bergie might do that if he feels it’s necessary. if anyone sees one of the CNW GP7s around, take a picture and post it. see how many we can find
Okay- I do agree this is much nicer here.
“I heard “canary yellow”. not positive though what it is. Zito honestly doesnt look too bad. i like the look of it on the HO scale CNW locomotives.”
Both “canary yellow” and “Zito yellow” were nicknames for the CNW’s 1981 “Sunburst yellow” or “Safety yellow”- both show up as official names for the light yellow. The original yellow was “Stagecoach” yellow as noted before- but when CNW went back to the darker shade in 1992 you couldn’t get that shade anymore (since lead based paints were now illegal), so the new color was offhandedly referred to as “New Old Yellow”
I’m not aware of any special name for the green paint used on the units- as several shades of dark green were used on CNW units over the years.
The CNW I-72 overpass southwest of Springfield is the now abandoned South Pekin Sub- the very same that ran behind my house further south in Edwardsville as a kid. The UP abandoned the line from Barr to Girard and rerouted the only trains on this line via the I&M Barr to Springfield, then south to STL on the old GM&O by 1998-99. The line south of Girard is still in to Monterrey Mine (north of Gillespie) for occasional UP coal movements. The GWWR did also have a line in that vicinity- the old GM&O Springfield-Roodhouse, which the CNW vaulted over just south of the interstate bridge.
nordique, might i ask where you live and how you knew about the 400 club? regarding your post in the 8575 funeral topic. i know when the roadrailer comes through altoona and i’m usually there to see it. it comes any time between 8:00 and 10:00 PM. but it’s just trailers on train wheels. i’m looking for mixed freights. that’s 4 trains that come at any time. and i really wish i knew when they came without blowing $80.00 on a scanner. i dont have that kind of cash. i’ve seen the 400 club many times. there’s no marquee there, just a neon light. nice, but it’s just a drawing and sadly, not a real CNW locomotive. i go to altoona around 6:00 PM and stay till 9:30 PM. all i ever see is the roadrailer. the few times i go there in early morning (between 3:00 AM and 7:30 AM), i see 2 trains. sometimes the roadrailer comes back. but that’s a grand total of 4 trains. that leaves 2. i need to know this crap…
i am heartsick for CNW, but i’m heartsick for their hood units, not their carbody units. much less drawings of them. i’m planning on going all over the USA to find these 20+ CNW locomotives scattered around it. should be really fun.
again, nordique, this is all in response to the recent post you made in the 8575 funeral topic. i just dont want to revive that thread.
aaaaand we’re back! and 3 days till the heritage unit arrives. CNW is still sadly missed
One of the more interesting sights I saw on the old CNW line through Manitowoc happened one winter after a heavy snowfall. My house is only about two blocks from the north/south main line between Green Bay and Milwaukee and when I heard an air horn I looked out a window and saw five SD 40-2’s pushing a bright yellow wedge plow southbound. They were moving along at about 35 mph clearing the snow without any difficulty.
I remember that the CNW painted a few locos in the same " yellow" as used on some fire trucks, it was called high impact yellow, allmost a lime color.
The joke was they were “Slime Lime and Green”
Toasty
AHHHHH I REMEMBER SEEING LOCOMOTIVES IN THAT YELLOW!
oh memories :*(
I saw some old CNW junk today. A snow plow and caboose so rusty you couldn’t read the numbers. Spotted at Butler Yard, WI. Also saw a CNW caboose at Yardcenter Dolton, IL number 11111.
Where I work in Des Plaines, IL, I’ve got the Norma-Seeger connector track against the back of the property. When I started there in 2000, there were still a number of full CNW SD40-2’s with the autoracks to and from Belvedere. Then they were patched. Then full UP repaints (2999, 2997, and 2995 were the three that went by a couple of times a week). Now, there are just the UP Dash 9’s. There is still a local that goes through with a CNW bay window caboose a few times a week. Occasionally, there are some of the old CNW and MStL MOW flats in the Norma yard, just a short walk during my lunch. I just wish I had my camera with me all that time…
stan
And if anyone needs info on the FDL/NFDL area, I may be able to help.[:)]
how bout the Altoona area…? i believe it’s on the Twin Cities division. Altoona is ex CNW and it shows. they keep an ex CNW cylindrical hopper on a seldom used siding. i know because a small part of it is damaged and it has always been there. ever since the merger. look across the street and you’ll find a bar called the 400 club with the sign saying those words in neon lights and an E7 in CNW colors painted on it. then there’s the “Golden Spike Bar and Grill”. not sure what this has to do with CNW though. seems kinda UP. meh. but there’s plenty of homage. even the no trespassing signs say “dangerous. keep off. C.&N.W. Property”. that sign saddens me knowing the yard is not CNW property and only the armour yellow poop chute rides those rails now :*(
Atmo,
I now live in Texas- but I grew up in Papillion, NE (Omaha suburb) and Edwardsville, IL (St.Louis suburb) while my dad worked for UP. My mom and dad are both from Wisconsin (Stevens Point area) and live there now that my dad is retired from UP- all my relatives are also spread across WI.
Not to be picky- but a neon sign is a marquee- and if you look closely at it the locomotive’s headlight glows rings of neon at night. I’ve been going to Altoona for 20 years and every time I’m there I look for the 400 club sign to make sure it still exists. That sign is a CNW landmark that’s been in Altoona since the days the “400” actually called on the depot across the street.
As for the trains- MSSPR shows up around 0900 to 1100 AM normally- the MPRVP usually shows up in the dead of night like the ZCHEM (0100-0400). The only other freight action besides the locals you’d see is a MDMPR reroute or one of the Roseport trains- and for that you’ll need a scanner because they are extras that don’t run on a set daily schedule. The coal train reroutes also only show up when the main line across IL-IA gets congested. It’s kind of wishful thinking to always know exactly when every train is coming- like I said railfanning is a hobby that at times takes almost infinite patience- and unfortunately it is not possible for me to post exact train arrival times- schedules are not as concrete as they were in the days of the streamliners.
While I did not ever work for the CNW I did favor them with my companies business. They were most helpful in assiting me with my career. They also gave me many CNW items as thank you’s for the business I favored them with. Check out the below link & see the hat I am wearing, The pix was shot in the Cajon Pass
Has anybody out there recently seen former Rock Island covered hoppers with speed lettering, but sporting CNW reporting marks? It seems that the few still running have had fresh spots of paint applied over the Rock Island lettering, which makes them easy to spot, but also makes it a bit of a letdown. The North Western must have jumped at the chance to pick up extra covered hoppers from the RI when that road shut down.
i go to Altoona every night and i can safely say that the sign still glows proudly on the 400 club. i can even send you a picture if you want. as for wayfreights, the MSSPR has been arriving a lot later these days. i have been to Altoona around 3:00 AM only twice. both times i arrived right when a Westbound manifest was dropping off/picking up rolling stock. both times also when another manifest arrived from the West. usually around 4:00 or 5:00 AM. my guess was that this is MSS
I got some ok pictures of a CNW covered hopper with BOTH Rock Island “speed” and Route Rock shadow lettering! That car really looked bad, but cool at the same time to see TWO paint schemes of a long-fallen flag…
Also, I have a picture of NAHX 82179 [;)]
Cris,
Those ex-RI hoppers are still running around on UP’s vast system, we still get quite a few of them on the grain shuttles that come down to the Gulf ports via Houston.
The cars in speed lettering are harder to see because they are in the as-delivered scheme from 1973-74, when the Rock reorganized in 1975 and changed their colors to the “bankruptcy” blue- older hoppers were randomly cycled through the shops for new coats of paint. After the CNW picked them up- some were grey- most were blue. CNW fully patched some, while some others only got new numbers and a little CNW herald stencil. As this paint wore of over the years- the cars were repatched with the new sans-serif CNW style numbers, and the speed lettering was blanked out as well. I would say 1 out of every 10 grey cars that I see still have the speed lettering on them, while the rest have been patched.
And yes- the CNW did jump at the trustee’s offering of those hoppers, as well as several hundred boxcars (40 and 50 foot), gondolas, and airslides. The hoppers were mainly picked up to help with car supply on their newly aquired ex-RI grain lines in Iowa (and the Spine line.) Other cars and locomotives were simply returned to their financier- like the ex-UP/RI hopper Mark photographed- those were financed for RI by UP, and when they went belly-up the cars were returned to UP.
Atmo,
Thanks for the offer but I’ve got my own shots of the building and sign.
aight. oh and i dont think the locomotive painted there lights up anymore. just the words now
Hey Lord Atmo. I have seen some CNW engines but they are patched numbers not the road name.