The tracks run along the highway all the way into Nashville. On my way to wrok there is a town with an old passing siding that CSX now uses to spot MOW stuff about twice a year. I’ve seen the orange-painted CSX engines there.
It was a real thrill to drive by that siding one day to see old hoppers that had been renumbered for MOW, but not relettered. I saw C&O, L&N, Penn Central (which you could see the old NYC logo painted over), and B&O logos. It made my week.
I live in Fond Du Lac,Wi near the CN mainline to Chicago. I am at the Southern part of Shops Yard. I see everything that comes and goes through here.The house is about a good 20-30 yards away from the tracks.Everyday I see trains going to Waukesha,Quad Graphics in Lomira,the UP coal trains to Green Bay, Norfolk Southern trains to and from the yard,hauling the “paper mill supplies”,the Sadoff Scrap trains in the evening,and then there are days when you see quite alot of leased units and locomotives that are paying back CN the " horsepower hours owed". On the weekends there are at least 20-25 freights that come through town.Wednesday is the biggest time for movements.One day I counted a total of 40 trains high-balling through town. An average day consists of 15,though in the evening it gets pretty bad with about another 15 moving through FDL,and that is not even counting the ones that are going through when I am sleeping.
I am about 1/4 mile from the CSX rail yard in Avon, IN - I enjoy the diesel horns, and at night you can here them banging cars into each other in the hump yard, LOL.
cnwfan: do you ever get out and take some pictures? i’m jealous of you, you get to see NS power frequently. i probably won’t be able to see it again until the summer, and then i’ll be in baseball so i won’t be able to take pictures. i can’t wait till thursday, have the day off and the last 2 days a train has gone through at 10:30 in the morning during my 3rd hour class. we have a vent or something in that room that goes straight to the roof and you can hear the train perfectly clear.
Not to worry , I have taken quite alot of pix,then again I have missed a few locomotives that have come through like BNSF Dash9’s and SD40-2’s,quite a few ex Conrail (now NS) units,I have a picture of CSX GP 38-2 # 2700,a few leased HLCX units, some WC GP 7 or 9 units running,I have pix of all the WC special lettered units from the Operation Lifesaver to " the Flags of the WC railroad",a few pix of the ALCO RS 2’s that came through town and sat there for a few hours in the night[:-,],dont even ask how I got them,but I got the pix,I have one of the new logo on a Norfolk Southern Dash 9-shows the black thoroughbred horse,alot of the WC SD45 units-yes they are still running and in frequent use lately,and then there are the derailment pix of when a Union Pacific 101 car coal train derailed in the Industrial track yard near the South entrance to the Shops yard.If you are interested in seeing some of these units,I’d be glad to e-mail you a small file that will have some selected pix. The only thing that I get angry about is when CN has locomotives of the DMIR or any other railroad line going South,and its at night. For those that are following the WC,]# 2500 has been sent to the scrapper’s torch.Seems she “blew her top” . WC SD45 # 7498 is a helper unit on Byron Hill,and she is one nice clean unit as well.[8D]
I live 3 blocks from what used to be the IU belt in Indy, also 3 blocks from the old PRR line to Louisville, just south of Dale junction. Also close by is the Indiana Rail Road.
U.P., B.N.S.F., Iowa Interstate, across the river N.S.,T.P.W.,P&P.U., few miles down river I.C., and Few miles up river B.N.S.F. Main line between Chicago, and L.A.
I live in St. Paul, Minnesota, near the intersection of Dale and Maryland streets. From that intersection, you can see two railroad overpasses, which is a double-track line for the BNSF, I believe. I’ve seen other power from Norfolk Southern, and older Soo Line engines.
Further to the west are the old Northern Pacific car shops, called the Como shops (Como Lake and Como park are to the north of the shops). Years ago, a number of buildings were torn down, but the remainder was christened Bandana Square and remodelled to house a Holiday Inn, a medical clinic, and a small mall.
The mall has been quietly changing into office space; part of the decline stems from the movement of the Children’s Museum from the old Blacksmith building to a new building in downtown St. Paul.
The Twin City Model Railroad Museum (http://www.tcmrm.org/) is located on the second level of Bandana Square, and has a huge, scenicked, O-scale layout, which is well-worth a visit.
The most exciting moment was when I was with my son at a playground, and heard a steam engine (the old 261?) on the tracks, but we weren’t at a place where we could view it. This was during Taste of Minnesota, when excursions were run at incredible prices.
If one is willing to drive to the Amtrak Depot in St. Paul, there’s a spur that usually houses a couple of observation cars, one of them is the Sky-Top Cedar Rapids from the old Hiawatha trains. Impressive from the outside!
I live 2 blocksfrom UP, former ICG, former GM&O, and 3/4 miles from NS , former CONRAIL, former NYC,and 8 miles from BNSF, former ATSF,on mainline from Chicago to LA
I live within 1 mile of the B&O (now CSX) Old Main Line near Baltimore, MD. A passing siding ends just past the grade crossing, so I often get to see trains or helper units parked there. Can hear the horns quite clearly from my house.
I have to cross the NS tracks to get into my driveway. I am sitting here lookin at the tracks as I write this. I am 6 miles east of Frankfort In on the former Nickle Plate LE&W div. tracks. This is the house that I grew up in. I have lived here most of my 50 years and remember seeing the old NKP trains go racing by.
I live about 250 yards from the Western Maryland (now the Maryland Midland). It’s cool to be able to hear them blow the horn for a grade crossing about a mile away and jump in the truck and drive down to the tracks and railfan. Then I can chase it for the next 20 miles as the road speeds are higher than that of the railroad. Pretty cool.
I live near the CSX tracks. This is the old B&O track from Balitmore to Phila. Also on the other side of town is Amtrak Northeast Corridor tracks. I still go there to watch trains.
I live and work by the NJT Main/Bergen Line, the former Erie Lackawanna (nee Erie) main. There is plenty to see with about 90 transit trains daily. Freights? Unfortunately it is the lower end of the southern tier line, which Conrail cut way back on service, and NS basically ruined the rest.
