Had a great time with Scott (the Scot) at the Isaac Walton Inn , even with daytime track closures..can you believe it!, we managed to get some great video of BNSF trains running through spectacular scenery! I'll be going back there for sure! Scott then drove us all the way to Helena, to visit his favourite location of Mulan's Pass, a 2.2 percent mountain grade of the BNSF with helper service by the Montana Rail Link (MRL) Fantastic scenery and big trains with four SD70 Aces pushing hard to get tonnage over the Pass. Loco's are in Notch 8 and down to 10 mph grinding their way up the hill, sounds unreal and the ground literally shakes as they go by. We spent 3 days there and guess what, more daytime track work!!! Scott was disappointed as there is usually many more trains , but it was still a great visit and I thank him so much for taking the time to drive half way across the state to show me around..thank you Sir!
Then it was back on the "Empire Builder" to visit "Railman Fuzz" in Staples , Minasota, another great You-tube friend who took time out to show me around, along with his train loving nephew, 8 yr old (going on 28) Mr "D" Dylan. What a great pair , they know the Staples sub inside out and while the scenery is not as dramatic as in Montana, the trains and curves were more than enough fun and we got some top footage and some good horn blasts too! Normally there is plenty of older power on the Sub, but with traffic down a bit , and a lot of new locos arrived, it was mainly newer power but we did see a few Geeps and SD60M's in yards, so pretty cool just the same! Fuzz put me up at his place and picked me up and dropped me off at the station, a 40 min trip each way, so thanks again mate for all your help! See you again!
A rest day for me today, it's a bit hectic planning a trip as you go, so with the weather being lousy . I will do some planning for the week ahead! Going to the Science and Industry Museum tomorrow, a must see in Chicago and full of machines and technical stuff and recommended by everyone!! Trying to get out to the train viewing park at Rochelle, a bit of a distance from here so will see what happens? Beautiful scenery coming into Chicago by the lakes and Mississippi river, saw barges and locks at dams, I kept thinking it's the ocean, but we're a long way from that..LOL
Next stop is Omaha, were I will travel to North Platte, Nebraska, to visit Union Pacific's "Bailey Yard", the largest rail yard in the world, so stay tuned for that!! Trying to upload a few short videos, but free WI-FI is too slow for even the shortest clip, but I will keep trying! Thanks for watching and bye for now!
Cheers Gregg.
