Memorial Day on "The Hill": CN Waukesha Sub

Byron Hill; the name is synonymous with Canadian National and railfans across Wisconsin. Stretching 10 miles from the outside of Fond Du Lac to the summit at its namesake town, the steady one percent grade is a formidable challenge to southbound trains kicking off their trek towards the Windy City. Even with computer technology and the implementation of "DPUs" as a part of modern railroading, heavy trains, particularly manifests and ore drags, still need a good old-fashioned helping hand on their way. This is usually provided by a duo of classic Electro Motive power, anything from old-school CN GPs and SDs, to ex-Bessemer and Lake Erie "Tunnel Motors" still clad in "Bessemer Orange", 20 years after they were folded into "The Noodle".
For me though, Byron Hill is more than a railroad hotspot. It's a place I call "home". A good chunk of my childhood was spent parked along the hill with my dad, watching trains slug it out up and down the slope into and out of "Fondy", almost every southbound with a set of helpers. 20 years ago, the Wisconsin Central takeover was fresh, and those classic maroon and gold SD45s were regulars in the helper pool. I will forever remember standing trackside when those 20-cylinders monsters would scream past, shaking the ground with their thunder, laying with every ounce of strength they could give into the end of whatever train they were pushing, occasionally assisted by an SD40-2. Maybe ex-Illinois Central, maybe a "Grey Ghost", maybe a wide-cab "402-W", it was a lottery! Now, all those locomotives and memories are exactly that, memories, but Byron Hill will always be a place of peace and "disconnect" for me, and it is for this that I return as often as I do, and always will do.
This Memorial Day Weekend, I made two trips to the hill, spending the afternoons wandering the hills and watching the action unfold. One of the now-ubiquitous Bessemer "Tunnel Motors" was paired up with a CN GP40-2W to offer assistance when called upon, and the duo at least made one trip up the hill, giving a hand to a southbound freight on Saturday, and a loaded "All-Rail" Iron Ore Drag on Monday, all powered by the now "usual suspects" of GEVOs and EMD SD70-series. Nowhere else in the Midwest is an operation quite like this found, and to have it more or less right in my backyard is something I do not take for granted. I will be back to Byron plenty times more, bet on it.
Enjoy Everybody! There is plenty more to come!