It's a Wolverine Sort of Day

 We had pretty nasty weather yesterday and today looked like it might be a continuation of that, so I figured that I needed a break from driving all day.  I couldn't pass up on an opportunity to take some pictures though.

I live pretty close to Depot Town and it's been a while since I've gotten winter pictures of the Wolverine, so I decided to head down there.

In fact, I don't think I've ever gotten the new Amtrak train in the winter, so today provided a good opportunity to do just that.

The main reason that it's been a while since I've gotten any pictures of the Wolverine is because they have had reduced service due to COVID.  I think they are now back to three trips a day meaning there is an afternoon trip.

The morning train is too early for me and the night train is in the dark, so the afternoon train is perfect for me.

And today was no exception.  The sun even decided to peek out for a little bit.

I should have moved a little more so I didn't get the greaser in the picture.

One more as the train passes.  I kind of like this one though.

A Snowy Day at the Airport

 So I was going to catch the Sykes today.  As I was watching her on Marine Traffic, I saw that she had stopped and turned around to dock in Marysville.  I heard that she was having the same issue that she was having early Friday morning.  Then I decided to head out to catch some other ships, as I was heading up on I-275, I saw someone that had spun out.  About five minutes later that person was passing me, so I decided I didn't want to deal with traffic.  I went back home for a little bit and then saw that I could catch a ship at Belle Isle.  I thought that was close enough to where I could go catch her.  As I got to 275 on I-94, I saw that there was a major accident on the eastbound side and there were a couple of cars on the side of the freeway on the westbound side.  I figured that any ships I would catch were not worth it, so I just stopped at the airport to catch a couple of planes.

First up was a Southwest 737 coming in from Denver.

One of the reasons I like shooting in the snow or rain is the vapor trails that I will catch.

The 737 does vapor trails pretty well too.

Next up was an A350.

This particular one was coming in from Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

In the last year, Delta switched from flying out of Narita to flying out of Haneda.

I'm not sure why.

But anyway, it was cool to see an A350 since I haven't seen one in a while.

Next up was a plane that I was hoping to see.

It was a 757-300 coming in from San Francisco.

I'll have to say that the 757 does vapor trails pretty well.

And since I like the 757, I took a couple more pictures.

One more to show it in its fully stretched glory.

I headed over to the other side of the airport to catch the next plane.

It was a 737-200.

And it was coming in from Orlando.

Imagine the shock for the passengers stepping into this weather.

An angle I like.

And one more because I like the plane so much.

It seemed like the snow was letting up and I was still thinking about heading down to Belle Isle.  As I got back towards I-94, that wasn't the case, so I just headed home.  Oh well.  Maybe there will be something stirring tomorrow.

The Honorable James L. Oberstar on the Rouge River

 So yesterday I thought that I would be catching the Sykes as she headed up the Rouge River but she had an incident near the Blue Water Bridge.   Then it seemed like the timing for everything else was just off.  As I was getting ready to pass on the day, I saw that the Oberstar was coming up the Rouge River.  I decided that I would head over there to get pictures of her.

  

The Oberstar was coming down from Marquette which meant that she had a load of taconite.  I think there is a heron passing in front of the pilothouse.

She was delivering that load to the AK Steel Mill in Dearborn.

It was pretty cold yesterday and that made for some nice steam coming out of the stack.  There is a heron at the bottom of the picture.

The Oberstar was moving fairly slowly but that is fairly normal for ships going up the Rouge.

It was pretty nice to catch her because she is one of the classic lakers.

I really like the Rouge as a backdrop.  The ships are fairly close.

The backdrop has some interesting things but it is not too obtrusive.

She gets closer to the bridge.

I kind of like this view.

She gets pretty close to the bridge.  Normally I would take pictures as she makes the turn for the steel mill but it was pretty cold yesterday and I didn't feel like staying outside any longer than I had to.

The Ever Lovely Kaye E. Barker

 And this is the ship that I really wanted to catch.

I was kind of waffling about going out yesterday.  It was raining but it wasn't too cold.  I was almost ready to not go out and then I saw this ship coming down.

The Kaye E. Barker was on her way to Toledo.

I think she was coming down from Marquette.

And that means she was carrying iron for the smelter in Toledo.

It's kind of nice that they added that, it brings more cargo this way.

And it might make up for the closure of some of the steel mills.

Even though it was hazy, I kind of like these pictures.

Gives a different quality to them.

At anyrate, the water was still calm enough.

She makes her way for the bend in the river.

One more shot with my regular camera.

I had to go back to my drone.  The weather wasn't much worse than the other ship.

The water was still calm enough and I like the reflection.

The color is pretty neat too.

I think this is my favorite.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get my beam shot because one of my handles came off.  I forgot to tighten it on the controller.  I was able to get it back on before completely losing the shot.

And one more shot.  I think from this point, she was about 8 hours from Toledo.