Model Train Journal

I guess this thread will be my ongoing depository for my Detroit pics for now on.

First update- week of 10/9/14

Detroit's Milwaukee Junction- the CN/GTW, Conrail and Detroit Connecting Railroad all cross here and is a hub for most Canada-bound traffic

CN freight with a C40-8W and SD70M-2




Conrail freight led by 2 NS Dash 9s

Today's update:

This CN freight snuck up on me on the way to Milwaukee Junction



Amtrak Wolverine


GTW GP9R


Backing up

ogauge47 wrote:Today's update: Amtrak Wolverine

Nice. Down here on the Silver Service trains (Silver Star, my favorite and Silver Meteor) the motors are run "elephant style", that is, nose to tail. In your picture, the second unit almost looks like a B unit.

J. S. Bach wrote:

ogauge47 wrote:Today's update: Amtrak Wolverine

Nice. Down here on the Silver Service trains (Silver Star, my favorite and Silver Meteor) the motors are run "elephant style", that is, nose to tail. In your picture, the second unit almost looks like a B unit.

This arrangement pictured is new to me, normally Amtrak runs the Wolverine (Pontiac, MI to Chicago) with an engine on each end so they don't have to turn the train.

ogauge47 wrote:This arrangement pictured is new to me, normally Amtrak runs the Wolverine (Pontiac, MI to Chicago) with an engine on each end so they don't have to turn the train.

That is odd to me too as cab cars are available; at least on the Comet II commuter variant. Amtrak does use cab cars on Amfleet-equiped trains using de-motored Metroliners.

For the Wolverine they run two power units and both are actually running no matter which way the train is going. The rear unit is providing all of the electrical power for the passenger cars environmental systems and passenger seat 110v outlets.

Before they had enough Genesis units they did use a gutted FP40 as a control cab and "baggage car". On most of the coach cars on the Wolverine they have an area at one end of each car for luggage and some cars even have short luggage racks in these areas.

The train should only take about 5 hours to get from Detroit to Chicago and a number of the stops are very short with no assistance for getting luggage on or off the train. The thing that surprised me most about the trip is that Chicago's Union station has low level platforms. I'm used to "big city" stations having the high level walk on/off platforms.

This is actually a pretty popular way to get to/from Chicago in this area. If you're staying downtown you will have to pay almost as much for parking as buying another room at your hotel. Union Station is just behind the Willis (formerly known as Sears Tower) so it's really downtown, just off the loop.

Today's update:
I went down to Romulus for a few hours today. NS and CSX were working on the tracks at the diamond which caused a pretty big backlog of trains

CP freight


Blowing by the workers at track speed


NS local to Milan


Loram Rail Grinder






CSX rack train




CSX unit grain train literally on the heels of the autorack train- you could see the tail end of the rack train down the tracks while this one passed in front of me




Looks like they bought multiple copies of the tan hopper 6-packs. I don't think I've ever seen a solid train of one class of car before (save for that one ribbed hopper up front)

11/15/14 Update
I spent the day railfanning the NS Wabash line.

Romulus, MI









NS Oakwood Yard







Trio of old school CP rail SD40-2s


With my 2003 VW Passat Turbo


Saw the same oil train and was able to get a better picture of the CEFX pusher

Today's catches

CSX Rougemere Yard in Dearborn, MI



SD40-3s


NS Oakwood Yard

I spent an afternoon in Romulus and caught a bunch of trains. The Wabash was on fire today



CSX intermodal






Freshly painted CP unit. My iPhone acted up and wan't able to take a pic from the normal angle


Roadrailer


CSX freight with 2 CP units. The lead unit was in the movie 'Unstoppable'. The yellow plow stripes are a giveaway






NS and CP meet

I hit up Oakwood Yard for a couple hours today and caught some awesome EMD power (excluding a big GE on a RoadRailer train)

Conrail/NS autorack train this morning in Hamtramck, MI. Note the CN cowl GE unit

Some CP and NS action on the Wabash in Romulus





CP 9751, one of the engines used for Unstoppable


Trailing UP unit


Back to back NS locals

I went in to buy one, but thet were out of stock:

ogauge47 wrote:I hit up Oakwood Yard for a couple hours today and caught some awesome EMD power (excluding a big GE on a RoadRailer train)

How do you tell the difference? They all look the same to me now. Something about the shape of the cab windows??