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The daily CN Gladstone to Partridge siding (Near Marquette, Mi) turn slowly snakes around the edge of Lake Michigan within the Gladstone yard limits. This train is responsible for all traffic moving in and out of the Marquette, Ishpeming, and connecting western branches, as it is the only active route to the area. Other railroads serviced are the Lake Superior And Ishpeming; and the Mineral Range Railroad; as well as CN's L'Anse branch.

Thirty nine years ago today, I took the day off from work to go explore the Los Angeles area railroad yards and photograph some trains on my birthday. When I arrived at the UP Los Angeles yard, I was very surprised to see the brand new EMD SD60 units #1 and #4! The units were buried inside the diesel facility, so I sat and ate my lunch waiting for an opportunity to photograph them. A shop mechanic saw me with my camera, walked over to the units, uncoupled them from the consist and back them out into full sunlight. He had a big smile on his face and said, "Have Fun!" I quickly put on my hardhat and started taking photos. The mechanic even revved up the engines and I got a great cassette recording of them. What a great birthday gift.

With 25 miles until its destination, Kanawha River Railroad 380 makes it way through Poca West Virginia with 4 SD60's in the lead

FWWR Crews are seen here working on assembling the Cresson Turn for the day. The power for the train consists of 4 SD60Ms which are owned by the FWWR and an SD60 they have on lease from NRE.

CN 5445 passes through Brookhaven, Mississippi with a southbound general manifest freight train.

BNSF 1473 (still in BN green) and BNSF 263 have tied on to Columbia Basin Railway 166 at the small yard in Connell, WA. To the right a BNSF oil train has also stopped in the yard.

Illinois Central SD60's 1000 and 1011 in their original paint scheme are a helper set used on the CN north of Memphis. These units have become know as the death star because of the logo on the nose of the unit.

BNSF's Y-NTW150 pulls up to CP red rock as the Z-SSECHC flies by on the far main.

Norfolk Southern's Safety Train travels over the "Big Viaduct" crossing the Little Conemaugh River in South Fork, PA. The train is part of Norfolk Southern’s Operation Awareness & Response (OAR) program. OAR was launched in 2015 to provide hands-on training to first responders along the Norfolk Southern system via a train that serves as a mobile classroom. The train consisted of SD60E 911 and GP38-2 5642 pulling two boxcars converted into classrooms, four styles of tank cars, including DOT-105, DOT-111, DOT-112, and DOT-117, and two 89-foot flatcars designed to transport intermodal containers.

With both 911 and 5642 for power. Fall colors on full display at this location.

The Norfolk Southern Office Car Special, running as NS 950, glides past CP 360 just outside Butler as it heads east from Chicago.

the NS safety train was parked near me and one of my shots was blocked. So I had to "play" peekaboo to see it.

While stopping by the Evansville & Western headquarters in Mount Vernon we stumbled upon an LTEX owned SD60 still wearing CSX YN2 paint

BPRR SIBF comes rolling north through the Arcade Junction with the trio of SD60's.

Buffalo & Pittsburgh RR freight SIBF is northbound along Lime Lake with a trio of SD60's powering a 97 car train.

This SD60 has had MANY of owners from CNW 8015 to UP 5952, CIRX 5952, HLCX 5952, NREX 5952 and now she's here as WAMX 6017. Here is the engine sitting on EVWR tracks waiting to be picked up by BNSF

CN local L520 heading east to South Bend near the Flower interlocking in the background, with rainy skies brewing in the background.

UP 2235 leads ALS transfer train 104 in the TRRA Madison yard as the sun is setting

WAMX 6016 (ex UP 5951, CNW) sits here at NRE soaking up the sun waiting to be picked up by EVWR. This unit is now owned by Web Asset Management or WAMX

The Evansville & Western railroad dropped off something very interesting for me at my hometown. Ironically this line was owned by CSX until 2006 when EVWR took over