Aug 27th and 28th 2011

August 27, 2011
I started out the weekend with a trip to Sioux City, IA and was rewarded with some interesting units.

Council Bluffs, IA
At the north Bartlett elevator was a loaded KCS grain train with two Belles, KCS 4682 and 4036.

The QNPSK was going by the north yard and I was unable to see what the head end power was. UP 8016 was cut in about 2/3 of the way back in the train as a DPU, though.

Blencoe, IA
Blencoe is the main pssing siding between California Jct and Salix, IA on the Sioux City sub and today there where two trains in Blenco. The MCBVP was passing an empty Pt. Neal coal train.

Salix, IA
The MKCVP was in the Salix siding waiting for MOW equipment to clear the main at Sgt. Bluff, IA.

Sioux City, IA
First stop in town is the Dakota & Iowa ex Milw east yard. Today was sort of a disappointment as only the Hudson local was in town with DAIR 2513 & 2512. The local switch engine was DAIR 4 and tucked away at the end of what was the Milw main was DAIR 6 and 21. I'm not sure why these would be placed there except maybe they are being stored.

Next stop is the CN/IC/CCP yard office for a look at the power. Today was a suprise as the Ft Dodge local had came in with BC Rail 4625 and CN 2556 as the road power. IC 3133 (in CN paint) has been the local switcher power for a while and she was just getting ready to start the days activities. The inbound train had left there train on the main as the old IC yard is always full. The 3133 would pull this train off the main and clear thru the yard to allow the local to leave later in the morning.

A quick drive by the UP yard on my way over to the BNSF didn't revel any UP trains waiting to head north. I did miss an southbound BNSF rock train while driving over to the BNSF side of town. UP power in the yard was UP 515, UP 827, UP 828 and job one had UP 2181 and 817 for their switch power.

The BNSF north end was active with BNSF 2856 and BNSF 3464 switching cars for the MLINNTN which was sitting on the main with BNSF 7472 and BNSF 4849 as power.

While the north switcher was going about its business a loaded coal train passed through and I was not able to see the unit numbers. The DPU was 9898, though. Shortly after a sb COLX empty came in with BNSF 9466 as the head end unit.

After an hour the CN local was ready to head out of Sioux City. They called the UP dispatcher,  got permission and did not waste anytime heading east. We setup in Leeds, IA to get video of them rolling out of town.

While the CN local was leaving the MCBVP was calling for permission to enter the yard. Today's train was a heavy one as it was combined with the MCBSX. Power was UP 6551-6319-5981-9373-2337 and the train stretched from around 20th street back to the around 3rd st. The UP 9373-2337 where left in town and powered the MSXCB back to Council Bluffs.

That was it for the rest of the day except for a couple of coal trains that I spotted in Missouri Valley, IA and between there and Council Bluffs on the drive back home.

August 28, 2011
The sun was out when I left for the morning but this quickly gave way to clouds and thunderstorms only to become sunny again later in the afternoon. The worse part about the storms was the UP was busy during for a change on a Sunday.

A drive by the Iowa Interstate to see what the BICB power was found IAIS 507-504 tied down behind the stored units.

In the UP north yard was a UP officer special that would head out later in the day. Power was UP 8125-8564 with 8 cars. UP 8218 was being ferried by the hostlers over to the siding into the north Bartlett elevator to be tied onto the rear of the KCS grain train to facilitate the cross town backup that will be needed to get this train over to the UP - IAIS interchange in the pool yard. On the north end of the North yard the MKCVP was making a pick up and getting ready to depart for Sioux City and Valley Park, MN.

I found a quite spot to park and waited for the traffic to come to me before the morning storms rolled in.
MSXCB
UP 2337-9373

QNPEL
UP 7785-NS  8386 - DPU UP 7618

Z Train
UP 7415-4618-4416 - DPU UP 1982

BNSF Council Bluffs extra
BNSF 551-556

UP EB Stack train
UP 7432-4823-4775

UP EB Grain Empty
UP 8021-6410 - DPU UP 7305-5906

UP EB Coal Load
UP 5770-6229 - DPU unknown

BNSF Island Park Local
BNSF 4767-4623

UP MNPPR
UP 3843-2272

After this I headed down to Oreapolis for some afternoon action.Upon arriving I found a WB empty holding on track two and a EB  coal load holding west of the diamond. Both where waiting for the UP SCBCB which crossed about 15 minutes after I arrived.

EB Coal load
BNSF 9231-9837-DPU 8928

EB Coal load
BNSF 8972 -9387 - DPU unknown

WB Coal empty
BNSF 9712-9255 - DPU 8870

Over all Sunday was probably my most productive day of railfaning in quit some time. Video of the coalers at Oreapolis can be found here http://www.youtube.com/user/cnw6500?feature=mhee

August 6, 2010

After a couple of extremely hot weekends and being on call, I was able to get out without any distractions today. This along with the decreased outflows at Gavin Pt dam prompted me to take a look at the local flooding before heading out to Fremont, NE.

The BNSF Omaha Sub has resurfaced at the Hwy 370 overpass in Bellevue, NE. The siding still has a spot or two that are under water, though. A local new video showed the CN/IC near Musical Hills Lane in N. Council Bluffs. This track will need some pretty heavy work as the river was flowing over it at a pretty good click for over a month.

Curiosity got the best of me and I drove down to where Joslin Rd crosses the UP just south of Old Mormon Bridge Rd. I'm glad I did as it answered a question I had concerning the gravel pit further down the road. Joslin Rd was flooded out and this pit was a major source of rock for levee work and road work in the area. The UP turned over access to the old second track ROW and the gravel pit turned it into a one way road. Empty trucks take Lime Kiln Rd., load out and then head north up the old ROW to access Old Mormon Bridge Rd.

 Missouri Valley was actually busy while I made a brief stop. The ZG2LT was making a crew change at the office while a MOW train of concrete ties and ballast was waiting on the old west yard lead. Power was a standard cab SD60 and a SD60M, while the z train was 4 SD70M's and a lone SD70ACe. After the z train passed by me I headed out to Italy avenue to see what was occurring with the heavy equipment there. The contractor has started up the earth moving for the second track and for what appears to be a set of tracks on the north side of the crossing.

California Jct is now seeing earth work for this second track. East of the crossing, the area south of the current tracks has been cleared and a heavy dozer was working. There was also a loaded grain train on the Sioux City Sub waiting to head west after the z train. Two AC4400CW's on the head end with one pushing as per the normal practice. The only item of interest was the UP 6715 had been repainted recently and now has a flag and UP paint over her old CNW paint. We caught this train later slowly climbing Blair Hill and follower her into Fremont.

Fremont was quite during the time we where there. Only 2 UP trains and the normal BNSF local power tied down. The MNPCBB was just going thru the east side of Fremont as we arrived. This train was having issues as we where able to catch up to it at Valley after spending around 45 minutes in Fremont. It was being followed by a coal load for Mid America in Council Bluffs. The only other train we encountered was a WEPX coal load parked on the east side of Fremont.