"LINE SWING"... "SHUTS DOWN WICKES"...***!!!

Published at : 17 Dec 2025

Congratulations for making it through this one. I was at Wickes four hours covering this. The fifty-seven was heading south on its usual run and stopped at Wickes to drop cars before going on to Riverside. I messed up and didn't get him pulling into the siding with the cars to be dropped. The video starts with the 57 coming back north to set the derail and then moving on to Riverside. While the 57 was at Riverside, a MOW crew started working just north of Wickes. They ran into some problems that had the line shut down for over 3 hours. The 57 was stuck waiting on the track work. They eventually decided to let the 57 grab the cars out of the siding and proceed north. By that time a repair crew showed up to make final repairs to the track. Traffic was backed up. There was a grain train about a mile behind the 57 and a rock train behind the grainer. I couldn't wait for the final repair and then the two trains. I'm sure it would have been dark by then. I'm sure I'll get some thumbs down on this one, but I enjoy this kind of stuff, and I hope you do also. Oh, I wanted to mention that I was speaking with the track foreman, and he mentioned he has a great video of the Big Boy in a secluded spot running over jointed rail. So, the name of his channel is "River Bum" Please go take a look https://www.youtube.com/@riverbum3992