Google Maps Railfanning Section (READ RULES!)

Forester1 said:
Nice! I also like the boat and truck on display! :D
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Saw that too ... busy area! Lots of tank cars in the overhead view and locos near the engine shed. And a very large pile of some sort of bulk material covered with white tarps.
 
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The locomotive belongs to the Reading and Northern, formerly known as the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern. The line was once a Lehigh Valley line and was once operated by the Towanda Shippers Shortline. The line handles sand and other aggregates plus general goods.

Here's another view

https://goo.gl/maps/aRUH8E4XRyPrS2BM9

That does look like a mail car. The line, unbelievably is still in operation. I followed what looks like weeds and barely any ties all the way to its end and there's a modern covered hopper spotted next to a grain and feed supply. There were places I noticed too that had new ties and new ballast along the way, but much of the branch was buried in grass.
 
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A 2015 shot from Prabumulih (South Sumatra), with GE C20EMP #CC204 20 (CC204 10 03) seen here pulling a string of empty coal gondola toward Muara Enim (though it is presumed that the coal gondola itself had already repurposed as a wood-carrier gondola due to structural failure during its tenure as coal gondola in the past):

https://goo.gl/maps/j5k7vEWyrw2qdJVG6
 
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Rob said:
I saw a loaded coal train out there but the loco eluded me.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-4.027...4!1s0E2Y8ox1uI4xCSDnItlI_Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
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Unfortunately only a few portion of track around there that really running side-by-side with the road, and I could say that finding a good Streetview shot in South Sumatra and Lampung division of Indonesian Railways is "very hard". :eek:
Speaking about the location, this shot is actually taken in front of Belatung station, which is one of large number of stations in both divisions that are merely functioning as "signal stations" due to partially isolated location. In fact, these "signal stations" are playing key part in the mainline traffic, primarily because they have very long siding that could accommodate a long consist coal train (using RCD-capable coal gondolas, up to 60 cars for each train), and normally having at least one separate signal tower other than the station building itself (in this case Belatung station had main station building located on the southern end, while the northern end had separate signal tower).
 
Forester1 said:
Still haulin' coal!
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Rob said:
I like that Mustang too.
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When I was there in July 2012, there were plenty of coal trains lined up there. Forsyth must be where the BNSF switches out their locomotives. While we were waiting for some van repairs, we were standing around near an auto repair shop where there is a better view of the yard. At location, we saw a train of empties pull into the yard and the engines run back to the other end where this picture is taken. These trains come and go out of Gillette, WY where the Powder River Basin is located. I saw some operation out there back then as well while travelling on I-90.

If you want to see some rather interesting vehicles, definitely take a trip down to the right to the very end of the road where it turns towards a motel. To the right is the repair shop and to the left in the open field along the road is a whole slew of vehicles from previous years. When we were there in the 2012, there was an AMC Gremlin and others.
 
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Nice! I see a green and white Oliver tractor down there like one I used to use n the fields. That Mustang mentioned looks a lot like my '04 Anniversary edition, but mine is a darker "shadow gray", has a custom fake hood scoop and some other bling.
 
Forester1 said:
Nice! I see a green and white Oliver tractor down there like one I used to use n the fields. That Mustang mentioned looks a lot like my '04 Anniversary edition, but mine is a darker "shadow gray", has a custom fake hood scoop and some other bling.
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The fake hood scoop. Yup I remember that on the Mustangs from those days. A friend of mine had that on his.

The day the van lost its water pump was rather interesting. It was a Friday the 13th and the part was supposed to take a few days to come in. The only place to stay was that motel located right next door to the repair shop. Instantly, our conspiracy theories went into gear and we started writing a plot to a movie!

We never did get the repair there were referred to someone else who then sent us to Miles City. Miles City is sadly the end of the Milwaukee Road. The line was chopped west of there in 1980. The Milwaukee bypassed Forsyth on the opposite side of the Yellowstone River which is down in the valley behind the motel. The old ROW, pretty much still intact, parallels US12 and we travelled along that before we headed up to Great Falls where we stayed the night. It was sad seeing the empty ROW all the way like that. I've written in detail about that in other posts.
 
I don't have a bucket list, but if I did, one of the items would be to hike, bike, or otherwise travel as many miles of the old MILW ROW as possible. Much of it in Washington and Idaho is accessible, not sure about Montana.
 
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