ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Railfanning in the dark is a whole other experience compared to railfanning in the day. It almost seems as though one has entered into an entirely alien world. While a majority of the world slows its pace for a well earned rest, the non-stop 24 hour flow of commerce sees locomotives and crews hustling to keep traffic moving, in a never ending motion light up only by locomotive headlights, the LEDs of signals and crossings, and the luminescent lights of a yard. Throw in a stubborn operational challenge, say Canadian National's infamous Byron Hill of Eastern Wisconsin, and the stage is set for a show one won't soon forget.
One of these daily nighttime visitors to Byron is "A-446", Chicago-bound manifest traffic that is assembled at Shops Yard, North Fond Du Lac, for the Windy City. As this trains make-up does not warrant any Distributed Power, a helping hand up the hill is always required from the "Shops Shover", specifically assigned to give assistance to any southbound trains needing it. The "Shover" almost always has a classic duo of EMDs assigned to it. Not only this, but A-446s power is typically ferried up from the Chicago Power Pool by its northbound counterpart, and this usually means ex-Illinois Central SD70s.
Small wonder then I spent a number of fall nights at the end of the last year in and around Fond Du Lac and "The Hill", and it did not disappoint. The "Shover" rated a pair of ex-Bessemer & Lake Erie "Tunnel Motors", 901 & 910, well known regulars to this assignment. The Chicago Power Pool did not disappoint either, sending up a wide variety of power to cover A-446s nightly runs. Twice however, the jackpot was caught; pairs of IC SD70s, one in October and one in November, plucked from their local duties in the Chicagoland area and sent north to ride the high iron of the Wisconsin Central. The October run saw one of the units repainted into CN colors taking the point, but November brought a true pair of "Death Stars", and lined up "Elephant Style" no less. Throw in the "Waukesha Turn" with it's duo of ex-Oakway SD60s and the rest of CN's mainline action, it's no wonder this is only "Volume 1" of my nighttime adventures to one of my favorite places not just as a railfan, but as a person.
Enjoy Everybody! There is plenty more to come! 🤘
Awesome! Love those BLE tunnel motors. Hope they stay up there for awhile.
They’ve been assigned as the “ Shover” power for a few years now. They aren’t going anywhere. They do their job perfectly.
Not bad, but could use a little narration.