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Try visiting www.galesburgrailroaddays.org in a couple of weeks. Currently, there is no information on this website for the 2010. Even if you decide not to come down for Railroad Days, the "Burg" definitely a great place for railfanning and is worth a four hour drive.

Yes, there are road jobs at BNSF terminals that have hump yards. How many depends on which specific terminal you are talking about. For instance, there are fewer road jobs at the BNSF Northtown terminal in Minneapolis, MN than there are at the BNSF Galesburg, IL terminal.

As far as I know, most dispatching is still done a the BNSF 's NOC (National Operations Center) in Ft. Worth, Texas. I have not heard about any changes for the Chicago or Twin Cities Divisions.

I have not seen any new books in a while If I come across anything about railroads in Southern WI I will let you know. Do have any specific interests? WIDOT does a pretty good job of keeping the state railroad map updated. Visit www.dot.wisconsin.gov/localgov/docs/railmap.pdf to see the 2009 Wiscons...

The 19th Annual Tri-State Rail Sale takes place on January 30, 2010 from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, WI. The La Crosse Center is located on the corner of 2nd and Pearl Streets in Downtown La Crosse, WI. All proceeds go to maintain and restore the La Crosse short line...

Dispatchers try to avoid running freight trains during rush hour, so that the "dinkies" (METRA trains) can get through with less hassle. Sometimes you will hear crews and dispatchers refer to rush hour as the "dinky parade."

Consider looking through back issues of the different model railroading magazines. Over the years I have noticed that there have been several really nice layouts based on the BNSF and it predecessors.

CARMA, the Chicago Area Radio Monitoring Association has excellent information on radio frequencies in the Chicago area. Their link is www.carmachicago.com/profiles/RailFreqs.pdf

The U.S. Federal Government implemented changes in the hours of service laws on July 16, 2009, as mandated by the Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA). I was wondering how this is affecting the lives of other people who also work on train crews.

The tracks we are talking about are part of the St. Paul Subdivision. The BNSF East Hump Dispatcher (AAR Channel 76) controls both tracks on this section of the St. Paul Sub. From the St. Croix station sign to the Newport station sign Main Track 1 ( aka the "bluff side") is owned and maint...

It sounds like it could have been a consist of track geometry cars. They look like business cars and usually only have two or three cars.

The BNSF terminal which serves the the Fargo area is Dilworth, MN. When I looked at train line ups for Dilworth on the computer on March 31st & April 1st traffic looked normal. It did not look like there were any rerouted trains. I talked to crews from Dilworth, and Superior, WI. It sounded like...

If you wanted to take a road trip from Minneapolis there are several options. Here are my two favorite: 1.) Go North to Duluth- Superior. The BNSF, CN, CP, and the UP all have trains going up that way. Once you are in Duluth, some of the things worth seeing are the railroad museum, the CN yard, the ...

The following places are in Minneapolis:
- 35th Ave. Yard
- Camden Bridge
- Humboldt Yard
- Northtown Yard
- University

The UP yard adjacent to the Pig Eye Yard is the Belt Yard.

I do not know where the Northport Yard is.

Not only is the Twin Cities a great plan for railfanning but there are lots of nice places to eat and drink. http://www.andrewzimmern.com not only has recommendations for restaurants but links to some other decent websites with information on the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area. Keys Cafe has a nice brea...