Google Maps Railfanning Section (READ RULES!)

You know what? When I was growing up in central Arkansas, I'd never been anywhere up north. I always had this picture in my mind that up north, all the cities were immaculate and all the houses and streets were just perfectly manicured and everything was scrubbed clean and new looking and there was no run-down buildings or shacks anywhere at all. Everyone who lived there was rich and drove new cars that were all shiny. There weren't any barns that were old looking and falling down, or any tin buildings that were all rusty.

That was my mental picture of what things were like up north.


`
 
davesnow said:
You know what? When I was growing up in central Arkansas, I'd never been anywhere up north. I always had this picture in my mind that up north, all the cities were immaculate and all the houses and streets were just perfectly manicured and everything was scrubbed clean and new looking and there was no run-down buildings or shacks anywhere at all. Everyone who lived there was rich and drove new cars that were all shiny. There weren't any barns that were old looking and falling down, or any tin buildings that were all rusty.

That was my mental picture of what things were like up north.


`
Click to expand...

Interesting mental picture. :)

We have plenty of downtrodden areas if you haven't seen them already. Springfield, Worcester, Lawrence, and Haverhill are pretty poor, old, once prosperous manufacturing cities.

In my storm chasing trips, I've been all across the central and southern states, covering Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tenn., and deeper into Alabama, LA, and MS, then as far west as Wyoming and New Mexico all the way up into Montana and Minnesota, going through the Dakotas, Nebraska, TX, CO, OK, and of course Kansas. This is where I got many of the Google pics I posted. I remember seeing trains in these areas and had to go back and have a look. Interestingly, as I've been poking through the streets online, I've had trip memory flashbacks. It's weird, but now I have an inkling to go storm chasing again, although this year won't be the case. Being a retiree means a much, much tighter budget.

This has been a great thread which I thank you for starting. :)

John
 
WHO WOULD WANT TO DRIVE THROUGH A TUNNEL? I MEAN, IF TRAIN WOULD COME, YOU WOULD NEED TO GET OUT THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY, YOU WOULD DIE!
 
Thanks. That's the area south of downtown St. Paul, along Warner and Shepherd Roads, not far from Pig's Eye yard. You can frequently see some good stuff there, including the Empire Builder if you pass by at the right time of day.
 
Oh man, I didn't even know anybody else did this! Guess I should join in on the fun. I've done a lot of this stuff, but here, I'm showing off my best catches.

Here's a caboose trailing on what I'm guessing is a local in Chesapeake. Although not seen in this view, another Street View image shows NS 5142 as the leader, and leading long hood forward as well!

http://goo.gl/maps/X0JLg

A distant heritage unit looks on amidst the waves of Shamu paint at Chicago Union Station. Whether this is 66, 145, or 822 escapes me, but looking a bit closer, the striping looks like 66.

http://goo.gl/maps/4TsJX

Classic CP power in Calgary.

http://goo.gl/maps/Zx7e7

A P42 is seen light at St. Louis. And what do you know, it's my favorite Amtrak heritage unit!

http://goo.gl/maps/vGTd8

See that black and red thing in the distance? I'm almost certain that's IAIS 513, the Rock Island heritage unit.

http://goo.gl/maps/6QS6V

Something's almost always lurking out of the shops at Cheyenne. Here, we see UP 949 and 6936 on both sides of the shop.

http://goo.gl/maps/xfpEJ

Here's an unpatched C&NW unit right on the other side of where we saw 949 and 6936.

http://goo.gl/maps/AP1xE

And it doesn't stop there! East of the yard, UP 7400 is seen leading an eastbound manifest.

http://goo.gl/maps/IQ6hy

Here's a bit of heritage hiding in a sea of Armor Yellow.

http://goo.gl/maps/HhCwF

Here's an interesting one; a TP&W Kodachrome GP20u in UP territory. I still don't get why the front is painted dark blue...

http://goo.gl/maps/LL53j

Bee Line Service on a branch line in southern Indiana. Thanks to a friend for finding this one.

http://goo.gl/maps/v2kar

When you're dealing with the largest yard east of the Mississippi, you know there's gotta be something special nearby. Here, we see a railfan recording a very special visitor from the Garden State. I wonder if anyone knows who this guy is...

http://goo.gl/maps/T0WnH

We've already seen UP 1996 in Seattle, but the Google Maps crews caught her again in Dallas!

http://goo.gl/maps/OxeG0

Finally, we have my best one yet. Go to the intersection of Shelton Avenue SW and Murphy Avenue SW in Atlanta. The result is magical.

http://goo.gl/maps/mUxNa
 
quakers1 said:
A manifest with a pretty good consist rolls along the Hi Line in Meriwether, MT:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Meri...d=QX7-TS9HhYpcI66-liuloQ&cbp=11,13.94,,0,1.44
Click to expand...

Awesome!

I saw quite a bit of this along this line while chasing storms there in 2012. I only one storm, but plenty of trains along the High Line. I have some pics somewhere of an eastbound BNSF container train heading between Shelby and Havre. One day we stopped in Havre for lunch and I ate at the McD's next to the tracks so I could watch the action in the yard. The Empire Builders (both directions) came by as well as a few freights pulling into the yard. We also went through Shelby a couple of times and we had to wait for some light engines to come off the wye there on one occasion. On another trip, we were up in Glacier National Park and I saw a few freights and an Empire Builder again as it passed us in Essex and East Glacier at the station.

You've got me thinking about my trips again!

Here's one from Sweet Grass, MT.

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=48.9...rq6O16vtOMEOzA&cbp=12,234.69,,0,2.51&t=m&z=11

I was up here too during the trip. I saw this kind of action with grain trains visiting the elevator. I stood on the crest of a hill behind the camera view watching both the trains and some lightning during this very, very dry chase.

John
 
Last edited:
DustinJRaiken said:
Nice! I saw one of 3018's sisters, 3014, on one of the last Longmont Turns before becoming the Buck Local again. I wish I had the camera handy that day, as it would've made for a great video. The scene was pretty cool, and 3014 had a great S-3K.
Click to expand...

Isn't that always the way. We always never have that video cam or regular camera available even with our cell phones or tablets. We just never seem to think of taking the pictures.

John
 
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