Yesterday I saw some posts from a friend that the Nickel Plate was out and about, so I looked up the schedule. Sure enough, she was doing an excursion from her home near Fort Wayne, Indiana to Hillsdale, Michigan. It was yesterday and today, so I decided to try and catch her.
I saw that she was leaving Hillsdale around 3:00 P.M., so I found a space where I could catch her pulling out. The first place I thought she was going did not have tracks, so I didn't go there. I doubled back to the spot where I saw a couple people waiting for her.
She had to back out from the spot where she was parked and then get on this spur to get on her journey to Fort Wayne.
It wasn't a bad spot except for the junk that was around the tracks. There weren't too many people here, so I didn't have to deal with that either.
I've discovered that many people that follow trains are nuts. They will race from point to point to catch her. One time, I saw somebody lapping the train.
Anyway, I remembered that they did these kind of excursions but it was so long ago that I looked, that I almost forgot.
I liked this spot well enough. Especially with the curve of the track leading into the picture.
It was a nice day and the sun was cooperative. Since it was behind me.
Made for some nice pictures.
She was still speeding up in this series.
On more shot before the next spot.
I followed the people that were at my original spot until I saw a group of people on the side of the road. I pulled up there but they told me I couldn't park there. I think they didn't want my car in the picture, if they had said that, I would have moved. But if you see where those people are, that's where I wanted to be.
This wasn't a bad spot but the other spot had a nice "tunnel of trees" effect. But this one had the benefit of being away from that group.
I like this picture.
I even like this. These guys seemed friendlier than the other group.
And just the train as it passed.
I decided to head to one more place before heading back home. This place was near Reading, MI again, I was following the other folks and I really had no idea where I was.
This spot had the benefit of having the "tunnel of trees" effect that I was looking for. Since the train was near speed, I was getting a nice cloud of smoke.
The train was getting closer.
I would have liked this picture more without some of the stuff in the background.
The sign heading into Reading.
The group of people at this stop. As you can see, there were a few.
I like this picture a little better because it is minus the crowd.
One more.
Hillsdale wasn't as far from me as I thought. I just shot down US-12 and it was a nice drive today because it was in the 70s. On the way over, I stopped at a hot dog stand in Jonesville that I've been meaning to stop at. It was pretty good, the coney sauce was more like a sloppy joe sauce than chili, so it was kind of sweet.
I looked at the Nickel Plate schedule, it looks like they are going to Reading next weekend, so I may have to try this again. We'll see.
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