Saturday Morning at Wedel Acres

This past weekend, after seeing pictures and discussion on Facebook about Wedel Acres in Peabody, I finally decided to check it out.

Peabody is located just northeast of Newton in Marion County just off of US 50. It is also where the BNSF La Junta Sub crosses the UP [née Rock Island] Lost Springs Sub.

A fellow railfan named Dwight Wedel was able to acquire a small tract of land on the southeast side of the BNSF/UP crossing and has constructed a replica train station.

Looking at a 2 1/2 hour drive from the Kennedy Compound, I headed out at about 6:00. I knew that fellow railfans would be welcome on his property; however, while I was at a ‘service stop’ in Emporia, I sent Dwight a courtesy message letting him know I was going to be out there. I arrived at Wedel Acres at 830

63605 — 0848: Dwight’s new “Railfan Cave.”

63611 — 0855: BNSF 5897 prepares to cross the diamond on the point of an eastbound “Q.”

63617 — One locomotive across, two more locomotives and an entire “Q” train to go.

63622 — Parting shot of the power as it crosses Olive Street

63623 — Two more BNSF GEs drew DPU duty. They cleared the diamond at 0900

Even after the first train had gone by, my ears were sensing the presence of another train right behind.

63626 — At 0915, BNSF 8098 touches down on the diamond.

Around 0935, I spotted a Grey Toyota Sienna with a bunch of reflective stripes lurking about the diamond. Apparently, the next train was about to experience a RGE (Railcrew Xpress Generating Event)

63636 — The Railcrew van parked on the northwest side of the diamond inside the interchange track between the two lines.

63638 — BNSF 8348 pulls up to the Railcrew van on the interchange track. Someone (presumably the conductor) de-trains and gets in the van.

63640 — BNSF 8348 prepares to enter the UP line with a rolling pipeline in tow. The BNSF has trackage rights on the UP from Peabody to a connection with the BNSF Strong City sub at Lost Springs.

63643 — I was trying to get one last broadside of 8348. Unfortunately, I mis-timed it and got a little bit of tree blocking the shot.

(Based on comments I received when I posted these stories to another forum, the switches on this interchange track must be operated manually. The Conductor must line the switches in order to get on to the interchange track and line them back once the train has cleared them. The crew van is there to shuttle the conductor to the switches, then back to the locomotive.)