Well time for a few pics perhaps.

Firstly this looks like just another shot of yet another Lake Shore passing Chesterton.



Except to "anoraks " like me it is unusual. 711 is not a P42, it is in fact a P32AC-DM. The DM standing for "Dual Mode" i.e 3rd rail electric and diesel.

If you look closley in the center of the bogies (wheels) you can see the red conductor shoe, which 186 doesn't have.

It is one of the locomotives that work in the tunnels in and out of Penn station in NY. They normally work around NY, Albany and upstate NY. The Lake Shore is in fact P32AC powered to and from Albany.

I suspect this one is going to Chicago for a repaint into "Empire Service" livery. joining 701, 704, 707, and 710.

Could be going to Indianapolis (Beech Grove) for paint (and probably heavy maintenance, maybe an overhaul), or it could be the P42 that would have
been used was bad ordered, so they subbed this for it. P32AC-DMs have 12-cylinder engines instead of the 16s of their contemporary P40s. I don't
remember if this was to make space for the extra electrical equipment for 3rd rail, or to reduce weight for a restricted bridge in New York. (The FL9s
that preceded them had one A1A truck to reduce the axle loading on the Park Ave. viaduct.)

Finally a I saw a strange thing today at Chesterton, that was not train related.

Just what is going on here.



They were there for perhaps 30 seconds then all flew off at once and did not return.

I saw a bigger swarm of birds in Moline (or was it East Moline?) yesterday. They were also more persistent.

Ah yes, Moline. I did indeed see both the KJ Santa Train (ABA F9s and a caboose) and the CP Holiday Train. I haven't looked at them yet, but I think
my pictures of the former are satisfactory while those of the latter are less so. I ended up driving through all but one (Bettendorf) of the six or seven Quad
Cities, looking for anything else interesting before it got dark. There wasn't much to see, even at Silvis Shops, but I pointed my zoom lens that way anyhow.
I'll try to post a few pics soon. (Yes, I keep saying that and not doing it...)

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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.

i am not a train dude, per se.
But, I thought that those of you who are, might enjoy this clip.
The real Polar Express.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

i am not a train dude, per se.
But, I thought that those of you who are, might enjoy this clip.
The real Polar Express.

Good grins, Mark. Thanks!

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i am not a train dude, per se.
But, I thought that those of you who are, might enjoy this clip.
The real Polar Express.

One of these years I should take a weekend off from the museum to see and maybe ride behind that engine. More likely a regular excursion, not a Polar Express.

By the way, they have to pay the licensing fee to call their train Polar Express just like anyone else. We choose not to and call ours Happy Holiday Railway, but the experience
is pretty much the same. (We have a shorter ride and it's just out and back, no activities at the far end of the line.)

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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.

This camera shot appeals to me for a couple of reasons.



First it is Amtrak's California Zephyr which is train 6, in this instance pulled by P42 number 6.

Which is also unusual as the 6 normally is double headed, when it left Chicago on the 30th, 189 was leading 6, wonder what went wrong.

It was also over two hours late so I suspect that was when 189 failed.

Secondly Chicago kind of looks festive, with the lights and the light covering of snow.

Time to rescue this thread from page 2 :-)

These days as I have to be flexible for my dad, I do not always get to watch the cameras, however I did have a "first this week"

I also don't automatically "record" all the trains like I used to but these days the "rewind" function is working a lot better so when I saw a fairly ordinary mixed freight pass the camera I didn't really take much notice,



CEFX 1043, proceeding a just a bit more than a walking pace!!

Then at position 73 (yes I went back and counted) was this.



CP 8724, first time I have see "distributed power" at Chesterton. I have seen it on the Cajon pass cams, but not this far east before.

The train was 125 cars and took over nine minutes to clear the crossing.

Then yesterday I saw this at Chicago



Virginia Railway Express carriages in Chicago, I wonder what they were doing, brought by Metra perhaps?

Metra also are the subject of the next picture. The Metra line that runs past the camera at Chicago is the "BNSF Railway" to Aurora.

Now this normally has F40PH's in the standard blue and red, however recently a couple of these have appeared.



Unfortunately my broadband here refuses to run the Chicago camera in 720p and I have to drop back to 480p , so I cannot see the numbers and don't know whether these are repaints, or brought in from other lines.

I'm not sure if this story lives here, or in the "safety" thread...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38400214

(Outline - low loader carrying a carriage got itself caught up on a set of traffic lights)

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I'm not sure if this story lives here, or in the "safety" thread...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38400214

(Outline - low loader carrying a carriage got itself caught up on a set of traffic lights)

Does Southern Rail know how to do anything right?

Well they could've helped reduce the overcrowding by carrying passengers :-)

And produced a new excuse for delays, namely "Wrong kind of traffic lights"

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

LOL. There again, they decided to "borrow" an Aussie idea - Roadtrain.

Well Chesterton has been busy again today. Amtrak 29 went through a while ago with this at number 3 in the consist.



Yep 4604 Siemens SC-44 Charger no idea where it is going or why, but they are apparently starting to be introduced to traffic next year.

Of course now you can get to see it from both angles.



Be interesting to see where that ends up.

Also a little earlier there was a 17 loco power move!! At number 6 was this



EX Indiana Railroad SD90MAC now NS 7337. For those not into trains that is known as "patched" it has a new number but still shows the previous owner.

Apparently Indiana Railroad was leasing these units and decided to let 4 go, NS bought the 4 Indiana Railroad NS SD9043MAC's so they can convert them to an SD70ACU.

So there you go!

Time to rescue this thread from page 2 :-)



CP 8724, first time I have see "distributed power" at Chesterton. I have seen it on the Cajon pass cams, but not this far east before.

Not that uncommon, but I'm a bit surprised to see it on NS tracks in winter. They refuse to accept trains handed off from BNSF with DP units. I suppose the difference here is that it's CP's train and crew.

Then yesterday I saw this at Chicago



Virginia Railway Express carriages in Chicago, I wonder what they were doing, brought by Metra perhaps?

Original Chicago And North Western cars, sold by Metra to VRE and now bought back again.

Metra also are the subject of the next picture. The Metra line that runs past the camera at Chicago is the "BNSF Railway" to Aurora.

Now this normally has F40PH's in the standard blue and red, however recently a couple of these have appeared.



Unfortunately my broadband here refuses to run the Chicago camera in 720p and I have to drop back to 480p , so I cannot see the numbers and don't know whether these are repaints, or brought in from other lines.

Metra has been steadily sending its F40s out to be rebuilt. The latest few have come back in this scheme, which originated on the MP36s (which you don't see on this camera because BNSF doesn't like them) and was recently also applied to the three F59s from Toronto (or was it Montreal?) that have been shaking down on the Milwaukee and North Central lines. This one appears to be 182 or 183; the new rebuilding contract starts with 181, but the last digit doesn't look like a 1 or 4. Next you should be seeing it on the "Winnebagos" like the one behind it, 185-214, which replaced BN's venerable E9s in 1992.

---

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

Well Chesterton has been busy again today. Amtrak 29 went through a while ago with this at number 3 in the consist.



Yep 4604 Siemens SC-44 Charger no idea where it is going or why, but they are apparently starting to be introduced to traffic next year.

Of course now you can get to see it from both angles.



Be interesting to see where that ends up.

The first batch of these should be going into service soon on state-supported Amtrak trains out of Chicago. However, they were also ordered by MARC and a couple other commuter agencies, and I believe this one (and maybe at least one other) were sent east for testing on the Northeast Corridor. They could be Amtrak's next national system order too. I suppose it's coming back now. I know a guy who recently took a job with Siemens, mainly handling quality assurance on these. However, he also participated in the delivery of the first Brightline trainset to Florida. (Unfortunately, the video link on that page isn't a link.)

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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.

This is what happens when you park your car on the tracks
http://abc7.com/news/freight-train-hits-unoccupied-car-in-santa-fe-springs/1669565/

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51 years ago tomorrow, less than a mile from where I now sit. One year later, I would be three weeks old, lying in my crib less than a mile away, but in the other direction. The water tank is still there, but the codeline poles are gone, replaced by buried fiber optic.

Merry Christmas.

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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.

BBC - Flying Scotsman: 16 miles in 60 seconds

For UK viewers;
Full run in real time at 21:00 on Thursday 29 December.

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The most powerful steam loco ever built, the ALCO C&O H8 Allegheny 2-6-6-6, 7500hp... My favorite steam loco, there are only 2 left in this world.

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

My favorite steam loco

Vic I can see why.

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Nice. Good to hear some still survive!

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