Moving at Milton – Two of Wisconsin & Southern’s new roster additions are on the move at the Milton, WI ethanol facility on the morning of October 13, 2023. SD60M 6023 is in the WSOR paint scheme, while sister 6031 is in patched out paint of its former owner Union Pacific.
New Paint at Janesville – On the morning of October 13, 2023, Wisconsin & Southern SD60M 6022 awaits its next assignment at the Janesville, WI engine terminal. 6022 is one of several ex-Union Pacific units recently acquired by the Badger State’s largest regional railroad.
Steam, Semaphores and blue Sky. Only the sky is a common occurrence in this day and age. But in selected locations steam is still there to be ridden, chased and photographed.
Semaphores are a little harder to find. Think New Mexico and a few other select locations.
Semaphores were widely used by railroads, the most recent installed nearly a hundred years ago. They were state of the art in their day, one feature being that even with the light bulb burned out, the position of the semaphore provided protection. They are woefully out of date in this digital age, and are falling like flies in a freeze.
As a rail-fan I love to have them astride the tracks. From any angle, even at speed on an adjacent highway you could tell by the horizontal position that a train was occupying the block. Wait for about a minute or less and either you had a train, or the arm went upward indicating the train is moving away. U-turn, and the race is on.
Former Spokane, Portland and Seattle #700 is splitting the blades near Prosser, Washington on October 19th, 1990. What an impressive cloud of steam against that blue sky. The massive Baldwin built 4-8-4 Northern loco was returning from a steam expo in the Yakima Valley.
The Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railways owned the SP&S jointly, and had a bad habit of giving hand-me-down locos to its step-child. But in 1937 the owners let the SP&S buy new locomotives, including three fast passenger Northerns. The #700 was part of that purchase.
The #700 occupies new digs in Portland, Oregon with the other Pacific Northwest 4-8-4 Northern, Daylight #4449 of Southern Pacific heritage. Both locos shared space in Portland’s Oaks Park for years, and they can both be found pulling rail-fan excursions several times a year.
Photo credit: Alan M. Miller, as seen in Classic Trains “Fantastic 4-8-4 Locomotives”, special 2012
Chapter members and folks from the community enjoyed Ed and Kathy Saley’s Fall Steam-Up on their elevated live-steam outdoor/garden railroad, Saturday, October 7, Thanks to Will Kling for the photographs.
Ed has built a separate loop further back on their property.
Happy 65th (sapphire) anniversary to one of our favorite contributors! Gary and Justine Ostlund just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. This photo was taken on their wedding day, October 4, 1958, in Haines, Alaska.
1st Place winner of the West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS October 2023 Photo Contest – NS 3663 leads NS #224 as it sits “in the hole” at Buechel, KY. It is waiting his turn to make a set out at Appliance Park while another train is making a pickup on this Fall peak week around Louisville, KY. – Photo by Bill Grady2nd Place winner of the West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS October 2023 Photo Contest – A northbound Canadian National mixed freight crosses the Big Muddy River just north of Carbondale IL. – Photo by Ricky Bivins
1st Place winner of the West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS September 2023 Photo Contest – CSX mixed freight heads southbound with “Geeps” leading, pass through Mortons Gap KY, on the CSX Henderson Subdivision. – Photo by Ricky Bivins
2nd Place winner of the West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS September 2023 Photo Contest – CSXT 4719 and 38 lead a mixed freight as they head north on the CSX Henderson Subdivision at Mortons Gap, Ky. – Photo by Ricky Bivins
1st Place winner of the West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS May 2023 Photo Contest by Bill Grady – Norfolk Southern #60P westbound is making its way through Buechel, KY. #60P is a Unit Potash train out of Canada that is turned over to the NS at Chicago, Illinois for the trip to Louisville, KY on July 6th, 2023. – Photo by Bill Grady2nd Place winner of the West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS July 2023 Photo Contest by Bill Farrell – Locomotive 271, F-9 unit of the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Railroad, idles before leaving the Candor Yard, North Carolina on July 30th, 2023. – Photo by Bill Farrell3rd Place winner of the West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS July 2023 Photo Contest by Bill Thomas – New CSX Heritage Seaboard System Locomotive 1982 heads south through the crossing at West Lake Street in Madisonville, Kentucky as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision. – Photo by Bill Thomas
Other Entries
As new CSX Heritage Seaboard System Locomotive 1982 fresh from the paint shop and making its maiden run, heads up CSX I026 as his consist rolls through the 50-mph curve northbound at St, James, Indiana on a great July 4th afternoon. – photo by Bill GradyCSX Honoring our Law Enforcement locomotive 3194 heads up an empty coal train as it heads north at Mortons Gap Ky on the Henderson Subdivision. – Photo by Ricky BivinsCSX Seaboard System Heritage locomotive 1982 leads I026 as it heads north at Mortons Gap Ky on the Henderson Subdivision. – Photo by Ricky Bivins
The WKNRHS recently took a trip to Hawsville, KY, for a layout visit at the home of Johnny Dawson. Enjoy the photos taken by Will Kling. Click photos for larger view.
The Terry family, Alicia, Ann (Farrell), and Brian, prepared and served us dinner comprised of recipes from railroad dining cars during our July 2023 meeting. Click image for larger view.
They say technology marches on and those who don’t adapt will be left behind. Railroading is no exception as the golden age of steam evolved into the diesel era, and the next horizon of locomotive technology seems to be based on electric and battery power (yes, I do know a Pennsylvania GG-1 was cutting edge technology and electric way back in the day). The old trusty Cannon EOS Rebel with 35mm slide film gave way to the Digital EOS Rebel and now that even takes a back seat to the iPhone or Android in your back pocket for a quick on-demand shot of the day’s railfan action. Monitoring railroad communications as part of railfanning is no exception to this technology marching forward drum cadence. While the majority of railroad communications remains the plain analog technology from multiple decades ago, changes are slowly making their way into the industry.
The first change, called narrow banding, resulted in the existing 97-channel band plan to be expanded with channels 107 to 196 interleaved between the existing frequencies. One example would be AAR Channel 183 (161.3625 Mhz) and AAR Channel 184 (161.3775 Mhz) being adjacent to the old AAR Channel 84 (161.3700 Mhz and CSXT’s main road frequency assignment through Madisonville). These additional frequencies effectively doubled the amount of channels available to railroads and their associated communications. The main effect these new channels had on railfans was a slight notice of lesser range on all channels due to the nature of narrow band signals – usually not a big deal.
The other change, related to the FCC’s narrow banding initiative, was the transition from analog to digital, just as seen with broadcast TV and FM signals, as well as public safety communication systems. For railfans, this change to digital felt foreboding as the possibility of not being able to hear train crews, dispatchers and lineside hotbox detectors could impact the ability to locate the action and get that prize winning first-place photo entry. Luckily most of these digital trials are only affecting large terminal operations or other test locations.
Even as scanner manufacturers were starting to release digital scanners in the early 2000’s, the different modes (APCO P-25, NXDN, and DMR) caused a lot of confusion and railfans asking “what radio do I really need?” especially with some of the top-line scanners being $700 or more. Unless you were heavily interested in public safety communications, these digital scanners were really unnecessary for the average railfan. Plus all the new digital features made programming an exercise akin to an electrical engineering class final exam.
While the AAR standard for digital voice radio uses the NXDN/Nexedge digital format there has been no mandate to use digital so far. Regional and smaller railroads, as well as railroad museums, have been known to use channels and even trunked radio systems (a whole other animal) outside of the AAR plan in the business-band frequency ranges. Additionally, some small operations even use DMR or other digital modes for internal communications.
On July 26, 2023 Uniden announced two new radio scanners on The Scanner Guys weekly amateur radio/scanner Youtube channel specifically aimed at railfans who may not need all the fancy features and are only concerned about being ready for the local railroad’s switch to digital. The BCD160DN handheld and BCD260DN base/mobile are based on Uniden’s existing BCD396xx and BCD996xx series of full-featured digital scanners but at a lower price point and an easier learning curve without the need for paying for extra digital modes and features. The NXND and DMR digital modes are included at no additional cost. While no expected release date was given, these two new units may be the next future upgrade you may need for your railfan toolbox.
Article by Chris Dees, Photos courtesy of Coffeeville Company – Brookfield, WI
During the expansion of railroads in the 1800s across the country, the town depot was considered one of the key social gathering places of its time. On July 24, 2023, the 1867 depot in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield, Wisconsin reclaimed that status as the restored depot reopened as The Coffeeville Company’s newest location. In November of 2021, the depot was moved 300 feet across the street from its original location on Brookfield Road and North Hills Drive between two railroad tracks. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation says for nearly a decade, the city of Brookfield worked to save the 1867 train depot. It is believed to be the city’s second oldest surviving structure.
After purchasing the depot from Kansas City Canadian Pacific Railway for $1, the city moved the depot to its current site to serve as a Waukesha County trailhead for the new Fox River Bicycle and Walking Trail, and to return it to its historic social status as a community gathering place with a privately-run café. “We are extremely lucky to come into 1800s train depot and do this again,” says Jack Kulwikowski, the founder and owner of Coffeeville Company. For the last two years, this has been a passion project for Kulwikowski. This is the second location for the coffee company that first opened in Jackson in a restored log home built in the 1800s. “Coffeeville Company was born to bring historical excitement and restoration to the community,” says Kulwikowski.
The depot has been beautifully restored, including the waiting room (now a dining area), mail sorting rack and ticket office which give the coffee shop a great historic feel. Outside, railfans can sit and watch the trains roll by along the CPKC mainline while enjoying breakfast, lunch or just a nice cup of Joe.
CSX 1973 Chessie System heritage unit rolls into south Atkinson (Madisonville) just past sundown, August 12, 2023. Top Photo by Bill Thomas.
Bottom Photo – Jim Pearson was a the same location when E002 arrived. This drone shot shows conductor Nick Jochim climbing aboard after lining the switches. See more info on Jim’s Facebook page.
Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society’s Nickel Plate Road 765 begins the steam up in Edon, OH for The Tri State Steam Excursion on June 18, 2023. This Father’s Day event traveled over Indiana Northeastern tracks through Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. Photos by Chris Dees
High noon on June 17, 2023 in Union Mills, Indiana sees the Chesapeake and Indiana power resting for the weekend. The railroad’s reporting marks of CKIN earned the railroad’s nickname of “The Chicken” by local railfans. 6386 is an SD40-2 and 5115 is a GP38-2. Photo by Chris Dees
