Railfanning 8-27-2011

Caught IAIS #709 in action tonight with a drag of double stacks on and headed into the Union Pacific yard.

Railfanning - Union Pacific

Caught Union Pacific # 571 in the Council Bluffs yard. This is a former Souther Pacific GP38-2. Also a photo UP 2302 an EMD SD60M. 

Railfanning the Iowa Interstate Railway

These photos taken August 21st, 2011. They were taken in the Iowa Interstate Railway Yard, which is the former Rock Island and Milwaukee Road yards.

IAIS # 150 - An EMD SD38-2

IAIS # 704 & 707 - GP38-2's The roads work horse!      
I believe all of the roads GP38-2's are ex Penn Central units. 

IAIS RR # 708 - GP38-2

IAIS RR # 718 - GP38-2

 More Yard Shots

Iowa Interstate Railroad Shop - Council Bluffs, Iowa

Railfanning on the Council Bluffs BNSF Line

Here are some shots of the BNSF in operation here in Council Bluffs. Photos taken along the South Expressway on August 20th 2011. Click Photos To Enlarge

This shot is of BNSF "patch" unit  #650 still in it's Santa Fe "war paint" scheme. This unit is a GE C44-9W and has been all over this country. Looking a little worn out here.

Here is BNSF # 4456 in Pumpkin Scheme. This is also a C44-9W

Here is BNSF # 4767 and 4623. Both units are GE C44-9W

Close up of BNSF#4623

Locomotives - BN

Here are a few of the locomotives I have weathered. These were done with acrylic paints and a paint brush only. These are N scale.. prior to my switching to HO scale.

The first one is an Atlas N Scale GP38

This one is an Atlas N scale SD 24. I really like the way this one turned out. 

Layout Const 1

Layout construction will begin very soon. This will be a shelf layout built in 3 stages. Stage one will be 2 foot deep x 10 foot long. Stage 2 will be 2 foot deep x 15 foot long and stage 3 will be 2 foot deep x  9 foot long.
Construction will be of 1 x 4 bench work with 3/8 inch plywood top with 1 - 2 inches of pink construction grade foam on top. Plywood brackets will support the bench work.

Layout control will provided by the NCE Power Cab DCC system with wireless infrared controllers. Locomotives will all be DCC Equipped with most being sound equipped as well. Track will be all Atlas Code 83 along with Atlas Code 83 manual turnouts.

Thanks for looking and please do stop back.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. The purpose of this blog is to document the building of my HO scale model railroad. I was born and raised in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a city rich in railroad history. At one time there were many railroads with operations in the city including the Union Pacific, Milwaukee Road, Rock Island, Burlington Route, Burlington Northern, Chicago North Western, Wabash, Milwaukee Road and the Illinois Central Gulf. Some have fallen and some became part of a larger railroad. Today Council Bluffs is serviced by 2 class 1 railroads, The Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and also a class 2 railroad  the Iowa Interstate Railroad that operates from the old Rock Island yard.

The model railroad will be what is called a shelf layout, it simply is a 2 foot or less deep shelf attached to the walls. It's a space saver but will not be short on action! The primary road will be the Iowa Interstate Railroad (IAIS) but the Chicago and Northwestern and the Union Pacific may be respresented at times as well. The layout will depict some of the industries and businesses in Council Bluffs . Some are current customers of the IAIS and some no longer receive railroad service but for the sake of layout operation we will pretend that they still do today. Construction will start soon and you can watch along as the railroad progresses. You can read and follow along on the Layout Construction threads in the side bar.

Thanks for looking!