About

I created Brookings Rail Watch in January 2022 when I first began getting interested in filming trains. At the time, the only purpose of the channel was to upload individual video clips of freight trains passing through my hometown of Brookings. In the later half of the year, I began finding opportunities to travel to other locations and see different railroads. This brought about the creation of the Rail Expedition series of videos. A little while later, I started using my train footage to make informational videos. With a more sophisticated video catalogue, my clips of the RCP&E had to be consolidated into monthly releases, rather than individual uploads.

Production quality has steadily increased and Brookings Rail Watch has continued to grow. Now that a second year of railfanning has passed, I have collected even more footage that is of greater variety. Because I take many photographs of locomotives that don't always end up in my videos, this website was primarily created to hold these pictures. This site also contains other snippets of information about BRW and the RCP&E.

All photos and video seen on this website were taken by me and are property of the Brookings Rail Watch brand, unless specified to be otherwise. To contact me for anything reguarding this site or the BRW YouTube channel, use [email protected] or hop a train to Brookings.

Note: The name Brookings Rail Watch was changed to Brookings Rail on March 24, 2024

If you are looking for a particular locomotive road number, reporting mark, or model, Ctrl+F is your friend.

HLCX Geep Repaints At Huron

RCP&E's paint shop in Huron, SD has repainted many locomotives for itself and other railroads. Most of the repainting is done for fellow G&W lines, so corporate orange is the primary output. Single engines will show up from time to time, but every once in a while, a whole batch will come rolling in, usually from a leaser. This section specifically documents two major wafts of HLCX GP38-2's that have arrived in late 2021 and late 2022 respectively.

The BR1 Local Train

The BR1 train is a daily local train symbol run by RCP&E that operates in the Brookings area. The BR1 has two purposes: drop off/pick up cars from local costomers in Aurora, Brookings, and Volga; and assemble/disassemble trains in the Aurora and Sioux Valley yards. The train is run by a single locomotive that is switched out about once a month. During the warmer parts of the year, the engine is started up at 7:00am. It usually leaves the Brookings terminal between 8:00 and 9:00am. The crew typically obtains a track warrent to work between MP 285 (Aurora) and MP 297 (Volga), however this changes depending on other rail traffic. It returns light-power in the afternoon.

Foreign Power in Aurora

BNSF and CPKC run as-need ethanol trains onto RCP&E trackage to go to Aurora's large Valero Ethanol Plant. CPKC 636 comes from Chicago, which often causes very interesting power to end up the train. BNSF's ethanol service to Aurora is of an unknown train symbol, so I can't describe where it comes from. Almost all of the locomotives in the photos below can be seen in the respective Brookings Area Rail Activity (BARA) monthly videos.

General Locomotive Photos

This section contains photos of engines that did not make it into any of my videos. It containing old photos taken before the Rail Expedition series and photos from very small excursions that are not deserving of a video. The data presented for each locomotive is as of the date of the photograph. I usually do not update the notes or remarks after the image has been taken.

Photos by Rail Expedition