#u30c

Shiller Park

On my way back to Indiana, from Milwaukee, I grabbed a couple of shots of Soo Line power in the Chicago area. I was told by some on FB that this place is called Shiller Park.

As for the locomotives on hand—we see a big U30C 803 (with aerodynamic fins, which I dig), built in 1968, and GP30 717 (sporting Alco trucks, not really visible here), built in 1963. Both of these units were constructed for the Soo Line, delivered with these numbers. There was an F-unit and a GP9 loitering about as well.

We Can Handle It

To follow up on yesterday’s post with the Rock Island train, I have one today that was definitely taken on the Chicago & North Western main line in Iowa. These shots were taken between Woodbine and Dunlap in the western part of the state.

It’s interesting to note that the C&NW had pulled one of the two tracks in this section, between Denison and Missouri Valley, only to have it put back in later (by the Union Pacific, I believe, after they absorbed the line). Too bad it's not double track here so we can witness the distinctive "wrong-way" running this railroad was known for—but this helped pin down the locale.

These are some of my earliest rail images. We were visiting the grandparents in Storm Lake, Iowa, to the north. I would bug my brother to drive me around a bit (as I was only fifteen at the time) so I could shoot trains with an old camera of my dad's. I saw several trains like this: Union Pacific power with C&NW on the point (for cab signals, I reckon)..

Northbound with a Meet

Here we see a northbound train on the Louisville & Nashville between Hopkinsville and Nortonville, Kentucky. This is the line that heads from Nashville, Tennessee, north-northwest to Evansville, Indiana, and then on to St. Louis.

The first two images were taken north of Hopkinsville where where Substation Road crosses over the tracks (MP 245.2). The next two pictures show the train making a meet just south of Kelly; the bridge no longer exists over the tracks at this location. And the final image was taken from the Highway 41 Overpass south of Nortonville.