Gr8 River Road: Trainspotting 2.0 Traditional Cache
Gr8 River Road: Trainspotting 2.0
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This is a regular cache to replace my ALR cache that was here that
required a photo of a train. Since ALRs are no longer allowed, I
had to archive that cache, and am replacing it with a new cache in
the same spot.
Train spotting is a hobby that involves collecting sightings of
trains. A train spotter will typically focus on a certain set of
trains or moving stock — such as all cars of a certain model or all
moving stock belonging to a particular company — and try to "spot"
as many in that category as possible. Train spotters share
information about the movements of trains with others and usually
carry a data book in which they mark off the railway equipment they
have spotted. (And you thought geocaching was the only weird
hobby.) There are several web sites devoted to the hobby of train
spotting.
This cache allows you to be a train spotter too, at least for one
train. When traveling the Great River Road, one notices first the
beauty of the river and the bluffs. But the next thing you will
notice is that train traffic is quite high here, on the dual set of
tracks that run between the river and the road.
The tracks that run along the Great River Road here are now owned
and operated by BNSF, the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway
Company. BNSF was established as a result of a 1995 merger between
the parent companies of the Burlington Northern Railroad and the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and is the second largest
railroad in North America.
The tracks here are a part of BNSF's "Northern Route" and is the
backbone of their route between Chicago and Seattle. This route was
originally part of the Northern Pacific Railway system, followed by
the Burlington Northern Railroad system. The route starts at
Chicago, Illinois and runs west-northwest to La Crosse. From there
the route continues northwest along the east side of the river to
Minneapolis and then on to Grand Forks, then to Montana, and then
to Spokane, Washington, before heading to Seattle.
The assortment of colors used on the BNSF makes it one of the most
colorful large railroads in North America. BNSF paints its
locomotives in schemes derived from its predecessor railroads. Many
locomotives, sometimes affectionately called "pumpkins," by train
spotters are painted in "Heritage I" or "Heritage II" schemes,
which are based on the Great Northern Railroad's colors of black
and orange. Other locomotives are painted in the "Heritage III"
scheme, which is the Santa Fe's famous silver-and-red "warbonnet"
scheme, only with "BNSF" painted on the sides instead of "Santa
Fe". Even more locomotives continue to be wear the green and white
or blue and yellow colors of the two railroads that merged to
create the BNSF. The majority of the trains that I have seen
traveling the Great River Road the past few weeks have had the
"pumkin" orange and black paint.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
V Z Fghzcrq.