Many years back, around 1976 I believe, I had occassion to make a sales swing from Wausau, through WI and around Dubuque and then up the Mississippi River and ended one night in the small town of Prarie DuChien along the river after dark and checked into the only decent looking motel I found (dummy me had no reservataions, that was when I was not yet a seasoned traveler). Well, I called it a night and no sooner had I climbed into the sack did a BN stacker come calling about 50 yards behind the motel (site of their Chicago-Minnepolis main line along the river). This continued about every thirty minutes all night…good thing I was a railfan by then. I can’t imagine the motel had a big clientel with all that racket of steel wheels on rail and the air horns blowing for the nearby crossing.
In the village I lived in in Michigan they recently tore down an old plant. Aside from the usual contamination issues, it would be a great spot for a hotel, which the town badly needs - and is right next to the CSX Saginaw Line. There are also a couple of old mill ponds right there that add to the ambiance, and a walkway could cross the tracks (and the top of a man-made waterfall that drains one of the ponds) to get over to Main Street.
In “pipe dreaming” a hotel there I did consider that you’d want some sort of isolation so the vibration of the trains didn’t bother the ‘regular’ customers, plus it would be right next to a crossing.
The down side is that there isn’t a lot of traffic on the line, and I’m pretty sure a lot of it runs during the night.
If it’s the hotel I’m thinking about, the Brisbois Motor Inn would be the place you stayed in. Actually, that hotel stays extremely busy between fishermen in the summer and year round travelers and the railroad personnel that overnight there. As far as I know, there are three railroads that use the hotel: ICE, BNSF, and WSOR. I’ve had the pleasure of overnighting there many times, I usually never had a problem trying to get sleep, though.
Randy
Sounds like a perfect canidate. I’ll add it to my list of possible future aquisitions.[8D]
Something like this…
Chad, the hotel theme song to the tune: “Home on the Range.”
"Oh give me a home, where the tra-ains…roam
up and down the tra-acks all day.
Where seldom is heard
A distracting word
And the weather is perfect in May.
Home, Home by the tracks.
Where railfans are gathered in pairs.
And camaras are ready
Being held so steady
And trains, will keep bringing them back."
Tina
Regarding The Inn On The River, I wouldn’t say it sits up on a bluff. It is at track level which is just a few feet above the river level. Just check out the pics on their website.
Yup, there’s a good one.
That’s a good one Tina. We’ll rig it up to go off when the office door opens.
Is this something you came up with while packing?
OK, here is a twist (with railroad flavor) not a bed and breakfast but sleeping cars, a dining car, and an observation car, might even throw in a vistadome. NOW that is my version of a railfan “hotel”. [:D] [:D] [:D]
The Casey Jones Museum (might be called something else) at Jackson, Tennessee used to have a few cabooses for overnight stays. They have one caboose left for sure, but I am not sure about the others. I did eat at the restaurant years ago, the food was good, plus they have a static display of a 10 wheeler (or used to have it, again not sure if it is still there).
I have seen an ad for somewhere in Northwest Arkansas that rents cabooses for overnight stays also. Places do have them you just have to search for them.
You can also “rent” cabooses in McCloud where the Shasta dinner train runs. My parents stayed in one last year. Unfortunatly I couldn’t go because of work.
There is a “caboose” motel in Lake Geneva, WI. At least a dozen units. They sit on tracks left on the long abandoned CNW branch line that ran from Crystal Lake, IL to Lake Geneva (and at one time on to Williams Bay). The line now ends at McHenry and there is commuter service to McHenry as part of the Metra-UP Northwest Service.
You will not see any operating trains from the motel, so what is the point?
Jay
Who has an opinion about the “Kingsley Inn” in Ft. Madison, IA? They’re supposed to have a great view of the Sou. Transcom crossing the Mississippi. IN fact, the AAA guide lists the restaurant as having great river views.
Yes, someone should start an informal league or website of B&B’s or those “second rate motels” (I’ve stayed in quite a few without the benefit of trains!) that prove sympathetic to us RR fans.
[8D]
I wanted to open a large hotel in Fostoria called the Iron Triangle. It would have a decent restaurant with T.Vs in the restaurant that show camera images of the junction-good for when it rains.
May do it when I get to that point of my life when I even think about retiring. Shouldn’t be too hard to do. Their Chamber of Commerce seems to welcome that kind of thing with the trains.
Make that two!!
Three. Do you give the Triple-A discount?
Just north of OKC, there is a La Quinta inn, and i was on the top floor at the end facing the tracks [:D] Also, the front where the free donuts are also faced towards the tracks [:p][:p][:p][:p][:p]
You can do that in Barstow CA. Just stay at the Best Western & right across the road is all the UPRR/BNSF action on its way to Daggett or to LAX/SD/SF[:o)][:D][:p]
[quote]
Originally posted by chad thomas
One of Nebraska’s state parks uses ex-UP cabooses for rental cabins.
I don’t know if it’s still there, but in Montpelier, Iowa (between the Quad cities and Muscatine) a couple used an ex-RI caboose for their bed & breakfast operation. It was placed next to the ex-RI, now ICE main line.
Jeff
I stayed on a campsite in France a few years ago that was about 30 seconds run (with camera in hand) from the tracks - given the rails started humming about 30 seconds before the train came through you had ample time to sprint down there and get a few pictures. You wouldn’t believe the odd looks this behaviour got from the other campers though! Sadly the site closed about a year later, so return visits are no longer possible.