A Look Back in Photos: Railfanning 2005

by Aaron Hockley

As 2005 winds to a close, I look back and have many happy memories of railfanning this year.

The year began with a trip to the Seattle Sub, a day railfanning MAX, and then another Seattle Sub trip with a FoamersNW gathering and slideshow in the Centralia area hosted by Robert Scott. A good time was had by all. That weekend I found an AGBSE at Kelso South:

February brought some night shots, this one being a SW1200 leading a southbound herder at the Vancouver depot:

March was a busy month with a couple Gorge trips and I was invited to present at a slideshow in Seattle… to coincide with that in early March I made a 2-day trip north up the Seattle and Scenic Subs to explore some BNSF to the north. Here’s a P-TACKCM with a colorful consist at Sunset Falls:

In April I chased the Weyerhaeuser Woods train from Green Mountain down to Longview. Just outside Ostrander I captured a local child waving at the train:

May meant chasing the SP&S 700 to Salem, and of course GorgeRail. GorgeRail is as much about people as it is about trains. Here our emcee Gregg Pohll fields a question from the audience with presenter Jeff Bass doing Q&A about his show…

In June we spent a week in Alaska on a family vacation and of course I spent time railfanning the Alaska Railroad. Here’s a photo shot from the dome which portrays the beauty of this trip:

July was a busy month, beginning with doubleheaded mainline steam for the NRHS convention, with a mid-month trip to shoot the Mt. Hood Railroad and an end-of-the-month after work trip to catch some sunset sunlight in the Gorge. Here’s a M-PASLYD in that sunset lighting along Drano Lake:

In August I’d been at my new job for a few weeks and began heading trackside at lunch. A mid-month Gorge trip lead again to the Mt. Hood Railroad, this time involving a cab ride:

September brought more lunch shots and another Gorge trip, but the highlight of September was a 2-day rubber band trip to Boise and back to chase the UP 3985 on the Huntington Sub. My favorite shot from the trip is on the Idaho Northern just outside Nampa alongside a golf course:

I searched for fall colors in October but it was very dry this year and it seems as soon as the leaves started to change, they died. I didn’t shoot other than locally, but at the end of the month was the FoamersNW slideshow so that was good for some Seattle Sub action. Between rain showers we shot the M-EVEABN at Chehalis:

November was a dud for railfanning. No real trips at all, just some photos from around town which have already been posted here.

December on the other hand was a busy month… it started with a Gorge trip… the then Holiday Express Derailment, a lot of shooting around town, and some night shots in the snow. Just as I’m finishing up this post and going away for the night, here’s a going away shot of the morning Z about to duck under the service road for The Dalles Dam.

May 2006 bring good lighting, good lenses, and good luck to all my readers…

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 29th, 2005 at 10:45 pm and is filed under general info, photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.