A Brief Nickel Plated Adventure

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.

Catching Up With the Nickel Plate

Last night as I was figuring out things to do today, I saw that the Nickel Plate 765 was making a run from somewhere in Ohio to Jonesville, Michigan.  Yesterday, the made a similar run to Hillsdale.  Jonesville and Hillsdale are close enough that they are almost the same town.  Anyway, it has been over a year since I caught the Nickel Plate and I didn't catch the Pere Marquette at all for a while, I decided that's what I wanted to do.

I made it to the spot where they were picking up passengers and waited for about 15 minutes.  I just wish the porta potties weren't where they were.  Oh well.

The single whistle warning people that the train was leaving.  Basically, they came up from Edon, Ohio to here.  That was a three hour trip.

I think there might have been a festival going on, because people were given a couple of hours to enjoy town.

I honestly thought there was a train station here because the road that lead to where I stood was called Reading Road.  Which might be after the railroad.

Maybe there was a train station at one time.  At any rate, the train blew two whistles which meant it was leaving.

I was in the right spot and I think the light was just right for me.

The train was blowing its whistle through here.  Not sure if it was a warning for people watching or just because.

At any rate, it was pretty cool.

It was at a decent speed here.

It passed by.

Apparently, this is a diesel engine that was restored by the same group.  It was also owned by the Nickel Plate at one time.

One more shot.

I was waffling about going to chase it and I decided to do it, since I had no idea when there would be a chance to do that again.

It was at a higher speed here.

I love the clouds made.

It passes by.

The crossbuck.

The other trailing engine.

The Nickel Plate.  No love for the diesels though.

One more shot.

I ended up following it to one more spot.

It was moving much slower here.  It was sort of a railyard.

That gave me a chance for more pictures.

I kind of like this one.

And she just about passes.

I like this one too.

Her wheels.

She passes by.

One more shot.

Some shots of the trailing diesels.

I like this one of the Nickel Plate diesel.

And she moves by.

One more shot before I moved on.

It was pretty fun chasing her but I remembered why I don't like chasing steam engines.  Train nerds are a special bunch in normal times but they get crazy when there is a steam engine involved.  Fortunately, they spread out and there weren't as many at each spot.