TLR 2012: Boys Will Be Boys

Have you ever seen 100 grown men jump up and down, giggling with excitement?  If you were in Dell Rapids, South Dakota, this past Saturday, you might have.  The excitement was building as we stood there, waiting for these beautiful Dakota & Iowa locomotives, #2512 and #2513, stop to pick us up.  The track really wasn't as wavy as it appears, it's distortion from the telephoto lens.

Behind the locomotives you can see three bright yellow cabooses.  We were supposed to ride in those cabooses, safely seated and looking out the window.  Not all of us listened, opting instead to stand on the platform of the caboose, directly behind the locomotives.  This was my view for the entire trip.  I didn't win the raffle for a seat in the locomotive, but this was almost as good.

Turn that wheel.  I triple-dog-dare you...

At the end of the trip, after crossing the bridge over Sioux Falls, they parked the train so that we could take pictures of the locomotives.

While we were sitting there, some kids came running over from the park to see what was going on.  One of the guys from the crew let them climb up into the cab for a look.  Meanwhile, I was out front, trying to get a good photo of the headlight gleaming on the rail head.

One more item of business to take care of before calling it a day.  Group photo, with a lucky few getting to stand on the walkway of #2513.  Sixth person from the right, blue shirt, camera around his neck - that's me! First time I've been on an idling locomotive, you can just feel the power rumbling under your feet.  Was I giddy?  Possibly.

TLR 2012: A Bridge To Awesome!

This past weekend was the 2012 convention for the Thousand Lakes Region of the NMRA.  I have so many things to say about it that I don't know where to start, so I think I'll just start with one word.

One of the other attendees said it best - "This was the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on".  I couldn't agree more.  The folks in the Dakota Southeastern Region know how to hold a convention!  If fun is measured in "number of photos taken", I had a blast - I racked up a whopping 289 photos over 2 days.  It's going to take some time to sort through them all, and most won't be posted anywhere, but I want to start getting some of the good ones published.  I'll start with the highlight of the weekend.

If you've ever been to Sioux Falls, specifically Falls Park, you know that there is a railroad bridge that crosses over the river and the falls.  I happen to have a photo:

Now, imagine what the view would be like from atop that bridge.  If only there was a way to get up there to have a look.  Oh, I have a photo of that too!

Right about now, you're shaking your head in disapproval, maybe uttering a "tsk, tsk", assuming that I was trespassing by walking out on that bridge.  You would be wrong.  In this next photo, also looking down from the bridge, you'll see a bid of yellow and red.

What could that yellow object be?  What sort of yellow object would you find on top of a railroad bridge?  How about not one, but TWO big yellow diesel locomotives?  Two locomotives pulling a rabid group of railfans, right out onto the bridge, then stopping to let those railfans off to have a look around?

Another look from out front:

Was this coolest thing that happened this weekend?  I'm sure something cooler happened somewhere in the world, but I didn't see it.  This was certainly the highlight of my weekend month year.  To future convention planners, the bar has been raised very, VERY high!