Hmm. I don't know if I was aware that Iowa Pacific has a presence in Britain.

I was looking for information about them taking control of the Grenada Railway. My friend Mike and at least four other passenger employees staffed a special train for the official ribbon cutting this week.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Great photos, thanks for sharing David.

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From an IPH employee, confirmed by other sources:


This Saturday the 5th there will be a Passenger Extra heading East on the NS Chicago Line to South Bend, IN. Consist is 10 cars and two back to back P42's which will run around the train during the layover. Should be departing CUS around 15:00.
Two P42's back to back,
Skytop Lounge (Cedar Rapids)
Superdome
Wisconsin Valley
Baggage Car
Braddock Inn
NYC 38
SLRG 448
Prairie View
Scenic View
Caritas


Later word is to add Moonlight Dome between 448 and Braddock Inn. I just inquired whether it's before or after 38.

At least the first four cars belong to Friends of 261. I think Braddock Inn does too. 448, Prairie View, Scenic View, and Caritas are IPH. Not sure about 38.

This trip is for the Notre Dame football game. (Season opener? I don't know. Seems a bit early for homecoming.)

Not expecting any heritage units. It will go by the Chesterton camera. I suppose they might turn the train either on or after arrival back in Chicago, which would take it by the MH camera, but it will definitely be in the dark.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

This trip is for the Notre Dame football game. (Season opener? I don't know. Seems a bit early for homecoming.)

Season opener vs Texas Longhorns. Tickets going for $300 to $800 a seat for the game, so I see why the train trip wouldn't be out of reach for a true fan.

---

From an IPH employee, confirmed by other sources:


This Saturday the 5th there will be a Passenger Extra heading East on the NS Chicago Line to South Bend, IN. Consist is 10 cars and two back to back P42's which will run around the train during the layover. Should be departing CUS around 15:00.
Two P42's back to back,
Skytop Lounge (Cedar Rapids)
Superdome
Wisconsin Valley
Baggage Car
Braddock Inn
NYC 38
SLRG 448
Prairie View
Scenic View
Caritas


Later word is to add Moonlight Dome between 448 and Braddock Inn. I just inquired whether it's before or after 38.

At least the first four cars belong to Friends of 261. I think Braddock Inn does too. 448, Prairie View, Scenic View, and Caritas are IPH. Not sure about 38.

This trip is for the Notre Dame football game. (Season opener? I don't know. Seems a bit early for homecoming.)

Not expecting any heritage units. It will go by the Chesterton camera. I suppose they might turn the train either on or after arrival back in Chicago, which would take it by the MH camera, but it will definitely be in the dark.

Now that would be worth seeing. Timing should put it at Chesterton around 16:00, which would be 22:00 UK. I will set an alarm on my phone!!

---

Click on it to go to the railpictures page to get the details of what this really is.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

I suppose they might turn the train either on or after arrival back in Chicago, which would take it by the MH camera, but it will definitely be in the dark.

Thinking about it more, the Cedar Rapids will certainly be facing tail-forward for the outbound trip. This most likely means it and the other 261 cars will have to be turned ahead of time. If it hasn't already happened, it probably will today. Or they may have been turned along with the train 8 they arrived on, whenever that was, and therefore probably in the dark. (Or it could be today, but I doubt they'd want to cut the connection that close.)

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

I suppose they might turn the train either on or after arrival back in Chicago, which would take it by the MH camera, but it will definitely be in the dark.

Thinking about it more, the Cedar Rapids will certainly be facing tail-forward for the outbound trip. This most likely means it and the other 261 cars will have to be turned ahead of time. If it hasn't already happened, it probably will today. Or they may have been turned along with the train 8 they arrived on, whenever that was, and therefore probably in the dark. (Or it could be today, but I doubt they'd want to cut the connection that close.)

Checking on the 261 website, the Superdome, Cedar Rapids and First Class Baggage car are joining the Empire Builder today at St Paul, should have been a couple of hours ago but as the 8 is over two hours late it hasn't happened yet.
Pity as they might have turned on the wye, now it will be too late for me.

---

I suppose they might turn the train either on or after arrival back in Chicago, which would take it by the MH camera, but it will definitely be in the dark.

Thinking about it more, the Cedar Rapids will certainly be facing tail-forward for the outbound trip. This most likely means it and the other 261 cars will have to be turned ahead of time. If it hasn't already happened, it probably will today. Or they may have been turned along with the train 8 they arrived on, whenever that was, and therefore probably in the dark. (Or it could be today, but I doubt they'd want to cut the connection that close.)

Checking on the 261 website, the Superdome, Cedar Rapids and First Class Baggage car are joining the Empire Builder today at St Paul, should have been a couple of hours ago but as the 8 is over two hours late it hasn't happened yet.
Pity as they might have turned on the wye, now it will be too late for me.

Okay. Yes, I see, they sold the trip down here as a weekend getaway, so Friday would be the day. If they make the turn right away, it should still be light out, but it would be past midnight for you.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Local news this afternoon: Nippon Sharyo laying off nearly 100 employees at Rochelle, IL.

These cars are not only for California but also the Midwest. I heard a rumor they're failing the crush test.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Well the 8 is nearly 3 hours late now so it isn't expected in till 6:28pm, which is 00:28 here. Hopefully they might want to turn it quickly because of the PV. We will see.

On to the cameras, another "first" on the heritage unit front and no warning,



NS 8025 "Monongahela", which has quite a history, if you wish to have a look here Monogahela Railway

Intrestingly the second loco appears to be a Union Pacific one, however it is in fact NS 7295, purchased by NS around a year ago.



Notice while all the UP markings are gone it still has the UP "We will deliver" on the side. It is an EMD SD9043MAC that started life as UP 8067 in 1996. I believe NS brought up quite a few.

While I was waiting for the 29, all the cameras failed for about 10 minutes, when they came back I just had time to hit record to catch the 29 and this



NS 7146 with a short coil train running long hood forward (or backwards to the non rail fans) quite unusual, but I don't think it goes very far.

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Well the 8 is nearly 3 hours late now so it isn't expected in till 6:28pm, which is 00:28 here. Hopefully they might want to turn it quickly because of the PV. We will see.

On to the cameras, another "first" on the heritage unit front and no warning,



NS 8025 "Monongahela", which has quite a history, if you wish to have a look here Monogahela Railway

I didn't know that was in town either.

Intrestingly the second loco appears to be a Union Pacific one, however it is in fact NS 7295, purchased by NS around a year ago.



Notice while all the UP markings are gone it still has the UP "We will deliver" on the side. It is an EMD SD9043MAC that started life as UP 8067 in 1996. I believe NS brought up quite a few.

Yes, I told you about those a few months ago.

While I was waiting for the 29, all the cameras failed for about 10 minutes, when they came back I just had time to hit record to catch the 29 and this



NS 7146 with a short coil train running long hood forward (or backwards to the non rail fans) quite unusual, but I don't think it goes very far.

Cool shot.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Another long Canadian train, picture taken yesterday in BC.

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Looks like two trains on two different tracks to Me, nice pic Bill, pay no attention to Chris. Almost looks like an "N Scale" model railroad, neat.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Alert! The football special departed at 1330,not 1500.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Are you telling me that the front of the train is round the bend at the middle top of the picture and that we can't even see the back end of it?? Absolutely ridiculous.

Looks to me like the front is at the right edge center and the rear is around the bend.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Alert! The football special departed at 1330,not 1500.

I am watching the Chesterton camera, hopefully the storm will have moved on, at one point the camera lens was covered in rain drops and it is still very dark!!

Update, it's actually getting darker!!

---

Are you telling me that the front of the train is round the bend at the middle top of the picture and that we can't even see the back end of it?? Absolutely ridiculous.

The insatiable need to burn carbon can not be better illustrated than with this train.

Are you telling me that the front of the train is round the bend at the middle top of the picture and that we can't even see the back end of it?? Absolutely ridiculous.

The insatiable need to burn carbon can not be better illustrated than with this train.

Actually, it is delivering potash to China. The insatiable need to eat, you see. They are moving the stuff from the prairies to China with a minimum of fuel expended per ton of potash delivered. Far from ridiculous, it is good common sense.

There are two trains, on two different tracks. That's a west bound CN train crossing the bridge, coming through the tunnel, with the back end disappearing out of the top left of the image. There is an east bound CP train just entering the picture from the right, on a separate track that doesn't cross the big river that the CN train is crossing. This is one of several areas in BC where the two lines run up either side of a river.

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pay no attention to Chris. Almost looks like an "N Scale" model railroad,

I don't think any comment is needed from me.

Since you probably have never seen one, here it is. Of course this is just a module of a much larger layout and it's an overhead shot.

A coal drag, in N scale, not too bad.

Or here.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's