{"id":4514,"date":"2013-11-13T05:26:52","date_gmt":"2013-11-13T10:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=4514"},"modified":"2013-11-13T08:50:33","modified_gmt":"2013-11-13T13:50:33","slug":"daily-post-canadian-national-at-waukesha-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/daily-post-canadian-national-at-waukesha-wisconsin\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Post: Canadian National at Waukesha, Wisconsin."},"content":{"rendered":"

Southbound CN Stacks work the old Soo Line, November 8, 2013.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Canadian<\/a>

CN\u2019s Q11651-04 at Waukesha at 10:50 am on November 8, 2013. I exposed this photo using my Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens. To gain a bit of elevation, I stood on Chris Guss\u2019s Toyota<\/a> 4Runner that is specially equipped with a roof rack for photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Between July 1994 and October 1996, I lived within walking distance of the former Soo Line station at Waukesha, Wisconsin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At that time the railroad was owned and operated by Ed Burkhardt\u2019s Wisconsin Central Limited<\/a> (a 1980s regional carved from the old Soo Line after Soo Line merged with the largely parallel Milwaukee Road)<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve long since moved to new horizons and in the meantime, the ever-expanding Canadian National empire assimilated the WCL. The line through Waukesha that had once been part of the Canadian Pacific family is now a CN route.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s CN has a very different operating style than that of WCL in mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

Where WCL ran a tightly scheduled railroad with frequent but relatively short freights connecting Shops Yard at North Fond du Lac<\/a> with various Chicago-land terminals, CN leans toward enormous rolling land-barges, many of which now take an Elgin, Joliet & Eastern routing around Chicago to reach the former Illinois Central or other connections.<\/p>\n

Like the WCL, EJ&E and IC are now part of the CN empire.<\/p>\n

On November 8, 2013, Chris Guss, Pat Yough and I photographed CN\u2019s southward intermodal train symbol Q11651-04 led by SD70M-2 8800 passing the old Waukesha Soo Line station. At the back of the train was a modern General Electric working as a \u2018distributed power unit\u2019 (a radio-controlled remote locomotive controlled from the head-end).<\/p>\n

This is a big change from the pairs of SD45 leading strings of 50 foot box cars or Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range ore jennies that I regularly saw in the 1990s. And, by the way, DM&IR is also another of CN\u2019s railroads.<\/p>\n

\"Vertical<\/a>
Vertical view at Waukesha. CN rolls right along and passes through the town much faster than WC did in the mid-1990s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"CN\u2019s<\/a>
The DPU at the back of Q11651-04 crosses East Broadway in Waukesha. Chris Guss is in position on the roof of his Toyota. Canon EOS 7D with 100mm lens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a glimpse to how things looked in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

take a look at yesterday’s post:\u00a0Wisconsin Central, Byron, Wisconsin, 1994.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tracking the Light<\/a>\u00a0posts new material every<\/span> morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please spread the word and share\u00a0Tracking the Light<\/a>\u00a0with anyone who may enjoy seeing it!<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Related articles<\/h6>\n