======================================================= -> This is The 'SPORRS' Mailing List -> Info File: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs/infosporrs.htm -> Note: Remember to include your name in each list post or reply. -> Please delete all unnecessary quoted text from the original message! =======================================================
Mark wrote: > "(Not quite far enough from Wisconsin)" Greg wrote: "I think you mean that you're not close enough to god's country. Despite being a geographically challenged you might have a good understanding of the traffic patterns around Savanna and I'd be interested in what you consider are the best times of the day for BNSF action around Savanna and Buda." *********************************************************************** I was wondering if anyone would notice that. I am from Ohio, so that makes me a displaced Buckeye. I got moved out here in a company buy out. Upon arrival in Northern Illinois I was immediately initiated in this whole Illinois-Wisconsin, Bears-Packers, Chicago-Milwaukee rivalry thing. I never paid attention to it before the move, and since it is amusing, I sometimes make light hearted reference to it. I do, however, worry about people who think "hard water fishing" and wearing big yellow plastic cheeses on their heads are fun. OK, as for Savanna, I find my preference is the mid-afternoon. The westbound intermodal fleet from Chicago departs westbound from Cicero from around 11:00 AM till about 3:00 PM or so. The Metra rush in Chicago really does slow the later movement of BNSF traffic for a couple of hours. (I have read things in magazines about the triple track main handling Metra and freight simultaneously without a delay to the freight, but I tell you, during rush hour, the freight waits until Metra is done.) That means a late afternoon lull in Savanna. Figure 2-3 hours out of Cicero those movements hit Savanna. You can sometimes find 2 or even 3 trains running on the block of the movement ahead. There are about 5-7 old wooden country bridges between Oregon, IL and Savanna and there is the wooden bridge just in Savanna and two modern concrete bridges in Savanna, so there are enough vantage points to take advantage of your 3-6 well lit afternoon trains. The late afternoon-early evening is a good time to leave Savanna and head up the river line to the Mississippi Palisades for the overlook shot. Be prepared to watch about several eastbounds going away and maybe one westbound coming toward, though. (The Metra rush at work.) The C & I line, is my favorite local spot, by the way. It got a good treatment in CTC Board a few months ago. If you look carefully at the captions you will see one back lit Howard Ande shot and one of mine (shameless plug) of an eastbound CN train taken from the same bridge on Ideal Road. He credits his to being in Chadwick and I say its in Milledgeville. The bridge is about halfway in between and the location of the bridge really does not move. Mornings in Savanna you are more likely to bag a CN train, but they are spread out all day. I think they run about 6 a day. The thing to remember about eastbounds, except for the trains from Northtown Yard they are coming from Seattle and Portland, mostly. Therefore throw the "schedule" out the window. Eastbounds can come anytime, any day even. You never know. The westbounds are much more predictable, in a typical railroad kind of way. The "other" line through Savanna, the much acclaimed IMRL, is now actually running trains on the rails, instead of on the ties. At least that is what they report. The last couple of years of CP ownership were not kind to this line. I can hear the detector on that line at Monroe Center from my house. Lately, there has been a big increase in traffic going over the detector. (Up from zero always seems like a big increase.) A lot of it is run through NS traffic going to KC. The new auto mixing centers seem to be influencing that, although I wonder if NS is using the old Milwaukee West line as a safety release valve for their Wabash line. The IMRL seems to run maybe 8-12 trains a day now, but mostly unpredictable on times. Maybe half run with NS or CSX power and the other half IMRL power. Savanna is definitely in my summer plans for shooting. I would be lying to make any expert claims about Buda, however. I was only there once, in 1994, and my information is not current. I have been elsewhere on that "main line" and my impression is that it is not quite as busy as the C&I. Again, the Amtraks, 6 a day now, are scheduled and the westbounds BNSF trains should be more predictable. Eastbound BNSF trains should vary a lot, except for the ones out of Galesburg. The nature of the physical layout of the line seems to indicate that mornings would be best, but a winter or fall shot in the noon to early afternoon time frame of a westbound passing the depot taken from the little wooden bridge just to the west of the depot would be great. I have a summer shot of that and the sun is a little too high, but the view is good, as I recall and there is a telegraph pole line you could work into the shot. I believe the little depot still stands and there are at least a couple of bridges to shoot from. I expect that line is busier now since the BNSF merger and the completion of the Cameron connection to the ATSF main. I hope this helps. Mark Bailey Rockford, IL (not nearly close enough to Altoona, PA) ======================================================= -> SPORRS: 'Serious Photographers Of Railroad Related Subjects' -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs/ -> Message © 1998 SPORRS® - All Rights Reserved =======================================================
