This is what we like to see. Capacity crowds enjoying themselves with Thomas, other train rides, various activities, food, and so on. We can only hope many of them will come back on less crowded days and perhaps learn more about railroad history.
As for myself, there's not much to report. What I had wanted to accomplish on the 36 wasn't feasible, and will have to wait for another day. There are always things I can do on the interior, and I had a couple of other things to fix on the other cars, but nothing picture-worthy. Frank was the conductor on the North Shore train, so he'll have more
But so you'll have something to look at, I stopped in St. Charles on the way home. This (L) was the main line of the Chicago Great Western. I hadn't thought about it for a while -- how long has it been since there were any trains over the river? This is taken from the 2nd St. bridge, and in the distance (R) you can see the track on the big bridge. There really aren't many abandoned railroads around here, so this stretch of the CGW is interesting.
The bridge over the Fox has always been impressive, although that new bicycle path bridge certainly clutters up the picture.
The bridge appears to be in excellent condition to my untrained eye.
If only we knew a Professional Engineer (P.E.), I wonder what he would make of it.
Meanwhile, we're waiting for railroad-related news from Salt Lake City. I hope David will find an opportunity to check out Ruth's Diner, for instance.
7 comments:
We were out there today with the 4-year old and it was crowded and busy but there was always something to do. Besides the required Thomas ride we did go through barn 7 just as they were moving 144 and 3142 out to begin operations. The little one enjoyed looking at all of the cars "older than daddy or grandpa." We then looked at some of the outside cars and he wondered why they were rusty. Had to explain about covered storage and restoration and then we looked at the car being restored in Barn 4. Never too early (or busy) for a history lesson.
Todd
Thanks for the report. Barn 8 had lots of visitors; usually it's pretty empty since it's farthest from the depot, but today it was closest to the Thomas loading area, so sometimes the aisle seemed to be packed with families.
Re: St Charles
The General Mills plant closed in 2002. I'm not sure when the lumber yard stopped taking loads. Latest online pictures are 2008, which is probably pretty close to the end. UP filed for abandonment of the last three miles in 2010.
That bridge was built is 1957. Here's the span it replaced.
Steve
Regarding Ruth's Diner in SLC, I'm guessing from the photos on their website that it's actually an ex-SLC city car. See http://davesrailpix.com/odds/ut/htm/slc04.htm for an in-service photo of a similar car.
Dispatching for the Thomas event must require lots of Tums and coffee! Great work! Nick
Lake Zurich Dan
My son is a Professional Engineer (PE1)working on high speed rail in California and he said what you really need is a S.E...Structural Engineer...to see if the Fox River bridge is ready to go splash.
Dan: Thanks. Actually, my comment was meant as an in-joke. We have a P.E. on board, I was just talking to him on Sunday. In any case, the CGW bridge is too large for the Kishwaukee, so it's an academic question.
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