Trip Report with photos: CN's Neenah Sub - Trains Magazine

Finally my trip report from last weekend.

The following photos were taken between Fri 1/14 and Sun 1/16.

Friday 1/14
I got out of work a tad early.  Pretty rough on a Friday, right?  Where I work is very near CN's Neenah Sub.  I make a habit of keeping a scanner and camera with me almost always.  Today I heard the MP181.1 detector (between Oshkosh & Neenah) sound off for a southbound train while warming my truck up.  By the time I started to head towards Neenah to pick my son up from daycare, two things happened:
1) I got an email from my wife (Yay for BlackBerry!) saying that my Mother-in-Law would be picking our son up early on Saturday morning and "...would we mind if he stayed until Sunday evening?" 
2) I saw the southbound, much sooner than I expected.

I had the luck of a long line of sight on the train so I could set up just north of the Oshkosh Swing Bridge.  M342 came along shortly.

Once M342 went by I had to get to Neenah to get my son from daycare.  After exiting at Breezewood from US41 and turning on Harrison St...I saw headlights in the rearview mirror.  I only had time for a grab shot of Q199.  I couldn't believe how empty this train was.  It was a close to baretables as I've seen in this area.

After picking up my son and heading home for the day I made plans to be trackside as early as practical on Saturday morning.  A friend who lives in Neenah & I would coordinate "heads up" calls as necessary as we were out and about over the weekend.

Saturday 1/15
With my wife working all day Saturday & Sunday I only had to wait for my MiL to get to our house to pick up Aedan.  Shortly after she picked him up I headed trackside.  Thanks (again) to my scanner I heard a northbound I could intercept just south of Nevada Ave in Oshkosh.  I didn't have long to wait until M335 came along.  I really like this picture because of the 'warm' morning light, but also the snow kicked up by the train as it rolls past.

I followed M335 to Neenah and heard another train talking with the RTC about getting back on the main.  Instead of exiting at Breezewood I took the Winchester exit & headed directly to the Lake St. crossing just in time to hear "We're pulling now, A491 out" over the scanner.

Hearing the RTC talking to A491 as he was northwest of Neenah they were told to "meet one at Anton" so I hung around to see what would be coming south.  I didn't have too long to wait until I heard "UP 5663: Advance Approach, Diverging" over the radio...wait...that radio call was usually heard on the A415/416 push/pull train from Stevens Point to Green Bay.  Was a UP AC4400 really on this train or did my ears decieve me (there was a CN 5663 in the area that I missed)?  Sure enough...must've come from a Weston Coal train because there were none in Green Bay at the time.

I wasn't sure what would be on the other end of the train and as the north end of the train came into view I could see a bright orange locomotive coming into view.  After a brake test and getting signals onto Stroebe Siding and a Track Authority for the Fox River Sub, EJE 703 throttled up.  Crazy that a GP38 and an AC4400 were working the ends of that train!

After a brief lull in the action L576 pulled into town and would hold the main at Neenah South to do its work of setting cars out and picking them up.  The train would head up Dixie Siding for headroom.

After L576 finished and doubled back to its train on the mainline I headed south and took frontage & "back" roads to get to one of my favored crossings: Sherman Road.  The original plan RTC had for L576 was for the train to hold the main at Dixie for a meet.  However, the northbound trains out of Shops were delayed a bit so the RTC turned L576 loose and I saw it again.

I elected to remain where I was and didn't have long to wait until I heard a train getting a rollby in Oshkosh.  Soon M347 came rolling by.

I decided to move to the south Sherman crossing as I heard M347 get a rollby in Neenah.  Along came M346 rolling south with DPUs mid-train.

I started heading south towards home as the light was fading when I heard RTC talking to at least one train pulling from Shops.  That way, there was a chance of some kind of light to shoot with.  That decision paid off.  C701 rolled north towards Green Bay.  What made this train unique was that it kept it's DPU.  Coal trains to Green Bay normally have the DPU removed at Shops so this was kind of rare.

I seriously debated leaving at this point...but hearing the next NB heading out of Shops...I decided to chance fading light and headed just a bit further south.  Just south of the Fox River near the Oshkosh "Yard" I saw headlights.  Here came A447.

That was it for shooting light so I called it a day.  A friend who lives in Neenah indicated that there was plenty of traffic at night (both Friday and Saturday) but you'll have to check his shots for info.  Search for Loadstone on Flickr should you so desire.

Sunday 1/16
Knowing that not much runs on Sundays and that I hadn't been towards Shops I headed south.  I was in Van Dyne when I heard one pulling north already.  Sitting at Lincoln Road A491 soon came into view.

Not 5 minutes later I heard A491 give a rollby.  Southbound?  YEP!  M346 was movin' along.

My "catch of the day" was CN 8920, as it became the 1000th unique locomotive I photographed.  

I lingered around Shops a bit but it sounded like not much was there...or about to be moving so I headed home for a while.  Later that afternoon I had to pick up my wife so we could head to my MiL's house.  Just after exiting at Breezewood (sensing a theme here?) I saw headlights.  L576 pulled into town sporting CN 2124 (ex-UP, nee-CNW C40-8).  This locomotive has CN's "15 Years" special logo applied.

Just the logo en Francais:

In English (and on a different day):

As it says "The Journey Continues".  I find it a tad ironic that an EMD locomotive is on the side of a GE, but that's just me.

Finally, the last train of the weekend headed off to the sunset as my weekend of trains came to an end.

Not a bad weekend for being close to home.  I know most of the pictures are "wedgies" but it was nice to get out and see a few things.  The 'crazy' part of this is that I missed 6 or 7 trains before I got out in the morning Saturday.  Sleep, however, trumped railfanning.