Over on the Classic forum a couple of years ago, there was a thread about favorite places for viewing train operations. I thought I would offer one of mine because it’s sort of out of the way and may not sound exciting enough for some, but offers a lot of surprises and some outstanding vantage points that are easy to access, uncluttered, and uncrowded. It’s name is Aiken’s (or Aiken Switch to old-timers), an old cattle-loading siding on U.P’s Marysville sub between Topeka and Marysville, KS. It’s smack in the middle of rolling prairie ranch country where you can find substantial grades and curves, interesting trestles, and a lot of traffic. There’s also a siding that runs across country to the Jeffery Energy Center, a coal-fired plant complete with it’s own set of coal hoppers. There’s a paved county road (rare for these parts) that parallels this part of the sub for a fair stretch. Nearby, is the hometown (a ghost town) of Jess Willard, the old-time heavyweight boxing champ.
I’ve caught both 3985 and 844 several times in this area when I was still shooting mostly film and probably should have scanned a print or two to illustrate what I’m talking about. I think U.P. has this stretch slated for double-tracking all the way to Topeka eventually, but there’s still more than enough traffic to warrant a half-day or so of train watching.
If you’ve ever been there, I’d like to hear about your experience or, maybe you know of another little-known place where there’s a lot of action.