A beautiful fall day, and the smell of burning coal was in the air....

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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The leaves are changing colors, and Milwaukee Road 261 was back in action with excursions down CP’s River Sub, following the Mississippi from St Paul to Winona.

As much fun as it is to ride, you get much better photos when you chase.

This year there weren’t nearly as many people out chasing as there were in July 2004. This coupled wtih the fact that Big Girl and I had run the line before made for a much more pleasant experience. Oh yeah, and it wasn’t raining.

Of course this time 261 was running solo instead of double heading with CP’s Empress. This too played a part in keeping the crowds down.

Just about 10 AM the CP dispatcher got on the radio, and told the crew that there is a crowd of people waiting at Hastings. I swear they made an extra effort to put on a good show, with a huge plume of smoke and steam.

After leaving Hasitngs, the chase was on, except I screwed up. I thought we had gotten ahead of it, when we saw someone standing trackside with a camera and tripod. We drove ahead and found a good spot and waited.

Oops. [B)][:I]

It wasn’t a total loss, because there was a freight train which we had seen earlier back in Hastings, sitting on the siding. A few minutes later the Empire Builder blew past.

At that point I knew we weren’t going to catch before it got to Winona, so we took our time and stopped in Red Wing. I ended up taking a lot of photos in Red Wing for a couple of reasons. First, I am doing a representation of Red Wing on my model railroad, and second there were a couple of interesting freight trains that came through while we wire looking around.

As it turned out we never got all the way down to Winona. We stopped at this little grade crossin

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That last photo is really great…send it to Bergie for POTD…might even get your Christmas cards printed up using it, really nice shot…
Ed

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…Enjoyed those photos…and what a beautiful blue sky to add to your pic’s…

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Great post, Elliot. Familiar territory for me as well, I grew up in Minnesota, and my folks still live in Prior Lake. I also have relatives up in Rice Lake and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, so I get many opportunities to traverse the highways following the river.

Incidentally, I was checking out your profile- I remember that layout in the Mall of America, it was one of the few shops worth visiting there. Now that it’s gone, and so is the little train kiosk near Macy’s, I have little desire to go there anymore.

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Great shots, thanks for shareing.

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Thanks Elliot. Well done.
Are you going to have a 261 on your layout ?

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Funny, while you were chasing 261 in Minnisota…I was chasing 261 here in St. Louis! The SP 261! hehe

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Thanks for giving me a last look at the 261 and the Red Wing area.
My wife, daughter and I moved this fall out to Gettysburg Pa. from the Red Wing area where my wife is from. My daughter and I chased the 261 and CP’s Empress double header. We were standing at the crossing just past the lift bridge in Hastings when the 261 stopped to let the Mississippi Queen go through and then what a show as they started up and over the bridge, whisles blowing. My 8 year old and this 50 something couldn’t forget that sight.
Now we have to find out where we are going to get our next steam fix. We need it bad!

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Nicely done! Not too sure I appeciate the smell, but the sights are grand.

BK

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Nothing like steam in the fall.

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How much work was the diesel doing, and how much was 261? 261 is more than enough machine for the job, was the diesel just doing head end power, or could you hear it in run 3?

-Daniel Parks

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Thanks guys, it’s my pleasure, as always, sharing my railfanning adventures with you. I often need reminding how lucky I am, especially in this case, to have such an active steam engine running around in my own “back yard”.

I almost didn’t go yesterday, but for the persistance of Big Girl. She really does keep me going, and puts me back on the track when I get derailed. Add to that all of the positive comments from all of you here, and it makes it extra special. I really wish you could all be here to experience it yourselves.

I must say that it is a little different when you’re out there trying to capture images of something moving at 50+ MPH. It’s like your attention focuses on nothing but what is in the viewfinder. The sound and the vibration just about disappear, and the experience becomes something of a blurr.

You see it coming a quarter mile away. Click, click, click, click, and your head snaps around for one final click as you turn to see that Skytop observation flying away down the rails.

I took 183 pictures yesterday. Of those, only 40 had any evidence of 261 in them. Lots of diesel action yesterday during the lulls.

Ed, yes I was definately thinking of sending that last one to Bergie. Good idea about the Christmas cards.

Blhanel, thanks for noticing the profile. I agree, MOA has become a giant wasteland in the last 10 years. It’s like the land of 10,000 shoe stores. At least you can get there by light rail now.[swg]

Dale, now that’s the $64,000 question!!! Weaver made a model of 261 last year with TMCC (Lionel’s version of command control). I really would like to get one, but the $1,100 price tag is a little steep for me right now. The thing is I have a set of Milwaukee Road passenger cars that would look great with it. Even though I model the modern era, I would love to be able to do fan excursions on the layout. Totally prototypical.[:D][8D]

Sooblue, I was in Hastings fo

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Some nice pics, she looks an impressive loco.

Not sure when my next steam outing is, but I shall be crossing the border to South Wales to film the specials on Sunday December 4th.

So far my steam highlight this year has been seeing LMS 4-6-2 “Duchess of Sutherland” depart from Holyhead; also GWR 4-6-0 “King Edward I” at Bristol Temple Meads.

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Or LEAVE there…[:D]

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Elliot,

Last shot is gorgeus. Might even want to consider sending that into the Photo Contest. Certainly looks like a good representation of “Trains at Speed” to me!

Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks Chris, but be careful, my head is starting to swell.[:p][:D] The camera is just a point and click Kodak digital, imagine what would happen if I had Bergie’s camera.[;)] I have a decent old film SLR, with a great selection of lenses, but I’ve become hooked on digital, and don’t even bring it along any more.

In my younger days I used to be a real shutterbug. Maybe it’s time to get back into it.

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I went to the monthly opening of new exhibits last Friday down on Santa Fe. There’s always at least one gallery with Holga/Diana shots down there. If there is gallery worthy stuff taken with that kind of stuff, anything is possible. Art is conceived in the device behind the camera, not the camera.

I should probably take that to heart…I’ve spent thousands of dollars on everything from 35mm to Digital to Medium Format to 4x5, and I still am not happy with 99.999% of my shots. Maybe I should quit worrying about the equipment so much, and try to be a little more creative.

Whatever the equipment, I loved that last shot. Congrats on getting that one.

Chris
Denver, CO