Ike and I headed down to Valmeyer this afternoon before I went in to work. Our aim was to catch some fall colors after seeing the southbound track 2 signal at Dupo change to clear. Had it not been for that, we likely would have spent another fine afternoon quest for trains driving around East Saint Louis dodging potholes, broken bottles, trash, open sewer lids, transvestite hookers, dead bodies, bricks, burning cars, stolen cars, abandoned cars, mattresses, derelict furniture, stray dogs, dead dogs, rabid dogs, used tires, and the occasional spray of semi-automatic gunfire.
Our first stop was at Harris Road to wait for the southbound, CNAAE 27:
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We knew MPIPB 28 was going to head south after spotting him at Dupo making a bad order set out. We went up into Valmeyer and saw that the signals were dark, so we decided to head back home with one train under our belt. As luck sometimes has it, just before we got on the highway, we spotted MPIPB 28 heading south, so we turned around back toward Valmeyer. Of course, I had to get behind the Saturday afternoon fall foliage motorcylce tour. Although it was only a pair of motorcycles, I was unable to pass them. Thankfully MPIPB 28 was a speed restricted train, with its requisite steel pipe loads stacked above the gondola endwalls, situated right behind LPG tank cars. I believe someone is hoping to turn a large section of acreage into a smoldering crater blocking a train this way. We got back to Valmeyer for this shot:
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After this train left, we attempted to leave again. The signal at Val was red, yet there was a train coming down at us. Obviously, this train was running on the reds and yellows of MPIPB 28, a position I would not want to be in given the slow speed of that train. The second train was IOAMN 22:
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Ike's shot of IOAMN 22:
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Nothing else was visible or lined up on the signals, so we again departed for home. At least the southbounds were flowing. Northbounds were a different story, with ZMQDU, probably a KMNOA, and what looked like an AMXAS sitting at DD, Bottom, and Warnock, respectively. So, for the short time we were out, it turned out to be a satisfactory day. We got a few southbounds with the fall colors.
Saturday fall foliage
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