 |
St. Paul to Searcy, AR |
|
PHOTO |
NOTES |
| Before leaving for a week in what some would believe to be the "deep south" I wandered around the terminal after work. But first, earlier in the day, MOP (Ops Practices) Ralph Cader (spelling?), an old CGW hogger, and I went to download an AC4400 in the yard. Wouldn't you know it... it was a CNW AC, #8810. Talk about making my day... | |
| MITDA was idling near the SSP yard office with all CSX power in tow. | |
| At the CP yard, this SOO engine is getting ready to duck into the repair shops. | |
| Unfortunately, the spine was dead and I had things to do on Saturday, so our trip picks up near Searcy, AR for conductor and engineer simulation. On the way, we drove into the worst blizzard to hit Arkansas in a decade. Drivers in Arkansas really don't know how to handle such weather, as evident by these guys in the ditch. | |
| The nearest mainline to Searcy was in Kensett, the terminating point on the DK&S railroad. In Kensett, an SP engine leads a manifest. | |
| BNSF 6922 | Between Kensett and Bald Knob, AR (That's right, I said Bald Knob...) a BNSF mix of power leads another manifest. Nice green, yellow and warbonnet consist. |
| CNW 8814 | Wow! In Bald Knob, we found CNW 8814 leading a three car local! Unfortunately, in Arkansas six inches of snow are pretty rare, and at these speeds we couldn't chase the train. But we still got a couple shots of it. |
| Jenks | Of course, a trip to Arkansas wouldn't be complete without a trip to Jenks Shop. Unfortunately, they don't allow ANY photographs inside the building, so we'll have to settle for some shots of the surrounding area. |
| UPY 549 | This GP15-1 was still in CNW paint outside the shops building. Is this the only one, or is there still one in Chicago too? |
| UP 6938 | This spotless DD40X greets visitors and workers at Jenks shop out near the front entrance. |
| passengers and SP power | This interesting passenger train was in North Little Rock Yard. The consist had this LLPX leaser, an SP GE unit, two passenger cars, and a UP engine on the back. The smoke in the photo is actully coming from the last passenger car, not the engine! |
| DK&S Training | Yours truly, with his temporary engineer license in hand, eases a train into a joint on the DK&S railroad, watching out for the brakeman's hand signals. Photo by Paul Didelius |
| The "smart" team | We have all passed our simulation with flying colors and it is time to leave Arkansas (yours truly tied for best score, 98% baby!) From right to left, Paul Didelius, Chicago; Richard Iverson, North Platte; Jarod Hage, Chicago; Instructor Dick Webb, Salt Lake City; DKS engineer Steve (sorry, forgot his last name!!), Jerry, the DKS conductor; and what's his name from South St. Paul. No, I'm not flipping off the camera, I'm holding a spike! |
| ex-CNW 6811 | We got to KC late, so I headed up to Ames and spent the night there. The spine was again dead, and absolutely nothing was going on in Mason City. At St. Paul, UP 2960 was switching Park Yard. 2960 is the CNW 6811 patch job. |
| SOO heaven | SOO is still alilve and well! At least at Pig's Eye, where a SOO caboose brings up the back of an outbound manifest, while a SOO engine eases out of the engine shop. |
| Last Week's Update | St. Paul to Omaha and Back |
