Howdy from Havana ,Illinois.

Due to a tip off from a friend I managed to catch the BNSF local which would head west on the Peoria sub enroute to the yard in Galesburg,  Illinois. I had quite a day though it was cold and  for a bit rainy in spots. It wasn't just normal rain either freezing rain plus some snow flurries but neither produced but it dictated if i filmed outside or from my car.  I only ended up filming on video in my car at Elmwood as prior to it arriving it  was raining plus it seemed the temp dropped so I was freezing. The joys of a car without heat you rely on a jacket and body fat to keep you warm and I certainly have enough body fat. Ha.  I did manage to knock off a few locations off my bucket list such as Elmwood, Edwards and off Kickapoo Creek road. I've filmed in Yates City before so catching it there wasn't concerned about but I did go to Douglas to take pictures as I never railfanned there or paid that little town any mind. Here are some photogra...

Today lucked out on my way home from getting my husband milk I crossed the Peoria sub and seen lights down the tracks. I go investigate and get onto Highway ten and see from the distance activity at Gates Rubber. I've lived in Galesburg like four months now and this is the first rail activity I have seen. There has been cars there on their spur but never seen any locomotives. I am guessing they dropped off some cars as when they pulled out onto the Peoria sub main there were no cars that are typically sitting at Gates. I filmed and also took some photographs while there. They left down the tracks  and i catch all of  this. I  zip on home right next door literally and  give my husband his milk and  zip on out the door to go beat the train to the Wye.  I was surprised when it came  to the Wye it was only the locomotive. I guess the cars got dropped off at a spur  track to this junk yard or scrap yard. I'm not familiar with the p...

Today was one of those rare events where I sucked up my social anxiety and  actually socialized. Well some I was also quiet too. I met a bunch of railfans  at the railfan house in Galesburg. For the most part enjoyed myself other  than the wind, cool temps and someone who got upset over a facebook post which was sarcasm and weird humor by the way but no confront me about  it as if that will prevent me from trying to be funny, snark on social media. It doesn't matter.  It didn't ruin my day. That wind though was something else. I about got knocked off my feet filming a train and it hit everyone else too. Many thanks to people who made my day and thanks to Bob for having that place for railfans. The train activity was slow hit and miss but you have those days even in a  train hot spot like Galesburg. The most exciting thing was a fake bonnet, a Canadian Pacific and a Ferromex locomotive on a few trains.  Other than that just BNSF's u...

I have known about Galesburg being a hot spot for train activity for quite a while now having mom drive me around as a kid in the 90's and finding trains  to watch. I wish i photographed them back then during the BN and ATSF merger that was going on around that time. Oh well you can't change the past and then again I wasn't aware of such things back in the day.  It was only later I'd start  learning this stuff and the history between certain railroads. Out of all places I have railfanned Galesburg has always been my favorite due to having multiple active lines and a railyard and having an Amtrak station doesn't hurt either. I  used to just travel up here once a month or so to take pictures and watch trains but in 2018 we moved up here on the edge of Galesburg and Knoxville. I live like two or three miles down the road (Highway 10) from the yard and the Peoria sub runs in front of my joint so that's pretty cool especially since they run night trains s...