Good to hear you had an action packed first day. From my experience you cannot catch everything at Galesburg, but you will see the most at Peck.
During Galesburg Railroad Days in June there is good access to the platform at the depot and the Thirlwell St Bridge over the yard. However I was told that at times the local police order people off the bridge when it is not Railroad Days (in spite of Galesburg’s desire to be a rail themed tourist attraction year round). In theory the usual Amtrak dislike of railfans on platforms should hold true but I have not heard of any problems at Galesburg. There are almost as good public access points near the crossing.
I would say that armed with a good map and a scanner a railfan can hardly go wrong at Galesburg. Peck Park is great but frankly there are opportunities elsewhere for superior photos to what you can take at the park. On the former Santa Fe east of Galesburg you can follow the main on a mix of dirt and paved roads and a neat old overhead bridge allows for some very good photo ops.
Similarly following the former Santa Fe west of town (where the line is at an angle to the relentlessly N/S/E/W orientation of the roads) eventually leads to the high bridge near Media IL – another good photo opportunity although not best at high noon due to sun angles.
Not railfanning per se but the Packinghouse Restaurant near the depot has decent food and a very good salad bar, and more to the point, is a converted Swift plant that retains much of the old hardware – and interesting photos on the walls. it was rail served in its day and some photos show that. Go behind the restaurant and the remains of the spur line can still be seen by an imaginative viewer.
Dave Nelson
From your first posting it sounds like the traffic did not let you down on Friday night.
Did you manage to hang around until Sunday afternoon though Scott? Due to the Iowa Interstate derailment of an ethanol train at Tiskilawa, IL on Friday morning, some IAIS trains detoured down through Galesburg. They ran from the Quad Cities down to Galesburg and then down the BNSF Peoria Line and back to their home rails.
Although I didn’t think I was going to end up in Galesburg on Sunday when I left the house, I couldn’t resist chasing the detoured BICB running as BNSF symbol F-PEIBAI (Foreign, Peoria to Barstow, IL)–especially when he had the IAIS 513 leading.
Here he is entering Galesburg at the Peoria Wye, Chambers Street. From he it went through the depot and up the Barstow Sub to sit and wait while eastbounds came down into town.
Lance
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wales23/6228236993/in/photostream
I missed the IAIS train at Peck Park by a few minutes. Incredibly irritating.
I had absolutely no problems with police on the bridge or at the depot. It was an amazing 24 hours of railfanning. My only regret is that I missed the IAIS train passing Peck Park by a few minutes. After shooting video on the bridge over the yard, I decided to check out the Cameron Connection and almost ran out of gas when I got out there. I was running close to “E” and assumed they would have a gas station in town but I was wrong. Don’t ever attempt this in a Dodge Challenger R/T. There is NOTHING for 10 miles around Cameron.
I barely made it back to Galesburg on fumes and by the time I fueled up and got over to Peck Park, the IAIS train was already passing and I had no idea what it was until another railfan mentioned it later. The IAIS runs about 7 or 8 miles from my house in south Chicagoland but it would have been cool to see it in Galesburg, especially with the Rock Island heritage unit in the lead.
I would recommend Galesburg to any railfan looking for a weekend getaway as the traffic here rivals Rochelle and Fostoria. Galesburg is clean and isn’t as run down as Fostoria and has that small college town feel. I highly recommend the Holiday Inn Express on the east side of town by I-74 as it was very clean with some decent amenities for a small town hotel. I will definitely go back again.
Check out my youtube videos of the trip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21onC18QhuY&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vm2dUlvsfc&feature=relmfu
[quote user=“SWChicagoRailfan”]
I had absolutely no problems with police on the bridge or at the depot. It was an amazing 24 hours of railfanning. My only regret is that I missed the IAIS train passing Peck Park by a few minutes. After shooting video on the bridge over the yard, I decided to check out the Cameron Connection and almost ran out of gas when I got out there. I was running close to “E” and assumed they would have a gas station in town but I was wrong. Don’t ever attempt this in a Dodge Challenger R/T. There is NOTHING for 10 miles around Cameron.
I barely made it back to Galesburg on fumes and by the time I fueled up and got over to Peck Park, the IAIS train was already passing and I had no idea what it was until another railfan mentioned it later. The IAIS runs about 7 or 8 miles from my house in south Chicagoland but it would have been cool to see it in Galesburg, especially with the Rock Island heritage unit in the lead.
I would recommend Galesburg to any railfan looking for a weekend getaway as the traffic here rivals Rochelle and Fostoria. Galesburg is clean and isn’t as run down as Fostoria and has that small college town feel. I highly recommend the Holiday Inn Express on the east side of town by I-74 as it was very clean with some decent amenities for a small town hotel. I will definitely go back again.
Check out my youtube videos of the trip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21onC18QhuY&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vm2dUlvsfc&feature=relmfu
Great primer for the area, Lance. I have been to galesburg twice, and this has definitely enlightened my scope. Thanks.