The unseen tools of a railfan.

Our first stop in Appleton was at the old Knox Bridge over Court Creek. This bridge paralleled the tracks and it made for a very nice photo location. Day three was already off to a great start and it continues with this blog installment.

At Court Creek, the first train we saw was a westbound Union Pacific vehicle train with a matched set of GEvos. Trying some artsy videowork, I focused on the relative quiet of the creek before panning over to the noisy freight train that was approaching. It was a good idea, but I think I will leave the Emmy-worthy video work to the pros from now on. With the track gang still on the rails a few miles away, we had time to reposition at the east end of town.

Here, the tracks come into town on a small hill; they turn from a northeast to southwest direction to a east-west alignment. It is here I saw my first set of "super elevated" curves. Both main lines bank at close to 25 degrees, sloping to the left. I was amazed when I stood on the grade crossing, to level myself I had to lean forward. I had never seen this before and could not wait for the first train to come through - as it turns out I did not have to wait long.

The first train to navigate this curve was a Union Pacific taconite train working up grade at track speed (which is close to 60 mph). The sloping curve is what allows trains to maintain their speed while safely gliding through the turn. Zoom. Swish. Slam went the train as she sped past; I looked on in amazement. A short time later, a BNSF train was next to take on the curves. Giving us an extra long blast of the horn as she went through.

After the train cleared, we talked up the location. As we were leaving, I made a note that this is a "go back" as I call it - meaning some place I was going to need to see again. Before leaving Appleton, for Dahinda, we had to take a look at the shortest set of signals I have ever seen on a main line. Just under a bridge there is a set of two searchlight type signals which stand about four feet tall. A very odd sight, and one you should see if you are ever in the area.

In Dahinda we set up in the middle section of what turned out to be an "S-curve." Similar to the elevated curve just west of the Spoon River Bridge. I crossed the tracks to get a good vantage point of eastbound traffic; Steve headed down the tracks to get a shot of the trains as they come off the bridge and into the curves; and Don remained at the car, watching the ATCS monitor. Don calling out warnings, "train in the approach." Steve informed us, that when the signals to the west lit up, we had two minutes before the train would arrive. As if on cue the green target lit up and I stood at the ready - making sure to hold tight to the video camera and my hat. Within moments a BNSF stack was in my viewfinder, rounding the first set of curves and gliding down grade towards us. Looking back at the train you could see the cars leaning hard to one side, but they held tight to the rails; a testament to the railroad engineers who designed and built these curves many years ago. Two more trains went through before it was time to say goodbye to Steve and Dahinda

From here on out Don and I were on our own. I felt confident we would not get lost thanks to a great map made by Steve and Don's memory. Leaving Dahinda we stopped in the town of Monica (pronounced Mo-nee-ka), to see check out the connection between the UP's and the BNSF's lines. While we were here we stayed to catch a train that we could see on the monitor, it was just out of Edelstein.

Shooting the UP stack train, Don noticed an eastbound train, soon to hit Edelstein Hill. Since the afternoon sun was only good for westbounds, we need to drive fast, to get to the Hill if I hoped to get a shot. After some fancy wheel work by Don we got to the spot at Edelstein Hill, Don told me to jump out quick as the train would be there any moment. Making my way to the only open spot in the grass I could find, there were several other railfans here, I let them know to get ready as a train was just about here. One railfan looked down at his scanner, as if to check if it was working, and asked: "How do you know?" Before I could answer, the train rounded the curve, led by four BNSF Dash-9s, pulling another stack train up the hill towards us.

With silence after the train cleared, I explained how we knew a train was coming. Don, the ATCS spokesman, invited the fellow railfans to his car for a first-hand lesson. None of these guys had yet heard about or seen ATCS before, they listened intently to Don and his explanation of ATCS and how it worked. After Don gave them the info and website address, they split… I would assume to get home and get signed up.

One railfan stayed behind. We talked for awhile, when Don mentioned how he was surprised to see that someone had been keeping the trees and brush trimmed, allowing us railfans an unobstructed view of the tracks. To our surprise, the guy we were talking to confessed "that's me!" He then showed us his tools of the trade. In the back of his van, sat a brush saw, a hedge trimmer, and two lopping shears. I chuckled and had to get a picture of that.

Don checked the ATCS monitor one more time and saw there were no eastbound trains on the radar screen so we said goodbye to our newest ATCS convert and made our way to Chillicothe. In town we were going to check out a museum as a possible location to host an ATCS site.

Driving into Chillicothe we made our way back towards the tracks. Don, going from memory, was unable to find the museum. So we parked by the tracks while we thought hard and waited for a eastbound train inbound, coming down Edelstein Hill. As we waited for the train a white SUV pulled slowly down the road towards use and came to a stop. More railfans we thought? Two guys got out and walked over to us. We started talking when we noticed that these two guys sounded like the guys from the night before in Galesburg. Yep, two more Englishmen had made the trip across the big pond to see America's freight railroads in action. Don being the great ATCS spokesmen again showed the fellows the display and explained how it works, exchanging info once again, we bid our new friends good luck on what was day one of a two week cross-country railfan odyssey.

After they left, the train we had waited for approached. I could see she was lead by a CSX GEvo and a CSX SD40-2. Wow, the first foreign power other than the UP I had seen in days was coming at me. I was so happy to see these units I forgot to zoom out with the video camera and ended up with three minutes of wheels passing by on the tracks. Seeing no further activity on the ATCS for eastbounds, it was time to grab a bite to eat at the local Trackside Restaurant since the action had slowed to a trickle. Finished with the best meal Chillicothe could offer up, we headed back to the tracks.

Don was still unable to remember the location of the museum and the only help from the locals was "huh?" or "You mean the one on the hill over there in Dunlap?" We decided it was best to hang by the tracks and wait out the trains. Seeing little on the ATCS we heard chatter on the scanner about a train in trouble at Monica. With the fire department on the way, we did not expect much soon.

Seeing another car a block away, Don decided we should go over and talk to him to maybe get some local info and maybe even introduce ATCS to yet another railfan. Pulling up to the car we greeted him with the question you railfanning? "Of course," he answered, so we knew he was a friendly and proceeded to chat up the evening.

As the sun sank deeper in the sky I managed to shoot two more eastbound trains: one a BNSF vehicle train, and the other a local job out of Galesburg. As I waited for the local train to arrive Don chatted about ATCS. Sounding like a good car salesmen, something told me this guy was not a good candidate to host a server. Later I found out that Don agreed with me on that; we laughed about how mom and dad would not like a big antenna running from the basement of the house.

As the local headed into the small yard at Chillicothe, the sun was now gone behind the hills. Closing the day just as she started: cool, dark and mysterious. Our drive to Rochelle was a long one and I spent the time listening to Don explain inner workings of ATCS trying to hold onto every bit of info. Like I told him, it was as if he was training the next generation of ATCS nuts-and-bolt man; which, if the time comes, I will be ready to carry on the work which has already begun.