Don’t forget Rochelle - it’s only about an hour and a half west of Chicago.
Chillicothe, IL… I went to Peoria, IL back in the fall of 2014 for a couple of days on business. Rented a car and drove up to Chillicothe in the evening… very busy with lots of very fast intermodal and TOFC trains. Volumes have only gone up since then, so I doubt you’d be disappointed. As for other sites, I can’t really say… I was only in the area for a couple of days… in and out… meetings, plant tour, and one evening to myself and then back home.
Thanks, Ulrich.
Were there any manifest trains?
Yes, some manifest trains too as I recall…But not near as many as the intermodal. But either which many…very busy. I got there…parked my car near trackside and didn’t have to wait more than ten minutes for the train parade to begin. Was sorry to leave but I had to catch a flight back.
Thanks! Sounds great.
If Covid has been beaten back enough by June, we’re going to take the trip I described over in the Passenger forum and spend some time there, and also find some UP trains to photograph.
Same here…once this covid stuff is behind us I might just head back there myself… this time with no time limitation. Sure seemed like a nice area…likely alot of other stuff to see as well.
Indeed there have been and will continue to be, but there’s still grades in excess of 1% both East and Westbound. Then you have the Arizona Divide, Cajon Pass, etc. BNSF can not operate a 70MPH railroad across the territory with a low HP/T ratio that has become prevelant in todays railroading.
P.S. Diningcar Not sure if you knew this or not Ashfork is a crew change point again.
Lithonia Operator you might enjoy this video and learn a lesson as well toward the end of it when railfanning in the desert. Enjoy!
Thanks, SD60MAC. If I’m out there, I’ll be careful regarding the sand etc. I enjoyed the video.
Lithonia:
The Iowa Interstate’s Bureau-Peoria line also runs thru Chillicothe, IL. Traffic is light compared to BNSF, but includes some Rock Island heritage units and Norfolk Southern haulage rights trains. There is also a very nice restored Rock Island depot in Chillicothe.
West of Chillicothe is the famous Edelstein Hill where the former AT&SF mainline climbs out of the Mississpippi River valley (so much for Illinois all being flat!). There’s a lot of nice photo spots all the way up the grade to Edelstein, IL.
IMHO, though, the best place to go see the Chillicothe Sub is Galesburg, IL. Galesburg is a massive BNSF terminal with ex-BN lines coming in from Chicago, Peoria, Paducah, St.Lo
Ash Fork is not a great place to change crews. Poor Motels and eating establishments. But perhaps BNSF has found a way to make Ash Fork more desireable. I presume the unions signed off on this. Do you have infowhy the change?
Too many crews dying on the law coming off the Peavine. Prior to the change their pool was Phoenix to Winslow 300 miles. Now with Ashfork splitting the pool. East to Winslow. West to Phoenix. Crews are put up in Williams.
Ash Fork can’t be any worse than Blue River, Endako, Mirror, or Smith (look them up, if you can find them).
The agreements outlining crew runs and terminals have probably been in place for many decades, and even if they were more recently superseded by long pools/extended runs the original agreements are most likely still in place as a fallback.
Thanks, and Williams is very good for accomodations and restaurants. They probably use the BestWestern located at the most westerly I-40 exit.
[quote user=“ns145”]
Lithonia Operator
Ulrich
Lithonia Operator
Thanks, Ulrich.
Were there any manifest trains?
Yes, some manifest trains too as I recall…But not near as many as the intermodal. But either which many…very busy. I got there…parked my car near trackside and didn’t have to wait more than ten minutes for the train parade to begin. Was sorry to leave but I had to catch a flight back.
Thanks! Sounds great.
If Covid has been beaten back enough by June, we’re going to take the trip I described over in the Passenger forum and spend some time there, and also find some UP trains to photograph.
Lithonia:
The Iowa Interstate’s Bureau-Peoria line also runs thru Chillicothe, IL. Traffic is light compared to BNSF, but includes some Rock Island heritage units and Norfolk Southern haulage rights trains. There is also a very nice restored Rock Island depot in Chillicothe.
West of Chillicothe is the famous Edelstein Hill where the former AT&SF mainline climbs out of the Mississpippi River valley (so much for Illinois all being flat!). There’s a lot of nice photo spots all the w
Ok, so let me make sure I have these locations correct:
Blue River, and Endako are in B.C.
Mirror, and Smith are in Alberta.
Out of all of them I’d say Blue River has an edge on Ash Fork. One… We all know that nothing can beat Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing. Look at like this 70Dude after a long hard day in the left seat. You can go jump out a helicopter and hit the slopes of Amnesty Peak! Two… You’ve got the Esso Station on Yellowhead Hwy. which probably has the best packaged blueberry muffins in all of British Columbia! If that’s your thing…
All kidding aside though… Yes I’d still give Blue River the edge over Ash Fork, and that helicopter skiing sounds like fun.
Yes. I’m pretty sure the railyards are bigger than the “towns” in several of those places.
Blue River also has the River Safari, though we often block their crossing for long periods while trading off.
Tough to fit in a heliskiing trip and also get some rest on the layover. Better grab some extra coffee to wash down those muffins!
Blue River does have a nice new bunkhouse, CN bought an oilfield work camp at auction a few years ago and moved it there, they even put it on a permanent concrete foundation. Way better than the motel crews used to stay in, which in turn was far superior to the old bunkhouse.
ns145, is it actually legal to park on that bridge over the Galesburg yard? I looked at it with the Google Maps satellite view, and that looks fantastic!
In the Northeast, they would never allow that. In fact, they’d maybe even have high concrete walls so you can’t gawk.
IIRC, there’s a bridge that goes over Selkirk Yard near Albany NY, and they made it so you can’t see anything. But it’s been a while, so I may be mixing it up with someplace else.
“Ben’s Bridge”. Torn down (and never replaced) several years ago.
I haven’t seen a situation where parking is allowed on a bridge just about anywhere. In the Northeast, most of the high walls that I saw (even on Interstates!) were protective measures due to the high voltage of the catenary on ex-PRR lines.
Protective measures, yes, but against the hooligans that made ‘ghetto bars’ such a necessity in the '70s.
Or to preclude any perception of facilitated suicide.
One more reason we can’t have, or do, nice things.