a screen with ATCS Monitor running, which allows viewers to see what the railroad dispatchers are seeing on their screens. Thus, it was easy to anticipate which railroad would be running a train over the diamonds next, allowing for easy movement between the two railroads. BNSF Railway provided action on the ex-CB&Q, including a westbound passing under Rochelle's (non-railroad) water tower.

BNSF Railway; Rochelle, Ill.; June 25, 2012

Upon leaving Rochelle, we bypassed downtown Chicago and instead headed for the suburbs on the Indiana side of the Windy City. Our next stop would be at the Hammond-Whiting Amtrak station in Hammond, Ind. Here, in addition to Amtrak, Norfolk Southern has a heavy presence. Thus, we were a bit surprised when Canadian Pacific came westward under the signal bridge in the late afternoon light.

Canadian Pacific; Hammond, Ind.; June 25, 2012

The final day of the trip was Tuesday, June 26. With 4000 miles under our belts, the last blast home would feature a quick look at Cleveland. Norfolk Southern has two lines through the city, both crossing the Cuyahoga River on lift bridges. Our first train of the day was on the former Nickel Plate Road just east of the Cuyahoga River. Cleveland's famed Terminal Tower at the left was the main train station for the city.

Norfolk Southern; Cleveland, Ohio; June 26, 2012

We tried to find a few other angles of the ex-Nickel Plate bridge, but new highway construction had made the area into a battle zone of sorts. We heard a westbound train on the radio, and found an overhead bridge to shoot from. The bridge had a high chain link fence, but there was a small concrete wall under the chain linking that you could stand on if you grabbed the chain link and hoisted yourself up (then used your elbows at the top of the fence to anchor yourself). As the train appeared, the four of us grabbed the chain link fence and lifted ourselves up onto the wall. When we turned around, a Cleveland city cop was standing there. Fortunately he was more amused than anything else.

Norfolk Southern; Cleveland, Ohio; June 26, 2012

We stuck around on the same bridge for one final shot of Cleveland's light rail, which runs parallel to the ex-Nickel Plate in many places. After getting the last shot, we got into the car and started the final ten-hour segment of the trip back to New Jersey. From Kansas City to St. Louis to Iowa to Cleveland, this was one ambitious trip that turned out pretty good! (Oh, and in five days we'd be back in the car for a trip to the Norfolk Southern heritage unit Family Portrait in Spencer, N.C., but that's our next story).

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