Chasing CN A411 By The Seat of My Pants 11/11/2007

After the Green Bay Packers' spectacular 34-0 shutout of the Minnesota Vikings, I decided to make a good day even better with a little railfanning. I was looking for A411, the Chicago-SSAM via Green Bay manifest that I had seen coming in during the late afternoon the last couple Sundays.

I planned on going into town on Dousman Street, crossing the mainline, then driving south parallel to it on Ashland Avenue, and setting up somewhere south of town to get a runby of it at track speed, in an area where they can use the horn.

The first flaw in that plan came when the gates went down as I was driving down Dousman Street, and I had to wait for an unexpected train after frantically digging my camcorder out of the back seat for some shitty video that is not worth showing here.

After that surprise cleared, I attempted to follow through on my original plan, but I hadn't driven more than a few blocks when there was the headlight of A411 ahead on my left, about 90 minutes earlier than I had expected it!

I quick pulled into the left turn lane at 9th Street and filmed from there. After it passed, I turned around and flew back up Broadway Street to the crossing at the entrance to North Green Bay Yard, just barely making it in time. The only saving grace was that the train had to stop to line a switch on its way into the yard.

Power was EMD SD75I CN 5654 and GE Dash 9 CN 2579.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• train
• railroad
• railway
• railfan
• Canadian
• National
• CN
• EMD
• SD75I
• GE
• C44-9W
• locomotive

[owlking149]

Great title! Does the CN own the SSAM? Thanx fur sharin'!

[HighIronofWisconsin]

Thanks. Yes, it does own the SSAM.

[RailFanDavid]

good video.5654 is a SD70I.the SD75Is are the 5700 and 5800 series.

[HighIronofWisconsin]

Hmmm, rrpicturearchives lists up through 5625 as SD70I and 5626 up as SD75I.

[Trainking922]

Me and you have very similar interests. We both love the Green Bay Packers & we love trains!

[msk578]

@Megahammerheadshark Good catch. Most crossings they don't flash. I'm surprised this one didn't stay red while the railroad lights were flashing. This just allowed traffic to cross, stop at the gate, and block traffic on the cross street!

[Megahammerheadshark]

On the first crossing should't the trafic lights be flashing red and/or yellow?

[BudmanPackfan]

yes, from this crossing to DePere is a QZ completed about 4 years ago or so..... maybe longer.

[Nathanrailfan]

What's the difference? Both the SD70i and SD75i look alike.

[lordbemylight]

Looks like another NO TRAIN HORN zone. That stinks.

[RailFanDavid]

ok.i just thought they started the SD75Is at the 5700s.