| The long awaited arrival of my new SUV came a few weeks back. Unlike my very first one, however, I had to wait about a week and a half before I could take it on its first trip. I had intended on doing an all day trip on the CSX/UP Joint Line back in January, but things changed when I figured out the Bloomer was running. I still wanted to do a full day on the Villa Grove, and what better time to do it than as a break in trip for the new SUV? Back on the 10th, I did just that. I wanted to wait for a Monday as I knew that was a guaranteed day that the UP Local would run, which unfortunately is about the only predictable train on the Joint Line these days.I started the day down at Woodland Jct, with the hope of being able to work north to every location I wanted to shoot at. The railroad, however had other plans. I went 2 hours without a train, and after getting a text back from Tyler about a KBS run to Saint Anne that morning, I decided to give up waiting in Woodland and move north to Saint Anne. I waited another hour there before I FINALLY heard a horn from the north. Sure enough, UP MPRNL worked south through town. The grain elevator was not shootable where the sun was located, so I decided to go with the brick building to the far left of the tracks and the train splitting the signals. |