Railfanning in the Midwest

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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I’m planning a railfanning week in the US next year to coincidence with the NMRA 75th convention in Milwaukee. One of our options is to fly in just before the July 4th weekend, but I’m not sure if this is such a good idea if we want to see lot’s of trains.

What kind of reduction in traffic levels can we expect on that sunday and/or monday? Would railroad museums generally be open or closed on July 4th?

We might be heading for North Platte, Nebraska and the UP line on that weekend. Would Bailey yard be quiet? Would there somehow be places around Nebraska that would have lot’s of traffic on monday because of any reduction on Sunday?

Morten [8D]

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Generally speaking, if you want to see boxcars and the like the roads cancel most manifest trains over the holiday weekend, but when it starts back up the next day it still takes a few days for things to move like normal again. Coal, Grain and other bulk trains operate as usual. ( they actually make money) North Platte will be busy regardless of when you visit. Most Muesums and tourist lines will be operating over the holiday.

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If you are considering driving from Wisconsin to North Platte, when you get into western Illinois, you should consider getting off the Interstate and taking US 30 instead. There are many places in Iowa, and even more in Nebraska, where US 30 and the UP’s Overland Route are within sight of one another.

Oh, and welcome to the States!

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Generally speaking, you’d see more traffic in advance of the holidays than afterwards. Mondays and Tuesdays are generally slower than the rest of the week, because the low carloadings of the weekend or holiday are working their way across the system.

U.S. 30 is definitely preferable to Interstate 80 in Nebraska, particularly from North Platte to Grand Island. In Illinois, State Route 38 is the highway to use from Dixon to the western suburbs of Chicago.

Please consider spending a couple of days around Chicago, if for no other reason than you can see any of the major railroads there (not just the western ones).

Holidays are often big days for museums such as the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, which should not be missed.

As the time draws closer, be thinking about specific things you’d be interested in seeing, and we could probably help with that.

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Thanks for the information.

This will be my 12th US tour and we’re still planning where to go, but as of right now this is a likely scenario:

Fly into Minneapolis just before the 4th of July weekend
Drive south to Iowa and probably Des Moines, before turning west to Omaha
Visit museums and stuff in Omaha
Then west to North Platte along the UP triple track and back
Southeast to Kansas City for a couple of days. It seems like there’s lots of interesting hot spots there, but they might not be as accesible these days as they used to be?
Continue east to St. Louis before we head north to Chicago and Milwauke in time for the convention on Sunday 11th. We’ll certainly do some Chicago trainwatching before arriving in Milwaukee.
After the convention we’ll head back to Minneapolis and fly home.

Any suggestions would be very welcome

I’ve been to some of these places before, but Kansas City and St. Louis would be a new experience.

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Nice trip…how many weeks do you have?

When going south to Iowa, hang a right at Ames, travel west to Boone and beyond to see UP’s new Kate Shelley High Bridge across the Des Moines River. It’s probably more spectacular than anything you’d see in Des Moines, save for the Iowa Interstate Railroad itself.

After Omaha (don’t miss the UP Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa), I’d visit Lincoln. The train-watching location affectionately known as “Camp Mookie” is on First Street, south of O Street, west of the center of town. It’s at the east end of BNSF’s yard there, and if you’re lucky, you might find Mookie, Driver and Millie there.

If you go to North Platte, be sure and visit the Golden Spike Tower. Nice view of the yard from up there, without risking trespassing. I’d suggest coming back east by way of Fremont, then; nice, busy crew-change point. From Fremont you can either head back to Omaha, or continue east to Blair and Missouri Valley before going south to Kansas City. At Blair is a massive bridge that the UP uses to get across the Missouri River.

I must confess to never having really railfanned Kansas City, but I still think it’s a must-see location. The old Union Station has apparently been nicely restored, and there are spots near it where trains can be seen and photographed. I’ve also seen pictures taken in the vicinity of the new “flyovers”, which suggest that it’s not impossible to do.

St. Louis: Three places one must visit for trains: the new Amtrak station and vicinity (the old Union Station is a walk from there, and also shopuld be seen), downtown Kirkwood (probably the most pleasant place to watch trains anywhere), and the National Transportation Museum, not far from Kirkwood.

As to Chicago, there is so much to do, you’ll have to pick and choose what you’d be interested in seeing, the time you’re willing to take, and so forth.

Suggestions made would depend on the nature of your group. I assume that you’re more than one male railfan. If y

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Two weeks and a couple more days… probably from July 1st until July 18th. We must be in Milwaukee on Sunday 11th

Yeah, I’ve been thinking of that bridge (or actually those bridges now), but do you actually see something from way below except the bridges themself?

Nice tip. We’ll try to find Camp Mookie!

Yeah, the new tower seems like a must. I were there in 94 and climbed up the old “tower”, but that wasn’t much help to see much of the yard

[quote user=“CShaveRR”]

I must confess to never having really railfanned Kansas City, but I still think it’s a must-see location. The old Union Station has apparently been nicely restored, and there are spots near it where t

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Morten, thanks for your replies–we ought to be able to help a little more with things now.

The road I usually use to see the bridges at Boone can be taken far enough to the north to catch trains going across, if I remember correctly. The new bridge is to the north, so you should be in luck. There are a couple of Forum participants who work out of Boone, who might be able to help with information on this and other possibilities.

Be sure and give us more specific dates, or keep in contact. If Mookie’s ears are up, I’m sure she’d be delighted to show visitors around.

Perhaps it’s because Kirkwood is at the top of a grade, in both directions–you can hear the trains struggling long before you see them. Kirkwood is extremely safe–as I said, very pleasant to go to. I would say that the area around the old and new stations in St. Louis is also safe–my wife and I walked it a couple of times in 2008.

I can heartily concur with your idea of seeing the UP between Elmhurst (best starting point west of Proviso) and Rochelle. From Route 59 to the west, Illinois 38 is your best bet for staying close to the tracks.

Joliet could be hit on your way up from St. Louis. Stay close to the station for safety reasons.

Street running: best bet would be Michigan City, Indiana, about 60 miles or so east of Chicago. You’d be likely to catch a NICTD passenger train on the Chicago SouthShore & South Bend trackage. If you’re very lucky, there might be a freight run through there.

You need to look at this site: http://dhke.com/CRJ

Dropping Minneapolis would also save you a couple of days to visit some of the sites I’ve mentioned–you’re still going to be busy. Stay in touch here, particularly as the time draws close.

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Hi Morten. I’m one of the members Carl is talking about.

All the roads to the KSB are now open to traffic. The road coming off of US 30 have signs directing you to the bridge(s). This way will take you under the west end of them. The new bridge is a few feet higher than the old one, so trains can be seen from the top of the hill on the south side. As Carl said, trains can be seen from the north side too.

If you have the time, you can also take in the Boone & Scenic Valley RR at Boone. You can ride over their high (only 156ft high) bridge. They are open daily thru the summer using diesels on weekdays and steam (subject to change) on weekends. The steam engine was the last one built by the Datong works in China.

Unless you are pressed for time, I would suggest taking US 30 across western Iowa. The UP tracks in most places are within a mile of the highway. Since US 30 doesn’t go to Omaha, at Missouri Valley, IA you can access I-29 and go south the 20+/- miles to Omaha/Council Bluffs.

One place along I-80 near Adair, IA is the site where Jesse James staged his first train robbery and the first one west of the Mississipp River. Not much to see, a historical marker and a wheel from a scrapped modern steam engine.

If I’m around when you’re in the area, I’d be glad to meet and show you around.

Jeff

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Thanks for the suggestions Jeff. Would be great to have someone show us around so I will try to PM you when things are finalized and we know when we will be where, but that won’t be until May/June I guess…

Morten [8D]

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Which railroad crossing of the Mississippi is the “most spectacular”? Which is best as seen from a railfan perspective, with accessibilty to actually view the bridge and have a fair chance of seeing a train or two in daylight.

I’m trying to figure which way we should drive west from Chicago towards Omaha and while US30 might be a good option in Iowa we might choose another route across the mighty river if that can get us a better view. On the way west this should probably be somewhere along the Iowa border. But maybe the bridge in Clinton is the best option since this is the UP bridge with all the traffic they have?

We do however need to cross the Mississippi on the way back to Chicago/Milwaukee and this will probably be in St. Louis as we will go there, but if there’s anything nice to see along the river north of St. Louis we are open to explore those.

Also if there is any stretches of railroad that runs along the river that are accessible we would be interested in that.

Any suggestions?

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From a scenic perspective, I like the BNSF crossing of the river at Burlington.

One never sees many pictures of the UP crossing the bridge at Clinton; I would have to assume that public access to the site isn’t the best. Clinton itself has some good photographic opportunities, though. I’d stick with U.S. 30 for that reason alone.

My best experiences with a railroad along the river are with what’s now the CP between Davenport and Muscatine, Iowa. The highway hugs the railroad pretty closely through most of that stretch.

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It may not be as scenic, but the Clinton bridge area is certainly very active, and viewable from the Clinton Depot. There’s always something going on there, whether it be UP crossing the bridge, CP (former DM&E) crossing the interlocking, or the bridge opening for barge traffic. I’ll have to look through my photos when I get home, but somewhere I have a few shots of the bridge, and trains crossing it, taken from “the vicinity” of the depot.[swg]

As far as railroading along the river is concerned, I would vote for the BNSF line from Savanna, IL up through Wisconsin. There are some incredible photo ops along that line- some of my favorites are a couple of state parks with overlooks and the pedestrian bridge to the lock and dam in Alma, Wisconsin.

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In St. Louis, Be sure to check out the Manufactuers Railway at the Foot of Arsenal St, Green and Cream SW1500’s, Respondek in Granite City along IL Route 3 and check out the Kirkwood Amtrak Station in Kirkwood, MO

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Found the shots I was remembering- took these back in June 2004 while waiting for an excursion being pulled by Milwaukee Road 261 to come through.

Here’s a view of the bridge in the open position to allow barge traffic through. The track in the foreground is the CP/DM&E line veering off to the north.

Almost closed for rail traffic:

A westbound comes into view:

…and crosses the bridge:

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Good Lord, is this forum connection aggravating tonight! Accidentally posted the same thing twice as a result, and it’s taken me 15 minutes just to get to the point where I can fix it by editing the second one (I was too late to delete it).

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Definitely. Maiden Rock, WI is right on the river and the BNSF line. if you go north a bit on the way to MSP, try Red Wing where the Hiawatha goes daily. In Illinois, Rochelle on the UP and BNSF is great, as is Eola on the BNSF.

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Since it appears you’ll be travelling between points west and Chicago, maybe a stop at Rochelle would be in order…

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If you are flying into Minneapolis you are flying into one of the best train watching areas in America. Within 15 minutes after you pick up your rental car at MSP you can be watching trains. Northtown is our big yard, lots of action including new commuter trains. BNSF mainline west from Minneapolis is quite busy and US 10 stays pretty close to the tracks for the most part. It makes for a nice day trip or weekend jaunt.

I would also consider driving between Minneapolis and La Crosse Wisconsin on your way to Iowa. This is also a very busy line for BNSF. Try to stay on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi from Prescott Wisconsin to La Crosse. CP on the Minnesota side is not nearly as busy. Wisconsin Hwy 35 is train heaven all the way from La Crosse down to East Dubuque Illinois which is another train hotspot. Cross into Iowa and follow US 151 to Cedar Rapids where you will pick up US 30 and head west. Ames and Boone Iowa offer much more for the railfan than does Des Moines. The best part of a railfan trip is seeing the trains you did not plan to see; have fun.

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Actually we have changed the plan somewhat… and have dropped MSP :frowning:

Fly into Chicago just before the 4th of July weekend
Drive west to Rochelle and the Mississippi. Then somehow drive across Iowa to Omaha
Visit museums and stuff in Omaha
Then west to North Platte along the UP triple track and back
Southeast to Kansas City for a couple of days.
Continue east to St. Louis before we head north to Chicago and Milwauke in time for the convention on Sunday 11th. We’ll certainly do some Chicago trainwatching before arriving in Milwaukee.
After the convention we’ll head back to O’Hare and fly home.

Morten :slight_smile: