The Moon & Decorating the Tree

11/27--The moon in the last quarter stage, over our

corner bush in the front of our house.

11/28--Isaac......

....and Bekah decorating the Christmas tree.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

May Your Thanksgiving be filled with good times, games, family and lots of

Turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

from "eastern iowa railpics"--Oct 20 to Nov 10, 2010

10/20--UP 3836 east-UPS pig train[a.k.a. The Bird]

10/20--UP 6898 crossing over from 1 to 2 at CPA086

with a loaded coal train.

10/27--CN L563 with 5273 & EJE 664 coming into 

town along I-380 with 57 cars.

11/3--Amtrak #6 detoured over the UP for a couple day

due to bridge work in Burlington, IA on the BNSF

Ottumwa Sub. Here UP 8532 pulls #6 thru Fairfax

at 70MPH.

11/3--A pair of GP9's are the power for CIC's Job 5;

working on pulling hoppers to ADM's "Dry Grind"

plant.

11/3--CIC Job 5 shoving the hoppers into "Dry Grind".

11/3--EJE 664 takes the lead on CN L563 north

with 29 cars bound for Manchester.

11/3--A view of the train passing by McCloud Place NE.

11/10--Iowa Interstate's CRIC10 with 502, 500 on

the head-end and 508 pushing on the rear; passing

Amana with 100 cars.

11/10--CRIC10 passing MP 19.

11/10--CRIC10 nearing the top of the east wye @ Yocum.

11/10--CRIC10 passing thru Homestead and the

local feed mill.

11/10--CRIC10 nearing some ex-RI block signals

at Eagle.

11/10--CRIC10 passing the Hawkeye Express parked

in the Vernon siding. The Express is owned by the Iowa

Northern Rwy.

11/10--A UP eastbound merchandise train's DPU(left)

passes a westbound UP empty coal train east of 

Stanwood, IA.

11/10--An eastbound coal train gets his green light

after meeting one each way at Stanwood, IA

Recent photos

October 2010: My second "wooly" worm sighting.

They can be great forecasters for winter. 

Black=cold; brown=warm.

August 2010: Deer in the bushes next to a soybean field

on Old Bridge Rd SW.

August 2010: Rabbit on Irish Rd near Mt. Vernon, IA

May 2010: Chipmunk eating on our patio.

May 2010(Trainboard Prototype Winner): A Row of

MOW's at Beverly Yard, Cedar Rapids, IA.

from "eastern iowa railpics"--Iowa Northern

Iowa Northern--8/25/10

The Iowa Northern's "South Job" crosses the Cedar River

(Penford) bridge with its corn train.

.

Along for the ride are the two new slugs purchased.

IANR 3956[mother unit is 4002].....

....and 3955[mother unit is 4001(left)]

The "South Job" entering the North Yard yard limits

at Quaker Oats.

The basic use for a "slug" is to provide the "mother" locomotive

traction which cuts fuel costs.

Iowa Northern's "Hawkeye Express"--8/29/10

The Iowa Northern sent down the "Hawkeye Express"
for its trip to prepare for the upcoming Iowa Hawkeyes
football season in Coralville. Here, the Express is tied down
for the night near the Eastern Iowa Airport south of
Cedar Rapids on the CIC Iowa City Main.

The train made the trip down Subdivision 3B(Amana Main)
on August 30th along with the IAIS Business cars.

from "eastern iowa railpics"--Kate Shelley High Bridge

A visit to the Kate Shelley High Bridge in Boone, Iowa--August 11, 2010. 

The view is breath-taking.

Old span....

New span.

Both spans.

Westbound coal train crossing the new span. Speed limit

on the new span goes up to 60 mph. The old metal span

[now closed], used to have a speed limit of 20mph.

New Kate Shelley was completed in 2009.

from "eastern iowa railpics"--Chicago & NorthWestern 1995

September 1, 2010--UP 1995[The Chicago & Northwestern]

Heritage unit was the second unit on train M-CBPR

(Council Bluffs, IA-Proviso, IL), working Beverly Yard

in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

September 5, 2010--The same unit on the same train, 

M-CBPR again working Beverly Yard.

Critters out my front windows

8/5/10--A big bad spider in the corner of the front window.

8/8/10--A Sunday morning visitor; a Cicada or "heat bugs".

Along Hwy 30--August 3, 2010

A mural on the side of a building depicting "A City

Flourishing on the Mississippi"-Clinton, IA.

Outside of Grand Mound, IA a trio of steam-powered tractors.

Near Calamus, IA--Crop-duster.

Near Fairfax, IA--an extra Iowa Interstate turn train
piercing thru the cornfield.