Local Switching at Farley
I was coming back from a work meeting on this particular late summer afternoon when I caught sight of a headlight up ahead alongside US 20 east of Dyersville. It turned out to be the CN local L565, the Dubuque to Manchester turn. The crew works industries in a number of towns along the route. Here they were just starting a pickup at Innovative Ag Services on the upper right. Western Dubuque Biodiesel is on the upper left. They've held onto two cars of lumber that will be spotted at the next town over in Dyersville so that move will be easier. GTW 4919 and IC 3115 were the power assigned for the moment to the Dubuque area locals.
This spot is very close to the infamous "Field of Dreams" movie filming site here, still home to the original field made for the movie, and another fine crop of Iowa corn is starting to show signs that harvest time is coming. No idea if there were any ghost players roaming about in those rows though...
I often take the Dubuque local trains for granted, but typically they have some of the best power in the Dubuque area on any given day, at least if you like CN Geeps with paint of their original owners. (Well, typically a pair of Geeps anyway, sometimes it can be other models of EMDs or GEs from the CN family for a few days at a time when that's all that is available). A morning crew at Dubuque uses them to switch the yard and go over to the Illinois side of the river to the industries the CN serves there, plus the BN interchange. And then this evening crew works to Manchester and back, where they leave cars for the Cedar Rapids branch and bring back any outbounds from that area for connection with the mainline trains M337 and M338. This chance encounter was a good excuse to stop and get a couple of frames before we each moved on in our respective directions - the L567 to Dyersville and points west, and me back to Dubuque.
Local Switching at Farley
I was coming back from a work meeting on this particular late summer afternoon when I caught sight of a headlight up ahead alongside US 20 east of Dyersville. It turned out to be the CN local L565, the Dubuque to Manchester turn. The crew works industries in a number of towns along the route. Here they were just starting a pickup at Innovative Ag Services on the upper right. Western Dubuque Biodiesel is on the upper left. They've held onto two cars of lumber that will be spotted at the next town over in Dyersville so that move will be easier. GTW 4919 and IC 3115 were the power assigned for the moment to the Dubuque area locals.
This spot is very close to the infamous "Field of Dreams" movie filming site here, still home to the original field made for the movie, and another fine crop of Iowa corn is starting to show signs that harvest time is coming. No idea if there were any ghost players roaming about in those rows though...
I often take the Dubuque local trains for granted, but typically they have some of the best power in the Dubuque area on any given day, at least if you like CN Geeps with paint of their original owners. (Well, typically a pair of Geeps anyway, sometimes it can be other models of EMDs or GEs from the CN family for a few days at a time when that's all that is available). A morning crew at Dubuque uses them to switch the yard and go over to the Illinois side of the river to the industries the CN serves there, plus the BN interchange. And then this evening crew works to Manchester and back, where they leave cars for the Cedar Rapids branch and bring back any outbounds from that area for connection with the mainline trains M337 and M338. This chance encounter was a good excuse to stop and get a couple of frames before we each moved on in our respective directions - the L567 to Dyersville and points west, and me back to Dubuque.