26 June 2002: West Quincy, West Burlington, Galesburg

Much to my beloved wife's surprise (but not to mine), I hit the road about 5:20 am. The first few hours of the trip passed quickly, but not quickly enough. My first official railfan stop was about 9:30, at Mexico. Back in 1989, I had taken pictures of the old Alton station and the old Wabash station. Both stations were still there: the Gateway Western station still looked the same, but the NS station sported a new coat of paint. There was a KCS Geep switching the yard, but other than that the only interesting thing was an old GM&O logo painted on one of the bridges. No time to hang around. I was getting close to the happy hunting ground.

At the Laddonia siding, I caught this BNSF westbound sitting in the hole. I snapped a quick picture and then headed for Vandalia to see if the old Alton station was still there. It wasn't. Next was Hannibal, MO, where I started to chase a train through town only to find Conrail and NS engines on the point. Yawn. I crossed the Mississippi and headed for Quincy, which was another big disappointment. I saw industries, and freight cars, but no power. I had hoped for a little better from the "Q" in CB&Q.

West Quincy, on the other hand, was a treat. From the highway overpass I detected a couple of ancient Geeps doing some switching and hurried down to the yard entrance. There was the usual NO TRESPASSING sign-but some really interesting power! Having run afoul of the BNSF police before, I hesitated before going in. But the temptation was too great. Luckily, I got the attention of one of the carmen and explained that I wasn't an al-Qaida operative or even a weed weasel - just a garden variety foamer who wanted to take a few pictures. He shrugged and said "no problem," so I got to work: GP39M (woo hoo!) 2764, GP60B 330, GP28 1538, SD75M 8230 and the oldest BNSF engine I have ever seen, GP10 1411 - 51 years old and still doing the job!

The highlight of the next couple hours was a thunderstorm that had stationed itself in the extreme northwest corner of Missouri. Not a lot of fireworks, but plenty of wind and rain. It was still raining in Keokuk, so I passed that town by. When I got to Fort Madison the rain had stopped, and I got this shot of GP39-2 2780 there. There were some engines down in the yard area, but they all appeared to be Dash 9's. Not worth the risk of getting into trouble, especially on the doorstep of the happy hunting ground. I knew that there would be work going on at the West Burlington Shops, and thanks to one of Dick Tinder's excursion logs, I knew there would be an interesting dead line of GE units - and a good place to shoot them from.

It was about 1:00 when I pulled into West Burlington. I forced myself to stop for a quick lunch before heading down to the Shops. From the entry road I could see SD9's in the distance, but the NO TRESPASSING sign was right there under my nose. So I headed straight for the bridge Dick Tinder mentioned. A few blocks down on Mt. Pleasant Street, on the north side of the road, is St. Mary's Catholic Church. It has a huge parking lot in the back, serving the Our Lady of Grace Grotto. At the very back of the parking lot is a massive steel bridge connecting the Grotto's parking lot to the west end of the West Burlington Shops building. I don't know what the bridge is doing there, but the view from the bridge caused this old Catholic boy to say a very heartfelt "Hail Mary."

To my left I could see the west end of the Shops: I got pictures of SD40-2's (7303, 7304, 7911, 7918), with GP53 3143, SW12 3542, and SW12 3615 thrown in for good measure. There were more SD40-2's, but either I already had them in my collection or I couldn't get a decent shot. 3542 reappeared from inside the Shops building, towing SD40-2 6844 - too fast for me to get a shot but slow enough for me to read "SPRINGFIELD" stenciled on the bottom of the cab. When the Springfield shops were open, I knew some of the people who worked there. To my immediate right was SD9-3 6100, all freshly painted and labeled REMOTE CONTROL EQUIPPED. A sign of things to come? Blecch.

Looking further to my right, I was cheered to find SF30C 5220 in the GE dead line - and, off in the distance, what looked to be a "Kodachrome" unit painted up for the SP-SF merger that never happened. It was too far off for a picture, but luckily I found a side entrance to the yard. Not seeing any NO TRESPASSING sign, I got out and got some pictures of the other dead line motors: C30-7's 5152, 5167, and the "Kodachrome" 5189. As an added treat, I peeked between a couple of tank cars and got pictures of the motors I saw from the entry road: SD40-2 7877 and SD9s 6124 and 6139. At the Burlington depot I caught GP39-2 2910 and, two blocks away, SD40-2 7854. It was nice to find real live trains in the "B" of BNSF.

I got to Galesburg around 3:00 and, thanks to Bill Selleck's Galesburg Journal, I knew enough to head straight for the Thirwell Road bridge, where I got pictures of GP38-2 2272, GP39-2 2869, and SD9s 6104 and 6153. Looking south from the bridge, I spotted the hump tower in the distance. Much to my delight, Old Thirwell Road took me right to the hump yard's entrance, complete with the obligatory NO TRESPASSING sign. Yes, dear reader, I trespassed. Just far enough to get the shots of SD9s 6109, 6153, and 6192 in action. The pictures are no beauty prize, but neither were the SD9s. Nor am I, for that matter. I then followed Old Thirlwell Road north and saw a couple of remote control operators working a train with SD9 6176 on the point.

Not exactly the most upbeat ending to a wonderful day of railfanning, I'll admit. I hit the freeway about 3:45 and headed for Milwaukee in a lousy mood. Like any other business, a railroad exists to make a profit. Supposedly, remote control technology will save railroads money by making switching more efficient. But I know for a fact that remotes are already depriving decent, hard-working railroaders of their livelihoods. But then I thought of the SD9s. All of them at least forty years old, and still doing the job. The GE motors I saw in West Burlington are all 20 years younger than the SD9s and almost twice as powerful. But there the GEs sit on the dead line gathering rust - while the old SD9s keep doing the job.

If, as I believe, the remote control technology turns out to be a expensive bust, the railroads will go back to what does the job. I hope and pray this happens with as little trouble as possible for railroaders and railroad alike.

That, as Dick Tinder says, is it!