Відео

Yep. It was almost certainly H-GALBAR, a daily priority manifest from Galesburg Yard IL to Barstow CA. It tends to have a lot of steel on it and this one certainly did. Each steel coil weighs about 14 tons.

In a nice sorta way. :)

I can only gape with astonishment at your perseverance. :)

I wish I could have gotten the whole event. Alas, I was visiting the station restroom when the S train first got there. :)

It's a great time to visit and meet up with our online friends in-person, but really, almost any time is a great time to visit La Plata for railfanning.

Old enough to know what's right, and young enough not to choose it.

Oh, wow, this was THAT train! I have edited the video. Thanks!

First time seeing one in-person.

Hope to see ya!

I wanted to have a giant group "We're not worthy" chant, but UP Dave started a "Root! Root!" chant. So, we were rooting for Root. (But not Groot.) :)

Yep, in THAT heat, a 70 mph breeze was quite welcome!

After the first day, most of us at Rail Days moved farther back.

I'll have a lot of railfanning videos in a few weeks after La Plata Raildays.

It's one of several money trains that run on this transcontinental route. Has priority over all other traffic except Amtrak.

Faster than most freights in the U.S. also. This is, however, BNSF Railway's southern transcontinental route, and high-priority trains like this are intended to get from Chicago to Los Angeles in about 55 hours.

I miss these guys as F&tM so much.

Yes, that area is slightly upriver. See my other recent uploads for videos from that awesome spot.

Trains don't suck you in if you're being hit by a blast of wind going by that's a big misconception.

@@maxrshelltrack7443 depends on where your standing and how close you are to the tracks that you are stupid enough to stand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've seen some really stupid people try some really stupid shit and yes they can sometimes create some turbulence vacuum in the right scenario... ! Maybe you could experiment a while and if you're still around, let us all know how it went !!! 🤨

You were visiting on the weekend when TVA runs the river high for rafting and kayaking. During the week (normally) the water is low, and you'd have seen the swimming hole from the bridge to the left (upstream). For full info: www.blueholeocoee.com

This was probably close to track-speed here, 70 mph.

@@PaulCashmanLooks like 75 or even 80

@@갴 70 is the max speed for freights. We've clocked some via radar-gun going slightly above that (by 1 or 2 mph), but 70 is the limit. Much faster and the engine shuts down.

BNSF Railway (and many others) calls their highest-priority intermodals "Z" trains. There are also "Q" trains for guaranteed-service intermodals and "S" trains for intermodal stack-trains that have lower priority. This location is the town of La Plata, located in NE Missouri just south of Kirksville. Great place to watch trains, and there is a RR-themed hotel within a quarter mile of this Amtrak station.

@@PaulCashman what’s the difference between a Z train and S train.

@@Itslikethat313 On BNSF, A Z train is a highest-priority intermodal and carries UPS, FedEx and other priority cargo, mostly trailers and 53' domestic containers. They are intended to get from California to Chicago in two days or a bit more. "S" trains are regular "stack" trains and have no special priority, and carry 20' and 40' maritime containers (occasionally 45').

@@PaulCashman thank you sir.

Many of the performers seen here are no longer at GARF, but I'll be there on Sundays drumming at the drum-booth (Spice Traders Music).

Cool, which one?

It's a great place to railfan. Many of us will be there the last weekend in June, but it's awesome at any time. I recommend the Depot Inn, right around the corner from the station, to stay at. The RR memorabilia on display there is worth a visit in its own right.

BNSF used to run monster 16,000-foot stack trains and those had end-DPUs. Nowadays they run two sections together and often split them near the destination, with the mid-DPUs becoming the head-end of the second section.