The ROCK 3.0: Remembering the Wabash Railroad

While in Illinois visiting my wife's family, I took the kids over to the park along the Illinois River.  Due to the Highway 104 road realignment due to the new bridge project, the park has been relocated to the site of the former Wabash Railroad before it crossed the Illinois River to travel up to Mt. Sterling and eventually up to Keokuk, IA

Here are some photos of the old Meredosia station.

The old Wabash line extended from Bluffs, IL to Meredosia, crossed the Illinois River and traveled up to Keokuk, IA crossing the old Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad near Camp Point, IL.

Hannibal Scratchbuilt Bridge Project

In other news, I would like to work on the HO scale scratchbuilt replica of the Hannibal, Missouri Railroad bridge.  My wife's Grandpa (the one that I mentioned is terminally ill) worked as a bridge painter and painted that bridge back in the Norfolk & Western Railway days.  I had the bridge installed up along the ceiling of his old farm house.  When they moved to town, the tore down the layout and it had been in storage for a couple of years.  I brought it home over the summer and now more than ever want to get it repaired and back up on display.  I have found a site for a static display in the house, but want to see if it is possible to construct an around the room shelf layout for continuous running.  I need to survey the room to see if it is possible.  

The ROCK 3.0: Railfanning the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad

Hello?  Anyone still there?  I apologize for the lack of reports.  First, I was just plain lazy after the last op session.  Then, I got tied up with projects around the house.  Thanksgiving Day brought sadness as we had to travel up to Illinois for an emergency trip due to my wife's Grandma passing.  Not a week after our return from Illinois, my wife's beloved Grandpa went to the hospital.  He is considered terminal and has been released to home under hospice care.  We were already planning on going to Illinois for the holidays, but ended up going for an extended period.  So, as you can see, we have been quite busy.

Today, we returned to North Carolina.  We pulled off in Canton, NC after traversing the 30 miles of curves down at the TN/NC line on I-40.  After grabbing some lunch, I decided to investigate the operations at the Evergreen paper mill.  It was quite evident there were in full work mode today as smoke billowed over the horizon a mile down the road.

This is the first time I have checked out the area.  I knew about it due to my friend Marcus exploring the area recently and posting photos of Norfolk Southern's last operations there earlier in 2014. 

The area is now worked by the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad.  The railroad is Class III shortline that operates in Western North Carolina.  I really like the color paint scheme as it reminds me of the old Clinchfield locomotives.

You can read more about the railroad on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Southern_Railroad

Here are some photos I took today 12/31/14.