deke8706

Hi everyone,

Well, the first semester of photography school has been keeping me pretty busy, but finals are next week followed by a month off. That doesn't mean that things are going to slow down, as I am shooting Christmas On Main on Dec 13, SOO steamer 1003 in Wisconsin on Dec 14 & 15, Wisconsin Southern on Dec 16, and I hopefully will be chasing CN train M338 all the way out to northern Illinois and then heading down to Savanna to see the ICE. There are plans for three portrait shoots over Christmas Break (3rd shoot with CJ, 2nd shoot with Haley, and 1st shoot with Lisa) as well as a couple of days shooting IANR in the snow for work.

However, the big news is the week before Christmas. The Rock Island historical society wants to use my photos from La Port City deke8706.deviantart.com/art/Co… and www.flickr.com/photos/ianrphot… as well as have me shoot for an article that will appear in their January issue...including my first cover photo!

I hope you guys have happy and safe holidays, I gotta get back to studying.
D

Well, a lot has happened since the last update, but I'll try to keep it brief.

The Iowa Northern has reactivated its GP20, 2003 and has recieved its first GP40-2W. Traffic is heavy with several trains running at once. A friend remarked "Its kinda cool now, we have enough running that you can actually choose what you want to chase."

DM&E got cleared to build into the Powder River Basin, but the City of Rochester (mostly the snobs at Mayo Clinic) blocked their federal loan. DM&E's parent company had been looking into selling part or all of its system to a Class I to help finance construction, but they have found a private invester to back them and construction could begin as early as this summer.

CN has announced an order for 65 new units. These are expected to force my beloved IC SD40s into retirement. CN has retired two Missabe units, 209 and 418. There are currently 8 of the 400s repainted, and one of the SD38s is serving out of DMIR territory.

As far as I go, I have made several outings since the last update. Just this last week I shot a day in Minneapolis looking for the former MILW and a day chasing the ICE and visiting a MILW caboose graveyard. That was the most depressing thing I've ever seen.... I've also shot a couple days for the IANR, done a portrait shoot, and tomorrow morning I leave for DULUTH (hell yeah!) to chase the Missabe and do landscapes of Lake Superior for a week. I have been keeping BUSY, otherwise I would have gotten more photos up. Hopefully my internet works in northern Minnesota, if it does then I will finish working on the photos and get them online. If it doesn't, then I will finish working on photos and get them online when I get back.

Speaking of when I get back, I will be working a lot and somewhere in there I am supposed to have two portrait shoots. Two weeks after I get back, I will be going to Denver CO for a week, then I'll be back for a week, then I'll be camping in northern Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan and shooting the LS&I for two weeks. Two weeks after I get back from that, school will start (yay for photography classes!). So the rest of the summer is going to fly by.

I gotta go get some sleep before hitting the road. Peace out guys,
D

37 years ago today, in 1970, the greatest road to ever turn a wheel was formed from the GN, NP, SP&S, and CB&Q. Originally to be called the Great Northern Pacific & Burlington, the name was quickly shortened to what we knew it as: the Burlington Northern www.deviantart.com/deviation/2… . The brainchild of the great James J. Hill (his GN gained influence in the NP in 1893 through business parter J.P. Morgan), the four roads had been trying to combine into one system since Hill gained control of the Q in 1898 (although SP&S didn't exist until several years later, but was a joint venture between the NP & GN to reach Portland, OR from Spokane, WA, and to connect the GN to the WP in northern California). In November 1980, BN bought the Saint Louis-San Francisco, and their management took over the top positions at BN. Because of this, throughout the 80's BN became more and more unfriendly to employees and the unions and became "the big bad guy" in the minds of many people. The ex-Frisco management was ousted by Jerry Grinstien (I think that was in 1989), who turned the company around. Once again, BN went shopping, and this time they set their sights on the Santa Fe www.deviantart.com/deviation/4… . On September 23, 1995, BN and ATSF became Burlington Northern Santa Fe, adopting the Santa Fe's logo, and once again, the foreign company's management took over. Robert Krebs has succeeded Jerry Grinstien, and now Matt Rose (who was mentored by Krebs) runs BNSF. Last spring, BNSF officially changed their name to just the letters "BNSF" and changed to a Power Bar like "swoosh" logo www.deviantart.com/deviation/2… .

Happy Birthday Big Green! www.deviantart.com/deviation/3…

I guess its finally over.. This is from the WCInfo List:

"The following is a quote off the CN Power
Chief's turnover yesterday:

"'Q118 to pick up WC 7514 at Shops Yard and work to Markham to retire. The same goes for the other WC 7500s on the property, as we can get them swapped out, are to work to Woodcrest. Looking to get them retired before the end of the year.'"

*SIGH* I'm off to work 10 hours, I hope you guy's Christmas goes better than this.

Anybody have any SD45 stories they want to share? Doesn't have to be limited to WC. I'll share if you guys share.

-Dereck
206612.tripod.com

...ok, not really, I like Fall a lot more than Winter, but I do like Winter a lot too. Its been two months almost to the day since I last said something here, so here we go again.

I just finished up a couple weeks of completing road trips to the Mississippi for the Fall season. All the photos from that are online now.

I am shooting with someone that used to be a professional model this Thursday. I'm pretty nervous. Not because I'm intimidated, its because I don't really want to. For the first time in months, I really don't feel like doing portraits. So I have no ideas for her, and I'm nervous that since I actually get a chance to work with someone that was a pro, I don't know what I'm going to do pose wise. I don't have any ideas, I'm not inspired, or anything. So I don't know what will happen. I guess this is the real test: if I'm going to do this for a living, I have to be able to still make good photos even if I don't feel it.

What I AM excited for, though, is the comming of Winter. I just can't wait. I am currently in the process of acquiring the proper clothing to be able to spend hours out hiking in temps close to 0 degrees shooting. I want to get out on the BNSF along the River, the UP in eastern Iowa, the Iowa Interstate, and the Iowa Northern, all in over a foot of snow. I just can't wait. Its snowed twice already this year, once in October and again four days ago. Neither of them stayed on the ground longer than a few hours, but the last one was really heavy and stuck to tree branches. Oh, if only I didn't have to work that day! I feel like I'm going to be shooting a lot of black and white landscapes this winter, so we'll see how that goes.

Last Saturday, Maxey and I went down to see the IAIS, which didn't turn out that fruitfull. Although, we did see the 400, which is an ex-RI GP9 that the ROCK chop-nosed. Photos of that soon, I promise.

Its kind of funny, last time I wrote, I had just come from a Psychostick concert. Tomorrow night, I am very happy to say, they are coming back to town. It is going to be great.