Beginning of May I’ll be on a photo trip in the Mid-West. If someone has useful railfanning-info about the following lines - it would help me a lot to plan my trip:
“Street running” in New Albany, IN: How many trains could you expect on a normal day? When are the usual lulls?
Indiana Railroad: I intend to drive along the line from New Albany in north western direction. How many trains could you see there? When would be the busy times? Any good photo spots? Where would I have the best chance to see the new 90MAC’s?
Iowa Interstate: same as above - good spots, busy times, locomotive facilities etc.
The CSX former Monon line which includes street running in New Albany,Indiana sees a maximum of 2 trains per day. CSX has a local which runs from Louisville,KY to Mitchell,Indiana one day and from Mitchelle to Louisville the next day. Indiana Railroad runs southbound one day and northbound the next. However this is not set in stone and this past week INRD only operated 1 SB and 1 NB so there is no 100% guarantee that they will run on any particular day.
Indiana Railroad. As I already mentioned above, the INRD operates south one day and north the next day. Generally the northbound departs Louisville,KY between 8am and 11am and makes the slow run north. The highway paralells the tracks for a great distance on this line. There are a lot of great photo spots along the line, especially from Salem,Indiana to Mitchell,Indiana where there are a number of semaphore signals. Depending on the time of day you could get lucky and run into the CSX local. As I already mentioned, there are a maximum of 2 trains per day on the Hoosier Sub so your options are very limited as to how many trains you will shoot in a day. If you come accross something you need to stay with it and follow it.
Regarding the INRD SD9043MAC’s, its very doubtful you will see them on this part of the railroad. Except for the first couple of units when they were first placed in service, the units are concentrated further up north on the INRD in coal service.
I personally don’t get down there much, but the IAIS seems to be pretty busy at the Iowa City yard (just south of downtown Iowa City) first thing in the morning, with crews originating there taking a couple of trains east about then. A good source of information can be found over on yahoo.com at the IAIS group site: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Iowa-Interstate/ . You’ll might have to sign up to see anything there, but it’s free.
One way to experience “street running” on a schedule is to ride the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend railroad (electric) from downtown Chicago at least as far as Michigan City. The CSS&SB is often called the last of the interurban railways.
The trouble with the short lines is exactly that they usually do not run a lot of trains everyday. If you haven’t been over before (and possibly if you have), I would recommend spending at least a day in a Midwestern “hot spot”: Homewood, Illinois (Illinois Central, a branch of CN, also local commuter and Amtrak); Rochelle, Illinois (both UP and BNSF); Mendota, Illinois (BNSF plus Amtrak and on the Southern Transcon, a very busy line. Homewood recently opened a viewing platform for trains; there are others here who can tell you a lot more. Rochelle has a lovely railroad park right where the two competing lines cross in an X, without switching, but there is no passenger service. Mendota has a nice combination Amtrak station and museum. If eastern Iowa interests you, I would also recommend Galesburg, Illinois (two different BNSF lines plus Amtrak and an interesting freight yard).
The CSX former Monon line which includes street running in New Albany,Indiana sees a maximum of 2 trains per day. CSX has a local which runs from Louisville,KY to Mitchell,Indiana one day and from Mitchelle to Louisville the next day. Indiana Railroad runs southbound one day and northbound the next. However this is not set in stone and this past week INRD only operated 1 SB and 1 NB so there is no 100% guarantee that they will run on any particular day.
Indiana Railroad. As I already mentioned above, the INRD operates south one day and north the next day. Generally the northbound departs Louisville,KY between 8am and 11am and makes the slow run north. The highway paralells the tracks for a great distance on this line. There are a lot of great photo spots along the line, especially from Salem,Indiana to Mitchell,Indiana where there are a number of semaphore signals. Depending on the time of day you could get lucky and run into the CSX local. As I already mentioned, there are a maximum of 2 trains per day on the Hoosier Sub so your options are very limited as to how many trains you will shoot in a day. If you come accross something you need to stay with it and follow it.
Regarding the INRD SD9043MAC’s, its very doubtful you will see them on this part of the railroad. Except for the first couple of units when they were first placed in service, the units are concentrated further up north on the INRD in coal service.
Bryan Jones
Well, Bryan - 2 trains maximum per day - that sounds promising [:)]. So the street running stretch in New Albany doesn’t exactly seem to be a “hotspot” where you should waste a day when you’re tight on schedule - especially when you get there and have no idea if or when a train will come. I don’t have a scanner, so I better forget about that. Any other tips for the Luisville area?
As you say - doubtful. I don’t know yet on which day I’ll be there. Is there something l
While I don’t know the Iowa and Interstate schedules in Illinois you may want to enquire at the Peoria rails site on yahoo.com. IAS Bureau branch to Peoria is just off interstate 180 west of Chicago. This is where the old RI Peoria branch split from the East-West mainline. There used to be a big wye there years ago. Highway 29 is very close to the IAS rails most of the way south to Peoria. The old RI station next to the IAS at Chillicothe is a museum for the Santa Fe and RI both big at one time in “chilli”. Contact the Chillicothe Historical Society for open days and times, they do special appointments too.
Old RI depots I saw in 2006 on part of the IAS line. I believe IAS may run, trackage rights, as far east as Ottawa, CSX now owns the old RI depot there. Utica, IL heavy tornado damage to station, downtown Utica rebuilt. Peru-LaSalle stands as a hardware store in LaSalle, IL. DePue small station closed but standing. Bureau Valley Interurban station nearby to east. Bureau Junction station closed may be a good location for pictures if you can find schedules. Chillicothe already mentioned above. Peoria Morton Street, site of old RI yard, turntable and station only. Rough neighborhood! Daylight only! Peoria RI station downtown may be a restaraunt. Several have come and gone over the years. Steamboat rides nearby. Near Caterpillar World Headquarters on the river front.
If you are a cyclist you can follow the canal trail west from Utica and see the old Rock Island Split Rock RR Tunnel from the banks of the canal. About 2 or 3 miles west of Utica. There are no tunnels in central Illinois so it is quite an oddity. Not in use anymore but about 150 feet long through a sandstone outcropping.
This is the area I am familiar with but you will see on a map that the IAS is close to
Marcus, like the others said–the south end of the INRD down to Louisville is sort of a hard one to catch. They used to be “down one day/back up the next” but with the economic downturn, it is quite likely that this schedule has been cut back.
If you are really looking for the INRD SD9043MACs, the place to start would be their Hiawatha Yard just south of Jasonville, IND. Since they took over the ex-Soo Line/Milwaukee Road trackage, this is their main facility. There’s a road toward the south end of the engine facility and if the units are around there, so you can get them from public property.
The INRD’s main focus is moving coal from a couple of mines toward a few different power plants. One of the mines they serve is north of Jasonville called “Blackhawk”–they take coal from there over toward Indianapolis. They also take coal down toward a power plant on the Wabash River at the Illinois/Indiana state line–that power plant is “Merom”. You will likely find the MACs on these coal trains. The line up toward Indianapolis is scenic–with a couple of high trestles (Tulip–just northeast of Bloomfield) and Lake Lemon (between Trevlac and Unionville) and a tunnel near Unionville. The tunnel is a walk-in shot but you can drive to both of the trestles.
You need to get yourself some sort of navigation device or an Indiana Atlas & Gazetteer made by DeLorme. The Atlas is about $20 but is worth every penny for finding obscure locations (and this section of Indiana is loaded with obscure locations and twisty roads). You should be able to find one at most larger gas stations and nearly every retail store in the state. It will be money well spent.
The INRD used to have a facility at Switz City, IND, but this was downgraded after they moved to Hiawatha Yard. They also load a coal train here with coal that is trucked up to the loader. You might find a loco or two hiding around Switz City.
High and welcome to the forums, if you are going to be in New Albany you might want to check out LaGrange, Kentucky http://www.lagrangeky.net/visitors.asp . The CSX line between Louisville and Cincinatti ( Louisville & Nashville’s “Short Line”) runs through the street down town. The main street though town is lined with several kinds of shops: antiques, crafts, books, and an ice cream shop. Here is some video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URaB8_1d17A .
La Grange, KY, sounds like an interesting destination. Can you estimate how many times a day a CSX train (both ways) runs down the middle of Main St,? - a.s.
Another place for INRD is their yard [MIL] in Terre Haute In up on Fruitridge Ave [NE side]. They inter-change with CSX by the old NYC yard. The Palestine IL yard [old IC] is another town. Weekdays morning an afternoon are kinda busy in both places.
I always check in the yard offices and let them know what I’m doing. Sometimes they let me in the yard for pics if nothing moving, but I try to stay on public property.
The IAIS is spotty into and out of Chicago. Metra owns the tracks as far as Joilet and they are subject to Metra scheduling. There is a daily train that used to run between ten AM and noon subject to switching west of Joiet but now is coming through around 7-8 Am. The return trip hasn’t left much befotre 7-8 PM lately.
Been meaning to send you an e-mail. I had a information pamplete that I picked up and it said up to 25 trains a day. One of the shop owners told me that usually about 20 trains went though in a day, although I suspect that is down now. Markus if you want to visit try not to go on Sunday or Monday, unless they have changed the stores are not open on these days or on holidays. I try to go once a year usually in July when I am on vacation. There are benchs along the one block section down town and it is great to get a soda and relax while waiting for the next train, now if it were just headed up by an Emma that would be perfect.
Uh, yes there is street running in New Albany,Indiana, I already supplied info on the operations in that area. Go look it up on railpictures.net and you will find plenty of photos of the street running there.
Traffic is far less than that. In a 24 hour period there are around 15 trains through LaGrange,KY which is on the CSX LCL sub. Between sunrise and sundown you can catch maybe 6-8 trains.
The IAIS is pretty spotty, but regular. The eastbound train used to run in the morning, westbound at night…usually pretty late.
U.S. Rt. 6 follows the old Rock Island pretty closely, especially from Sheffield, IL west to the Quad Cities and as mentioned Rt. 29 from Bureau, IL to Peoria.
From Ottawa, IL east you’ll see mainly CSX. There’s a few locals throughout the day and a ‘road’ train westbound arriving in Ottawa around 8am and the eastbound at night.
There are quite a few old depots still around, most with the “Rock Island” nameplates still on them…a few of the bigger are at: Morris, Marseilles, Ottawa, LaSalle-Peru…a few others at DePue, Geneseo. Most are still in use as office buildings and look quite well.
There are a few good photo spots along the line, mainly due to the I&M and Hennepin canal running right next to the old ‘Rock’.
If you need directions or more specifics, please feel free to ask as I live in the area…
I’ll second that suggestion on the IAIS. Their downtown Iowa City yard is adjacent to a city park where you can get to within, oh maybe 50 yards of the tracks, and their engine house is right there. Their yard office is right behind the city park as well with a parking lot for IAIS employees. You can snap some pretty good photos without having to trespass right at the entrance to the lot. There’s also a street overpass right near the yard office, but you’d need to point your camera through the chain link fence.
There are some pretty decent spots along the Iowa Interstate. I am more familiar with the Iowa part than the Illinois part. I have several shots between Davenport, IA and Council Bluffs. The railroad gets a bit hilly the closer it gets to the Mississippi River.
The Iowa Interstate also has some street running of its own. Right after the trains cross the Mississippi River they enter a stretch of street running in Davenport. Most of the small towns in Iowa have grain elevators which add to the scene. Below are some shots from the QJ trips from the past couple of years.
Street Running in Davenport, IA
Another neat spot is West Liberty, IA with the restored Depot
