Galesburg RR Days 2006, wish you were here.

I started this on the updates but realized that many of you would not read it as it may not apply to you. I thought what I could do, is for those who could not come, I could give you a taste as to what is going on out here.

So here is a short summary of Wednesday and the trip to Galesburg.

Tina and I woke up at 4:00AM to the sound of thunder, for some reason the old song from CCR ran through my head, "Looks like were in for nasty weather" Bad Moon Rising I slept in until 6:00AM convinced we would have no problem leaving at 9:00AM. After getting up and having coffie, Tina was getting frustrated with here embrodery machine as she is selling polo shirts with the new BNSF logo. I went to go check Trainboard to check on messeges left by Trainboard member ppuinn. His layout was on the way along with other intrest.

The rain kept coming, harder and harder. The original plan was to leave with the Jeeps top up without windows, but with the rain that soon changed. This really slowed down packing with the down pour and all. I called Harry (Littlegiant) and told him we were having bad weather and we would be late getting into Galesburg. Finally at 10:00AM the rain stopped and we packed the Jeep

So here is what is in the cargo hold: Spray booth, compressor, airbrush, tool box and other support equipment for the seminars, Tina's embroidery machine, portable gas grill, four boxes of Trainboard T-Shirts, BNSF and BN polo shirts, suitcase, camera, video camera, digital camer, binoculars, tripod, 2 portable chairs, small table, cooler with hamburger, hotdogs and other food, water, soda, two complete airbrushes for door prizes, two airbrush sets for door prizes, computer, dolly, and my locomotives. So packed and ready we finally left Rockford at 1:00PM.

 

We left Rockford and started heading south on 39/51 past Rochelle and Mendota. We had originally planned to stop in Mendota, go west to Princton to visit a hobby shop then proceed south to visit Dave's (ppuinn) layout. Dave has been posting pictures of his layout in the "Spring has sprung layout party" in the Inspection Pit. I contacted Dave offline and he was gracious enough to invite us into his home. We opted to drive further south by highway since we were late. Tina called Dave to give him a heads up and with his instructions we found our way to Sparland IL. It was nice to put a face to a name. After introductions Dave took us down into the layout room, this is what was waiting for us.


mg: I knew Dave's layout was big, but this was huge! And it has all been done in such a short time, starting in 2003! I have been working on my Conn. Valley Branch of the B&M since 1999 and its only 3X6!
The level of craftsmanship on this layout is exceptional and his planning and layout plan really takes operations to the next level. After admiring this layout, Dave had another treat for us.

 

We got into our vehicles and drove down the road to Chillicothe IL to the old Rock Island Depot, a depot that has been preserved by the Chillicothe Historical society. We came just a hare to late to see a Iowa Interstate coal train pull past the depot. It was a long train but soon we could cross the tracks to the depot. Dave introduced us to a gentleman (name escapes me but I think his name was Hank) who was watching the museum. We looked inside and were shown an HO layout.

The layout had sat built but dormant for 10 years before the local club came. A little cleaning and checking of the wires and it fired right up. I was impressed with the layout, it even had superelevated curves! Now for those of you who know my wife, she is an established Caboose fanatic so when the offer was made to see the caboose, she was already out the door. We looked at an old steel Santa Fe caboose that was donated to the depot by the Santa Fe in 1987. We walked around inside and was reminded that it was not so long ago this hack had been in service with Santa Fe's best. Outside Dave and Tina posed for a photo.

Looks like Tina is wearing the wrong shirt, that is a ACL F unit on there!

 

Dave took us around the other side of the depot to show us the strange modification to the roof line.

It may be hard to tell by this angle but the roof on the rightside has been cut back at an angle. Dave said this was done because the Rock had installed a siding here and it needed to clear the swing of a boxcar. Yet another interesting thing to model.

A view of the front.

The station made me think of what it must have been like in the days of the Rockets, images of maroon and red E units with silver cars and red and yellow SD40-2's flashed into my mind. Now this line is the Iowa Interstates and it sees about one train a day.

After a few more photo's Dave had one more location to show us.

 

Down the road we came on the old Santa Fe yard. This building was at one time the Santa Fe's, but Dave said he thought the town owned it now. Even some of the less elaborate buildings on the RR had a style that is better than todays standards.

We talked and I snapped a few pictures of a stack train east bound and another west bound. Tina is a huge swoosh lover and was disapointed not to see any on the lead, but we did see a white Peterbilt with the new orange and black logo:teeth:

Looking at the time, 6:30, I knew we had to get to Galesburg, so we said goodbye to Dave and thanked hime for his time and hospitality. Back in the Railfan Jeep and we went west bound following the tracks of the old Santa Fe.

 

Being the fan of the late Mr. Emery Gulash, I wanted to find a favorite spot of his, Edelstien. To my surprise Edelstien was just a little town. I was in luck to find two Santa Fe signal bridges.

I knew I HAD to take pictures as I saw in the background their modern replacements. If you see these signals, take pictures NOW, BNSF is replacing their old signals at a fast pace. Down the line a bit I was happy to find another bit of Santa Fe history.

The once common Santa Fe style sign post is also fast becoming rare, replaced with the highway looking signs markers. The sun was setting and we had another hour to Galesburg so we followed the main all the way into Galesburg. We went over Thurwell Bridge and saw a new ES44 and an SD40-2 in the new BNSF swoosh which made Tina's day. I think I should sneek out and repaint it in Chinese Red and Gray

We went to one of our favorite places to eat, Kastle Kreme on Main St. and had a hotdog and some icecreme. We checked in at 8:00PM and called Harry. What a great day, what had started as a bad start, finished well.

I'll be back tonight or tomorow with an update on Thursdays events. The Model Train show is Saturday and Sunday, but RR Days proper starts today on Thursday. Tina and I will be taking a tour of the BNSF Yards, seeing the RR Museum and doing some railfaning. I promise, more pictures of trains!

Jim

 

Thursday June 22nd.

Well Thursday morning we just took it easy as it was pouring ran outside our hotel window. Around 8:00 we had breakfast, the hotel had a make your own waffle, yum! After a refill of essentials such as coffie, we showered up and packed the Jeep for a day of railfaning. My interest was in the small town of Cameron, a busy spot in the RR world. The old Burlington had a dual main and the Santa Fe had a dual on top. This Santa Fe overpass went over the main vehicle road, the dual track of the Burlington and a small interurban line. The interurban line is long gone but one can see where it once was. Setting up across the street from the tracks we did not have to wait long.

I set off running the 35mm film camera as well as the video camera and Tina (BNSF7371) took these wonderful pictures with the digital. She did a great job getting the East bound Amtrak.

Since all my pictures will have to be developed I will have Tina post what she got pictures of...

 

George, so sorry to hear of your wet trip, tell Deb to sleep it off and to get well soon. I will e-mail my cell # to you. You will want to meet us at the college at 12:45 so I can set you up at the correct ramp. Park in parking C. Harry and I have reserved a ramp for you that should make setting up easier. Tina and I also brought our small hand dolly too if that helps. Where are you staying? We are at the Failfield across from the Carl Sandburg Mall.

 

Thanks Tina. After Cameron we were headed to the Amtrak depot downtown as we thought we were going on a dry run tour of the yards with the RR Days Committee, but there was some confusion. No matter as we can see the yard on Saturday. We decided to set up in the park by the Galesburg RR Museum. I realized that Tina and I forgot our LP tank for the grill, lucky for us there was a Do It Best Hardware store nearby. The friendly staff found us our LP tank and even a Lionel Do It Best Boxcar that was on sale! Cool only 15.00 bucks. With the LP tank and car, we walked back to the Museum under the viaduct, known as the subway to the locals and set out cooking burgers in the park.

How good does it get? Grilled burgers, nice town and did I mention trains?

 

Here is the view of the Museum, built and finished around Christmas of 2004. It was new to us last year at RR Days.

Out front is this great looking (I believe 0-5 built in Burlington) steam locomotive #3006 on display along with an RPO and a waycar.

 

A call to Harry (Dispatch?) and we were on our way to the college for some signs. A quick trip to the yard confirmed my thoughts, yes the Galesburg sign had been updated to the new logo.

At the college Harry was busy getting ready for the influx of dealers on Friday. Harry is a very busy man.

 

After talking with Harry as to where I would set up and what was to be the plan for Friday, Harry showed us on-line some N scale Collecter cars he had purchased.

We talked with Harry until it started getting late. Friday would be a very busy day so we decided to let Harry get back to work. We also wanted to see if Mopac was on the Bridge, so off to the yards again, just in time to get a good shot to close the days events.

Check out the cool CAT load on that flat car. With that, Jessica our railfan Jeep needed some gas, we needed food and sleep and got ready for Friday.

Friday will be real busy, so I don't know how many pictures we will post. Tina and I will be helping Wig-Wag set up as well as setting up my displays. You'll just have to wait and see.