Adventures of the Blaze!

Give us a run down of what you saw, post pictures if you'd like...any info is welcome.
Blaze06
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Adventures of the Blaze!

Unread post by Blaze06 »

54636FE9-BD3D-47FF-B73D-B785BA8ED9F0.jpeg
So recently I got my first BNSF 25th anniversary unit (5872) and even though my shot is backlit, I’m actually pretty satisfied!! This is my first post on RailroadFan so I’ll take any feedback lol!

Also here is the video from that day!

https://youtu.be/D597E1fN5H8

Edit: I saw this train at Western Springs, IL bc my friend invited me and a whole ton of other people and we didn’t even know this guy was leading a coal train so that was the unexpected highlight of the day along with Amtrak 160, a fakebonnet, H2 Mac, and even CN power!
Last edited by Blaze06 on Mon Oct 31, 2022 3:07 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Here’s my channel! Take a look if you want! 8)
https://youtube.com/channel/UCu8Qs-E8QInEwg-Po4zXLmQ

And just for the hell of it my Flickr page!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197054142@N06/

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David Collins
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Re: Adventures along the BNSF Racetrack!

Unread post by David Collins »

Welcome to the site blaze! Sure, they're just a bunch of stickers on the side of a GEVO, but the 25th anny units are quite cool. I'd say maybe adjusting the photo as well so it's not tilted. Other than that, looks good.

Blaze06
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Re: Adventures along the BNSF Racetrack!

Unread post by Blaze06 »

David Collins wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 11:37 am
Welcome to the site blaze! Sure, they're just a bunch of stickers on the side of a GEVO, but the 25th anny units are quite cool. I'd say maybe adjusting the photo as well so it's not tilted. Other than that, looks good.
Thanks David! Immediately I fixed the brightness on the photo after I saw your reply so it’s much brighter than last time lol. I’m fixing the thumbnail for the western springs video for that day and 5872 was actually the thumbnail! So now you can expect a brighter thumbnail!
Here’s my channel! Take a look if you want! 8)
https://youtube.com/channel/UCu8Qs-E8QInEwg-Po4zXLmQ

And just for the hell of it my Flickr page!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197054142@N06/

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~Z~
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Re: Adventures along the BNSF Racetrack!

Unread post by ~Z~ »

Welcome to the site Blaze. Couple feedback comments:
Since it's a trip report, maybe some comments about when you saw this train, where along the racetrack you went, any other trains seen from this trip, etc.
Some tid-bits of help if you are interested: straightening of the photo as david mentioned, and your mention of it being backlit...generally want to have the sun at your back as often as possible. It's cropped really tight, with no idea what's going on around the locomotive itself. Try letting the scenery cut off the right side of the freight train instead of having the side of the camera frame cut it off. The foreground clutter in front of the loco, and whatever that is in the upper right corner floating in space isn't helpful.
Anyway, thanks for sharing the pic of a locomotive full of stickers :)
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Blaze06
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Re: Adventures along the BNSF Racetrack!

Unread post by Blaze06 »

~Z~ wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 2:22 pm
Welcome to the site Blaze. Couple feedback comments:
Since it's a trip report, maybe some comments about when you saw this train, where along the racetrack you went, any other trains seen from this trip, etc.
Some tid-bits of help if you are interested: straightening of the photo as david mentioned, and your mention of it being backlit...generally want to have the sun at your back as often as possible. It's cropped really tight, with no idea what's going on around the locomotive itself. Try letting the scenery cut off the right side of the freight train instead of having the side of the camera frame cut it off. The foreground clutter in front of the loco, and whatever that is in the upper right corner floating in space isn't helpful.
Anyway, thanks for sharing the pic of a locomotive full of stickers :)
Thank you! Here’s the thing, I took a screenshot of another photo I took of it which has a lot more “stuff” in it bc I like getting super close up shots of engines if you know what I mean! But yeah backlit shots don’t happen to me as much anymore so now I’ve got some more advice to hold onto!
Here’s my channel! Take a look if you want! 8)
https://youtube.com/channel/UCu8Qs-E8QInEwg-Po4zXLmQ

And just for the hell of it my Flickr page!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197054142@N06/

Blaze06
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Re: Adventures of the Blaze!

Unread post by Blaze06 »

I ended renaming this bc well I want to post more than the BNSF Racetrack! So last Sunday I went to Spaulding Junction in the Elgin-Bartlett area which is the crossover for the CN (EJ&E) Leithton Sub and the Metra Milwaukee West Line/CP Elgin Sub for like the millionth time and saw the “daily” Canadian Pacific westbound manifest #253 (Bensenville IL - Nahant IA) with an NS leader! I also saw Metra 405 which I didn’t even know was coming lol
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Here’s my channel! Take a look if you want! 8)
https://youtube.com/channel/UCu8Qs-E8QInEwg-Po4zXLmQ

And just for the hell of it my Flickr page!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197054142@N06/

Blaze06
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Re: Adventures of the Blaze!

Unread post by Blaze06 »

So last Sunday I made a trip up to Bensenville yard in hopes of getting CP 253 departing! And well, it got interesting fast. You see before 253 can depart depending on its status, it has to wait for a Metra outbound and when I got to Bville station Metra was just arriving. In the distance I could see a faint headlight belonging to a CSX locomotive meaning 253 might have a foreign leader. However I learned that was false quickly as my friends were at Spaulding Junction out in Bartlett told me of a CP 547 tanker train which is one of the most unpredictable trains on the Elgin Sub was running with 253 moving behind it and immediately after I read that I saw tankers moving to the east. So I immediately hopped out of the car and snagged a video of it. Shortly after the CSX powered train cleared, I saw another headlight in the distance meaning 253 was getting ready to leave. About 11 minutes later, 253 got going with a rebuilt CP Beaver duo (AC4400CWM and SD70ACU) with more autoracks than usual. Then again 253 has a lot of autoracks typically and I like those freight cars so it was pretty cool! After that I checked out the rest of Bville however that was a no go as some of the roads in the area were under major construction and there wasn’t really much accessible viewing points on the UP Milwaukee Sub which surprisingly had two parked trains blocking the line. No wonder people always there’s no trains lol

Video from that day: https://youtu.be/kbaZs7prYMI

Pic 1: CP 253
Pic 2: CP 547
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Here’s my channel! Take a look if you want! 8)
https://youtube.com/channel/UCu8Qs-E8QInEwg-Po4zXLmQ

And just for the hell of it my Flickr page!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197054142@N06/

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David Collins
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Re: Adventures of the Blaze!

Unread post by David Collins »

Blaze06 wrote:
Wed Nov 09, 2022 1:38 pm
So last Sunday I made a trip up to Bensenville yard in hopes of getting CP 253 departing! And well, it got interesting fast. You see before 253 can depart depending on its status, it has to wait for a Metra outbound and when I got to Bville station Metra was just arriving. In the distance I could see a faint headlight belonging to a CSX locomotive meaning 253 might have a foreign leader. However I learned that was false quickly as my friends were at Spaulding Junction out in Bartlett told me of a CP 547 tanker train which is one of the most unpredictable trains on the Elgin Sub was running with 253 moving behind it and immediately after I read that I saw tankers moving to the east. So I immediately hopped out of the car and snagged a video of it. Shortly after the CSX powered train cleared, I saw another headlight in the distance meaning 253 was getting ready to leave. About 11 minutes later, 253 got going with a rebuilt CP Beaver duo (AC4400CWM and SD70ACU) with more autoracks than usual. Then again 253 has a lot of autoracks typically and I like those freight cars so it was pretty cool! After that I checked out the rest of Bville however that was a no go as some of the roads in the area were under major construction and there wasn’t really much accessible viewing points on the UP Milwaukee Sub which surprisingly had two parked trains blocking the line. No wonder people always there’s no trains lol

Video from that day: https://youtu.be/kbaZs7prYMI

Pic 1: CP 253
Pic 2: CP 547
Nice Catches! Those ACU’s are getting quite hard to come by since NS is giving theirs up

Blaze06
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Re: Adventures of the Blaze!

Unread post by Blaze06 »

Indeed David! I’ve seen a CP SD70ACU lead a coal train on the BNSF Racetrack before and it was quite impressive!

Here’s the video for that: https://youtu.be/7GHd1hlCflQ
Here’s my channel! Take a look if you want! 8)
https://youtube.com/channel/UCu8Qs-E8QInEwg-Po4zXLmQ

And just for the hell of it my Flickr page!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197054142@N06/

Blaze06
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Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2022 9:25 pm
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Re: Adventures of the Blaze!

Unread post by Blaze06 »

So on the 26th of November of this year (11/26/22), I made a trip out to Naperville to catch an interesting move! Amtraks Southwest Chief has recently been the transport for Los Angeles Commuter Rail Organization Metrolink’s passenger cars that are headed to Milwaukee for rebuilding! I was able to witness this opportunity with many people as this is something you don’t really get to see everyday! Especially considering the fact that Metrolink Equipment doesn’t get up to Chicago often!
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Here’s my channel! Take a look if you want! 8)
https://youtube.com/channel/UCu8Qs-E8QInEwg-Po4zXLmQ

And just for the hell of it my Flickr page!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197054142@N06/

Blaze06
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Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2022 9:25 pm
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Re: Adventures of the Blaze!

Unread post by Blaze06 »

Holy crap it’s been a while since I posted on this! Anyway, here’s a photo from September 30th, 2023 at Lake Cook Road (Deerfield), IL on the CPKC C&M Sub with 3 Unrebuilt CSX AC4400CWs on the point of CPKC potash train #647! The YN2 leader was a nice touch but the YN3C unit third was pretty cool asw! Not only that, but there were TWO Chessie System hoppers in the mix! I managed to get good pics mainly due to the fact that 647 was slowing down and ultimately stopping so it could let other trains roll by due to single tracking in the Deerfield area that is mainly due to track construction that should be done by the beginning of 2024.
Attachments
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Here’s my channel! Take a look if you want! 8)
https://youtube.com/channel/UCu8Qs-E8QInEwg-Po4zXLmQ

And just for the hell of it my Flickr page!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197054142@N06/

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