Passenger Trains > Amtrak 58 In The Snow

As early as Saturday night, I was looking at the weather and thinking ahead to Monday morning.  With the northbound City of New Orleans pushed back four hours due to Canadian National's trackwork on the Yazoo Subdivision, I figured on getting a shot of the train not long after dawn and there looked to be snow in the forecast.

Sure enough.  This morning I got up to find the train, while tardy, was doing fairly well.  Checking outside, there was no snow on the ground but there was a hint of flurries coming down.

Needing to get supplies and groceries in Anna, the curve downtown seemed to be the place to go.  As I drove to Anna, the snow gained in intensity from the very fine and light flurries into something much more photogenic.  Exactly what I was hoping for a day-and-a-half before!  After a couple of stops, I got to my location and got the tripods up.  After a few minutes back in the truck, the detector at Wetaug went off.  Perfect timing!

As soon as I got the equipment back in the truck, the Wetaug detector went off again.  I moved to the other side of the downtown area and shot the northbound local at the crest of the grade that a hundred years ago required helpers for tonnage trains.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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This morning?? Now I know why you guys up north are crazy!!

VBG in sunny Florida.

Uncle Joe

Nice video Mary. Sure was messy weather. Thanks for sharing.

Jim
Hatboro, PA

Nice!  Especially the Amtrak with a fairly good K5LA horn and nice formations at each crossing.

Regards, Jim Evans

Nice work, Mary.  That local was pretty long, wasn't it?

Snow where you are -- but where I am right now --
SF MidPeninsula --- clear bluye sky and warm -- 70 F.
Unreal.....    Our California sunshine, even in the
winter.  ("Winter" --w hat's that?  <G> )  Still a lot of
snow on Donner.  FWIW -- on Donner, 34 FEET of 
snow is the average 12-month total snowfall !!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/17 20:04 by Margaret_SP_fan.

Y'all can have Florida.  When it gets cold, you can put something on.  When it's hot, you're stuck!  ;-)

Seriously though, it wasn't as cold as it looks.  A lot of the snow that fell this morning has already melted off.

The only time CN seems to run a short train is either a local switcher or by accident.

L532 usually picks up a third unit in Centralia to avoid stalling out on Cobden Hill.  Occasionally, such as one night last week, even that extra unit doesn't do the trick.  I don't know the ins and outs of the CN symbols like I did with IC, but I think that 531/532 runs between Decatur and Memphis, moving blocks of cars between intermediate terminals such as Fulton, Centralia, Effingham and Mattoon along the way.  Call it a road local if you will, as opposed to the short haul locals that are based in locations such as Benton, Effingham, Gilman and Kankakee in Illinois.

531/532 cover some of the work that DECA and CADE (Decatur and Cairo, Illinois) did back in IC days.  And then some.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/17 13:36 by MaryMcPherson.

NICE Mary, Thanks for sharing and braving the elements. Always enjoy your shows.

Brian
Burlington, Iowa

Nice ! Thanks for sharing... :):):)

THANKS!!

Great video! I saw 59 roar out from under McCormick Place last night in the snow, but I was about 90 seconds too late to video it.

Anna has a couple of the nicest curves going through town that are so pleasant to see a train go by on. For those who don't know Anna is south of Carbondale and if you go about 40 more miles south you run out of Illinois and it has about 4,000 folks and is some pretty, hilly country. Thanks for the video Mary!

Ret. Navy Chief Bob Jensen
Manteno, IL

And before the latest re-numbering, previously (best) known as A431 and A432...

MaryMcPherson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Y'all can have Florida.  When it gets cold, you
> can put something on.  When it's hot, you're
> stuck!  ;-)
>
> Seriously though, it wasn't as cold as it looks.
>  A lot of the snow that fell this morning has
> already melted off.
>
> The only time CN seems to run a short train is
> either a local switcher or by accident.
>
> L532 usually picks up a third unit in Centralia to
> avoid stalling out on Cobden Hill.  Occasionally,
> such as one night last week, even that extra unit
> doesn't do the trick.  I don't know the ins and
> outs of the CN symbols like I did with IC, but I
> think that 531/532 runs between Decatur and
> Memphis, moving blocks of cars between
> intermediate terminals such as Fulton, Centralia,
> Effingham and Mattoon along the way.  Call it a
> road local if you will, as opposed to the short
> haul locals that are based in locations such as
> Benton, Effingham, Gilman and Kankakee in
> Illinois.
>
> 531/532 cover some of the work that DECA and CADE
> (Decatur and Cairo, Illinois) did back in IC days.
>  And then some.