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Alright, I am planning an upcoming October trip to Illinois with my great friend "Mazon!!!!" Looks like we will leave Monday October 9th and return Wednesday October 11th! Mazon has never been to Rochelle, IL! I have not been there since July 25, 2011! OK, I found out "Private Cars" will be on the rear of the Amtrak® "Southwest Chief" for a trip to NM October 3-10! They board at Galesburg on 10-3 for New Mexico and return Tuesday 10-10! Now, I am hoping to catch these old passenger cars on this train! But, we won't be going to Galesburg! Would these cars stay attached the whole return route to Chicago? I don't see them detaching at Galesburg! Looks like our first night will be in Mendota! Then Tuesday 10-10 catch multiple Amtrak® trains there! The "Southwest Chief" stops at the station! The "California Zephyr" passes through! These are all afternoon trains! "Carl Sandberg/Illinois Zephyr" trains to Quincy, IL stop here too in the A.M. (each direction)! Also, there is a small train museum!!!! I have never been there besides riding the Chief westbound (age 11) in December 1994 with my great late Dad (RCJ I)! OK, since this is a weekday, we'd go catch Illinois Railway® with an ex Hudson Bay Railway® SD50 still in their paint!!!! OK, I see on the "Wiki" page that they run between Zearing and Lasalle, IL! What times do they operate and what times (approx.) do they interchange with BNSF at Zearing? I suppose we will head for Zearing after the fourth Amtrak® train since it would be probably over 2 hours until the next one! Last is after 4 p.m. This is when we'd go to Zearing! We can see two Amtrak® trains there and hope IR would come in! But if it doesn't, where would it likely be? Following the tracks toward Lasalle should find the IR train, right? OK, after catching this we'll go to Rochelle! Of course the "Railfan Park!!!!" Stay the night! Our last day, Wednesday October 11, is spent at Rochelle! Does anyone here know more about the Burlington Junction Railway® Rochelle operations? Hope to catch them working Del Monte® with their old MLW S12 and other switchers! Does anybody have any advice? We shall see some trains regardless!!!

Mendota, IL Amtrak® station "Street View": https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5499703 ... ?entry=ttu

11th Annual History Train 2023 To Albuquerque, NM: https://will.illinois.edu/nfs/231003-WI ... Tz2SNlKp1M

Railroadfan.com "Wiki" page on Illinois Railway®: https://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/Illinois_Railway

Here's a picture that I (RLJ II) took of the last train previously caught at Rochelle, July 25, 2011 (Mamiya® Medium Format camera):
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3119967

You might think about the Oregon Depot Museum. Its on the BNSF west of Rochelle. They're only normally open on Saturdays, but maybe a volunteer would be willing to come in for a couple railfans. Its a nice little community museum that the volunteers are continually improving. I included the link below.

http://oregondepot.com/

Jim_c wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 21, 2023 9:05 pm

You might think about the Oregon Depot Museum. Its on the BNSF west of Rochelle. They're only normally open on Saturdays, but maybe a volunteer would be willing to come in for a couple railfans. Its a nice little community museum that the volunteers are continually improving. I included the link below.

http://oregondepot.com/

Thanx Jim_c!!!! I will look over the website! I considered going here! I wanted to catch the Illinois Railway® operating out of Oregon! My original plan was to travel Sunday through Tuesday October 10th! We would have stayed Sunday night in Oregon and Monday night in Rochelle! We would have skipped LaSalle! However, according to the "RailroadfanWiki" page, IR does not operate on Mondays there! It states "Oregon Branch Tues, Thurs." So, that will be another time! I changed to go to Lasalle on Tuesday (along with catching Private Cars on AMTK)! Good thing there are a couple Hudson Bay Railway® SD50s! Now we'll get the job to LaSalle with one being used hopefully!!!! I want to go to Oregon, IL someday! Here's the IR "RailfanWiki: page I referred: https://railroadfan.com/wiki/index.php/Illinois_Railway

You may want to check with the local folks. On Google Earth it does not look like the Oregon Branch gets much if any use, except very close to the yard. Its a loner trip, but Savanna may be more fruitful if you want lots of train action.

Jim_c wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 22, 2023 8:51 pm

You may want to check with the local folks. On Google Earth it does not look like the Oregon Branch gets much if any use, except very close to the yard. Its a loner trip, but Savanna may be more fruitful if you want lots of train action.

I have not been to Savanna since 8-2004 with my late Dad (RCJ I)! I may return there someday! Looks like IR does work in Oregon to HA International® for molding/cast production! They switch there along BNSF! But, according to "IR Railfan Wiki", they base four locomotives there (including an SD50)! Just one locomotive (SD50) is for the Lasalle branch! They work from Zearing with runs to LaSalle Tuesdays! We do not know times they operate, but we should find it after the Amtrak® trains! OK, we will see a lot of trains, especially following the BNSF "Racetrack" starting from LaGrange, IL and west to Mendota! Looks like we'll just find out the Shortline operations as we go!

Here's a video (© ChicagoRailfan 1605) of a IR SD50 in HBR colors working around Lasalle, IL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FOeNKOe924

Here is an IR map from their site: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 42822&z=14

Take a look at this "Old School" picture from 9-29-1963 at Zearing, IL with CBQ 4-8-4 #5632 (photo © Chuck Zeiler): http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2500986