Okay, what's this all about? Turns out it's a celebration of the May 10, 1869 event where the “golden spike” was driven into the final tie that joined 1,776 miles of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways, ceremonially creating the nation’s first transcontinental railroad in Promontory Summit, Utah.
The event is sponsored by Amtrak, MasterCard and, of all things, Wheel of Fortune TV show. So I'm not sure just how much of this has to do with trains and how much of it has to do with getting people to spend money.
Anyway, thought you would want to know!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
New Photos of CNW 7700 on Passenger Car Blog
This last month has just whizzed right on by and many thing are happening as spring finally finds it's way into the Midwest.
Chuck and I have been back to the Illinois Railway Museum twice now. He has been refinishing windows for the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railway 84 all winter in our basement and we went to IRM on 4/5/08 to get frame measurements so he can shave off enough of the window wood to keep them from sticking when the weather turns hot and humid.
On 4/19/08 we went out again and Chuck worked on removing all the broken screws from the six window frames he is working on. I got some photos of the CNW 7700 lightweight coach/baggage car's newly hung baggage compartment door. And then got a surprise when the Yard 5 move started happening. Everyone had understood the move would be delayed until after the board of directors meeting scheduled for the evening of 4/19/08 but 'the powers that be' went ahead with the plan. I got a little bit of video from moving the Turbine but I haven't yet edited the clips or uploaded them to YouTube. I'll get that done soon.
More details about the move can be found on the IRMPassengerCars.com blog as well as upcoming plans for the Passenger Car Department at the IRM. We plan to head back to the museum this coming Saturday if possible.
Also coming up is a trip to Hancock Michigan for Chuck and I with our friends from Dixon Illinois who are restoring an old steam locomotive that used to be in service at the Quincy Mine. There are two of the original locomotives and tenders on the property behind the only remaining intact hoist house. They are in need of a lot of attention to preserve them as restoration is pretty much out of the question. They are remnant of the old Quincy & Torch Lake Railroad.
Things will be happening a little faster now that spring is finally here. We have several railfan trips planned and the Milwaukee Road Historical Association Annual Convention is coming up in late June. Expect to see a little more action here for the summer.
Chuck and I have been back to the Illinois Railway Museum twice now. He has been refinishing windows for the Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railway 84 all winter in our basement and we went to IRM on 4/5/08 to get frame measurements so he can shave off enough of the window wood to keep them from sticking when the weather turns hot and humid.
On 4/19/08 we went out again and Chuck worked on removing all the broken screws from the six window frames he is working on. I got some photos of the CNW 7700 lightweight coach/baggage car's newly hung baggage compartment door. And then got a surprise when the Yard 5 move started happening. Everyone had understood the move would be delayed until after the board of directors meeting scheduled for the evening of 4/19/08 but 'the powers that be' went ahead with the plan. I got a little bit of video from moving the Turbine but I haven't yet edited the clips or uploaded them to YouTube. I'll get that done soon.
More details about the move can be found on the IRMPassengerCars.com blog as well as upcoming plans for the Passenger Car Department at the IRM. We plan to head back to the museum this coming Saturday if possible.
Also coming up is a trip to Hancock Michigan for Chuck and I with our friends from Dixon Illinois who are restoring an old steam locomotive that used to be in service at the Quincy Mine. There are two of the original locomotives and tenders on the property behind the only remaining intact hoist house. They are in need of a lot of attention to preserve them as restoration is pretty much out of the question. They are remnant of the old Quincy & Torch Lake Railroad.
Things will be happening a little faster now that spring is finally here. We have several railfan trips planned and the Milwaukee Road Historical Association Annual Convention is coming up in late June. Expect to see a little more action here for the summer.
Friday, March 28, 2008
RailfanInfo Update
Well March has gone by in a hurry! I've been meaning to get back here and post a couple of new videos taken earlier in the month but there hasn't been time so far.
One of the things I've been working on in addition to the update to RailfanInfo.com is a new blog for the IRM Passenger Car Department. It's been fun to setup the new blog and make some plans on what should be there to enhance the museum experience. But it's also been time consuming.
What I want to tell you about in this post in particular is the new page at RailfanInfo.com that asks you for advice. I want to add value to the site based on what you want to find there. I have my own interests in railroad collectibles, excursions, museums and historic places around the world but what is it that you want to find?
I'll be back soon with those new videos. We visited the Mitchell Park Domes to see their annual model train layout. Then we made a short stop at the Burnham Yards in Milwaukee to film a bit of switching action. And we visited Train Time at Milwaukee School of Engineering where there were many vendors, displays, and the layout created by students at MSOE.
Chuck and I are looking forward to warmer and less white weather soon. We're getting antsy to get back to the Illinois Railway Museum and get some work done there.
One of the things I've been working on in addition to the update to RailfanInfo.com is a new blog for the IRM Passenger Car Department. It's been fun to setup the new blog and make some plans on what should be there to enhance the museum experience. But it's also been time consuming.
What I want to tell you about in this post in particular is the new page at RailfanInfo.com that asks you for advice. I want to add value to the site based on what you want to find there. I have my own interests in railroad collectibles, excursions, museums and historic places around the world but what is it that you want to find?
I'll be back soon with those new videos. We visited the Mitchell Park Domes to see their annual model train layout. Then we made a short stop at the Burnham Yards in Milwaukee to film a bit of switching action. And we visited Train Time at Milwaukee School of Engineering where there were many vendors, displays, and the layout created by students at MSOE.
Chuck and I are looking forward to warmer and less white weather soon. We're getting antsy to get back to the Illinois Railway Museum and get some work done there.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Update on the New Berlin Local Freight Train
Joe Russ, webmaster of Schedule Board notified me that he had some images of a 2005 derailment of the local freight train in New Berlin on his site. I hadn't heard about the derailment so it's news to me which makes it worthy of a post.
I've put a link to Schedule Board in the railfan links to the right. Joe has been working on his railfan site since 1996 so take a moment to go and check out his site featuring model railroad and railfan events and news from around Southeastern Wisconsin. It's well worth a look!
Thanks Joe.
I've put a link to Schedule Board in the railfan links to the right. Joe has been working on his railfan site since 1996 so take a moment to go and check out his site featuring model railroad and railfan events and news from around Southeastern Wisconsin. It's well worth a look!
Thanks Joe.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Motor Car Excursion at East Troy Electric Railroad Museum
Dave Hawley has submitted the following information for your scheduling convenience:
An opportunity to run under overhead wire on the last remaining seven miles of the former Milwaukee interurban system at The East Troy Electric Railroad Museum. This will be a motorcar-only event (we will not be giving public rides this time) covering the entire railroad including the freight-only Trent Spur trackage not used for public excursions. Total weekend mileage will be 70 plus and will include a night run on both Friday and Saturday.
The East Troy Railroad is a very good place for new members to be mentored and there will be extra NARCOA compliant motorcars for new members to use for the mentoring session. This is a non-NARCOA insured activity, with insurance provided by the East Troy Electric Railroad Museum. There are no fees for those attending, however all operators must be museum members at a cost of $35 for a single annual membership. Motorcar operators could use this event as a spring tune-up run prior to the busy summer season. All NARCOA rules will be in effect, and all cars must be able to pass NARCOA inspection. For more information or to register contact Dave Hawley at DHAWLEY1214 at aol.com or call 630-854-8052.
Dave is a member of a motorcar club and will be in East Troy, WI for the event. Dave says: "If anybody would like a ride they are always welcome. All they have to do is give me a call and I will save them a seat. I have been to East Troy many times and everybody always have a lot of fun."
Thanks Dave. If you have any railroad events that you would like to have posted to the blog or to the mailing list please submit it to pauline at railfaninfo.com. Just change the word 'at' to @ for the correct email address.
Hope to see you in East Troy in April!
Back in July of 2005 Chuck and I were visiting the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co. (WSOR) for an open house event. A gaggle of scooters were there for some fun and I captured the following images. My favorite one was the Santa Fe closed cab with a rack of horns any engine would envy.
East Troy Electric Railroad Museum, East Troy, WI
(Non-NARCOA Excursion)
(Non-NARCOA Excursion)
An opportunity to run under overhead wire on the last remaining seven miles of the former Milwaukee interurban system at The East Troy Electric Railroad Museum. This will be a motorcar-only event (we will not be giving public rides this time) covering the entire railroad including the freight-only Trent Spur trackage not used for public excursions. Total weekend mileage will be 70 plus and will include a night run on both Friday and Saturday.
The East Troy Railroad is a very good place for new members to be mentored and there will be extra NARCOA compliant motorcars for new members to use for the mentoring session. This is a non-NARCOA insured activity, with insurance provided by the East Troy Electric Railroad Museum. There are no fees for those attending, however all operators must be museum members at a cost of $35 for a single annual membership. Motorcar operators could use this event as a spring tune-up run prior to the busy summer season. All NARCOA rules will be in effect, and all cars must be able to pass NARCOA inspection. For more information or to register contact Dave Hawley at DHAWLEY1214 at aol.com or call 630-854-8052.
Dave is a member of a motorcar club and will be in East Troy, WI for the event. Dave says: "If anybody would like a ride they are always welcome. All they have to do is give me a call and I will save them a seat. I have been to East Troy many times and everybody always have a lot of fun."
Thanks Dave. If you have any railroad events that you would like to have posted to the blog or to the mailing list please submit it to pauline at railfaninfo.com. Just change the word 'at' to @ for the correct email address.
Hope to see you in East Troy in April!
Back in July of 2005 Chuck and I were visiting the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co. (WSOR) for an open house event. A gaggle of scooters were there for some fun and I captured the following images. My favorite one was the Santa Fe closed cab with a rack of horns any engine would envy.
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Local Freight Train
As railfans we consider ourselves lucky to live about a quarter mile from the tracks of the former Chicago & Northwestern line to Madison. In the last few years a small local freight train has been running from West Allis to the New Berlin Industrial Park and on to Waukesha over these tracks. These tracks ran parallel to the old TMERL interuban line to Waukesha which is now a newly paved bike path.
When it first started it came through about once a week and had one old engine and maybe two or three boxcars at most. Now it often comes through at least three times a week, sometimes twice a day, and has usually two engines and up to a dozen freight cars or an occasional tanker.
We've been getting a lot of snow this year in southeastern Wisconsin; certainly more than we've ever seen down here in twenty years of residence in New Berlin. On February 11, 2008 there was fresh snow covering the tracks as the train hadn't been through for several days.
Chuck went up the crossing on Sunnyslope Road after work and filmed the local freight train as it came through the freshly fallen and snowplow packed snow at twilight. The snow seemed deep to a person standing there but the train had no problem pushing the snow.
Here's a short clip of the local freight going slowly through the intersection heading west toward the New Berlin Industrial Park.
Yeah, it's nothing too exciting but it was fun to watch. And during the long winter here in the suburbs of Milwaukee there isn't a lot of railroad action going on so the clip also reflects the desire to get out there and see some trains.
When it first started it came through about once a week and had one old engine and maybe two or three boxcars at most. Now it often comes through at least three times a week, sometimes twice a day, and has usually two engines and up to a dozen freight cars or an occasional tanker.
We've been getting a lot of snow this year in southeastern Wisconsin; certainly more than we've ever seen down here in twenty years of residence in New Berlin. On February 11, 2008 there was fresh snow covering the tracks as the train hadn't been through for several days.
Chuck went up the crossing on Sunnyslope Road after work and filmed the local freight train as it came through the freshly fallen and snowplow packed snow at twilight. The snow seemed deep to a person standing there but the train had no problem pushing the snow.
Here's a short clip of the local freight going slowly through the intersection heading west toward the New Berlin Industrial Park.
Yeah, it's nothing too exciting but it was fun to watch. And during the long winter here in the suburbs of Milwaukee there isn't a lot of railroad action going on so the clip also reflects the desire to get out there and see some trains.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Gil Bruck's Amazing Lionel Layout
On February 7, 2008 Chuck Trabert filmed Gil Bruck's amazing Lionel layout and you can view a short clip below.
Gil loves having a large number of people and vehicles on his approximately 20' x 20' Lionel layout with some 700 vehicles and around 5,700 people. From the silver mine to the circus parade and everything in between, this is one Lionel layout you'll want to see!
Gil is a member of the Lionel Railroad Club of Milwaukee and additional photos of Gil's layout are posted there.
Gil loves having a large number of people and vehicles on his approximately 20' x 20' Lionel layout with some 700 vehicles and around 5,700 people. From the silver mine to the circus parade and everything in between, this is one Lionel layout you'll want to see!
Gil is a member of the Lionel Railroad Club of Milwaukee and additional photos of Gil's layout are posted there.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Railfan Info Coming Soon!
I apologize for the lapse in posts here at WisconsinRailfan but it's been a winter where we haven't traveled with all the snow and ice. We haven't been to IRM since early December 2007 and it doesn't look like we'll be going there anytime soon.
Chuck has been doing restoration work on some windows from one of the heavyweight passenger cars from Barn 3 since December. He brought the windows home to make working on them less stressful.
About two weeks ago I decided that I've been trying to do too many things with all the websites I've been building. I've been spread too thin to really have a focus. One of the sites I built some time back is called RailfanInfo and it finally dawned on me that I only want to focus on content for my fellow railfans. So I've done a quick revamp of the site in appearance with the intent of creating really useful content once I get the site setup the way I want. And Chuck is going to work with me as he has time with our goal being to create the most complete railfan information site on the World Wide Web.
It's an ambitious goal to be sure. You can help by letting us know what kind of railfan information you want to see that you can't find. That's what we're aiming to provide. Our ideas so far have been to categorize the various railfan sites out there so the links are in some sort of order that makes it easy to find stuff. And we plan to write reviews of locations, events, excursions, fan trips, museums, and other railfan specific activities we participate in or experience.
Rome wasn't built in a day and RailfanInfo will take quite a bit of time to get to the point where we feel we are offering something valuable to the railfan community, but it will be fun and educational.
Feel free to email me with any suggestions you have for desired content on RailfanInfo: pauline at railfaninfo.com. (Just use the @ symbol instead of the word 'at' to make the email address functional.)
We're looking forward to building a community of railfans online and hope to see you there!
Chuck has been doing restoration work on some windows from one of the heavyweight passenger cars from Barn 3 since December. He brought the windows home to make working on them less stressful.
About two weeks ago I decided that I've been trying to do too many things with all the websites I've been building. I've been spread too thin to really have a focus. One of the sites I built some time back is called RailfanInfo and it finally dawned on me that I only want to focus on content for my fellow railfans. So I've done a quick revamp of the site in appearance with the intent of creating really useful content once I get the site setup the way I want. And Chuck is going to work with me as he has time with our goal being to create the most complete railfan information site on the World Wide Web.
It's an ambitious goal to be sure. You can help by letting us know what kind of railfan information you want to see that you can't find. That's what we're aiming to provide. Our ideas so far have been to categorize the various railfan sites out there so the links are in some sort of order that makes it easy to find stuff. And we plan to write reviews of locations, events, excursions, fan trips, museums, and other railfan specific activities we participate in or experience.
Rome wasn't built in a day and RailfanInfo will take quite a bit of time to get to the point where we feel we are offering something valuable to the railfan community, but it will be fun and educational.
Feel free to email me with any suggestions you have for desired content on RailfanInfo: pauline at railfaninfo.com. (Just use the @ symbol instead of the word 'at' to make the email address functional.)
We're looking forward to building a community of railfans online and hope to see you there!
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