WSOR, UP, CPKC & CN: Odds & Ends Around Milwaukee

It goes without saying that railfanning is a hobby of hobby of timing and planning, but sometimes, good catches fall right into one's lap! Perhaps it was an encounter by chance, or the word that something worth catching was on its way reached you in the perfect time and place! Usually, these catches are far and few between, but this summer and into fall, I had the good fortune to have quite a few, both in the "chance" and "perfect timing" categories. From the usual and mundane, to some special engines and big consists, here they are for your enjoyment!
We begin on Milwaukee's North Side, centering around lines of the Wisconsin & Southern and Union Pacific. Starting on a beautiful July morning, WSOR's L249 romps up through Downtown Germantown on it's way to Ackerville, with the railroad's lone ex-Milwaukee Road SD40-2 still leading the way on "home rails"! From there, we move to a muggy September morning and the "Plymouth Turn", L241, as it slowly plodds up the Plymouth Sub through Brown Deer behind GP38-2 3894. The same speed limit applies to the UP's Granville Connection; 10 mph on worn out jointed rail, though the duo of GP60s doing the honors not even a week later makes the catch and short chase to the Sheboygan Line Connection well worth it! While the journey uphill is all muscle, the downhill journey is all finesse, with constant dynamic braking to hold back the heavy consist bound for sorting at Butler Yard.
From there, we change gears to the high-speed mainline action of CPKC and Canadian National, kicking off with CPKC Hotshot 149 blasting out of Miller Valley and Grand Avenue Interlocking. One of the usual GE products so synonymous with this run was replaced this day by one of the SD70ACU rebuilds, right down to the original Nathan Three-Chime air horn! A few weeks later finds us at Milepost 90 west of Wauwatosa, as manifest freight 247 makes a run for the uphill climb out of the Menomonee Valley. The two GEs and the lone ACU rebuild might be standard "garbage", but third back almost invisible between the three giants is Soo Line 4448, the last engine on the CPKC to wear her original "Hockey Stick" colors, and still very much alive and well as evidenced by her non-turbocharged roar! Another journey further up the hill to Elm Grove yields another day's 247, this one with another big consist and train, and this time the special power right on the point; CP 7020, the "NATO" engine still looking slick as ever in her military green and black. Finally, we cap off with a Chicago-bound Canadian National freight, rushing its way across the Carroll University campus on a chilly early-fall night. This was one of those catches that was more chance than anything special; nothing but CN-Citirail GEVO duo leading this mix-and-match manifest. But sometimes, those are exactly the catches you need, even if it's just to help you unwind.
Enjoy Everybody! There is plenty more to come!