September 16th, 2006 - Triple headed steam in action!

[NicTrain35]

I've been anxiously awaiting this day for a while. My family and I headed out to western Illinois to photograph the Iowa Interstate excursion. They made a trip from Rock Island to Bureau and back. Milwaukee 261 joined the team of QJ's to turn this special run into a triple header.

While looking around for a good spot to catch it on the eastbound trip, I found a nice park in Tiskilwa to photograph it at. After waiting for a while, we saw smoke appearing in the sky. The excursion rounded the corner with the crews giving all of the railfans a lot of waves and whistles.

We left Tiskilwa to head for Bureau. We were expecting to see it make the wye when we arrived at Bureau. Instead, as we pulled up to the crossing, we heard the whistle in the distance. To my surprise, the train hadn't arrived yet and was smoking it up around the corner. I hopped out of the car to snap some photos. Motorists weren't too happy about my departure from the car, as the gates hadn't lowered yet, but they soon found out why I made that move. Some even got out of their cars to admire it. Being up close and personal to a triple headed steam excursion was one of those moments that you'll always remember!

After photographing it in Bureau, we headed about four or five miles down to a country road. It was a very nice location to photograph trains at, especially a steamer! There were exactly twenty cars full of railfans waiting for the train to come. We even saw a van with its back door open pass by. Everyone shouted "foamer" as he passed by. :-D One guy came around the blind curve and stopped to ask if the train had been by yet. Another car came around the blind curve (a train chaser) and almost swerved off the road, trying to avoid the first car. About fifteen minutes after that confusion, the excursion came through on its westbound trip to Rock Island.

That ended the day for me and it's a day of train watching that I will never forget!

[NicTrain35]

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[jbaakko]

Oh man, I would have fainted! I just wish #261 could have got out front.

[NicTrain35]

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[NicTrain35]

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[NicTrain35]

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[MP36er]

LOL, I'm in the photo of the train over the bridge. I'm the person in the white shirt behind the hill who looks like he's standing in the river.

[LeftyGopher]

Originally Posted by MP36er

I'm the person in the white shirt behind the hill who looks like he's standing in the river.

Looks like that's a good location to be. I can't tell from that angle, but it looks as though your side of the bridge was spared a cinder shower. The sun being on that side of the bridge is also a bonus.

Being down in the river is also probably a lot safer than just a few feet from the rail.

[EJ&ESDM809]

Wow, that is nice! I couldn't go on Saturday but I did go on Thursday. They had cab tours of 261 so I got some interesting photos of that. I also caught a nice GP7 in Ottawa. Those QJs are quite interesting and unusual engines. Nothing like I have ever seen before.

[EJ&ESDM809]

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