In the wee morning hours of July 10th I set out on a mission to catch 640. This ethanol train had CP 6229 in the lead, and from the information I was able to gather with the help of some friends I knew they were being help up around Monroe (Tomah) for a train to set out a bad ordered car. With this in mind I crossed my fingers and left Wausau at 0330 in search for some SD60s. Most people might think making a 100 mile drive to Portage for some CP SD60 is nuts, but beggars can't be choosers, and I wanted to catch some good power on the CP. I figured luck would be on my side today I could possibly catch something else good.
Arriving in Portage at 0500 I checked out the yard and found nothing there. I took a gamble and headed west to Lewiston figuring 640 had not cleared Portage just yet. Listening to the scanner I heard the dispatcher talking to train 811. She wanted him to get going west, but he had a bad ordered car on his train. The dispatcher said that she had some east bounds waiting at Mile Creek (Mauston) that were "Fired Up". After hearing that I knew I was in business. Not too long after that I hear 6061 call out the Dells and I knew that I had 182 with a SOO SD60M coming. I found a nice spot at Lewiston to catch 182. Here we see them rounding the curve only a few miles out of Portage for a crew change.
Ho Hum by
WCfan, on Flickr
I chased them east and easily got ahead of them at Portage. I set up for a shot just east of Wyocena. Just because I like beating a dead horse, I had to do it again. Here we see 6061 doing it's think with 182.
Just Because by
WCfan, on Flickr
I thought that I could get ahead of them on the east side of Columbus so I took off for a chase. Unfortunately 182 kicked my butt and just east of Columbus I gave up. I was wondering where 640 was, and it wasn't until it was too late that I realized they were following 182 out of Portage. So all in all I burned up 400 miles, but in the end it was a fun chase, and I got some shots that I am pleased with. Enjoy!
Late Running 182 7/10/2012