Archive for December, 2006

Thanks to the redevelopment of the former Boise Cascade paper mill site into a residential and retail center, there are a few new views open of trains departing Vancouver.  In this photo, the S-TACLPC crosses the 6th St. trestle on its way out of town.  According to planners, the redevelopment of this area will involve several underpasses under the BNSF ‘berm’ that will allow auto and foot traffic to flow more easily from downtown towards the redeveloped waterfront.  Access from downtown to the Columbia River has long been a desire of Vancouver leaders.  Until construction obscures this spot, there’s another location to shoot trains at.

I’m currently on vacation at the Oregon Coast (POTB photo coming this weekend).  Today I had my dogcaught.com hat on.

I had this encounter at the Harry and David outlet store:

Cashier (looking at my hat): Dogcaught.com?
Me: Yep… you should check it out.
Cashier: Is it a porn site?

For years I’ve understood that color calibration of the monitor was a necessary thing to really ensure what you are seeing is really accurate.  I of course putoff purchasing a color calibrator due to the cost.  In its place I used things like Adobe Gamma, Quickgamma, and DisplayMate to manually adjust my montior to what I thought was a decent calibration.  Looking back, the results I got were acceptable.

For Christmas I recieved a Pantone Huey.  Huey is not a professional monitor calibrator, in fact it is not even an amateur tool, it is truly a consumer grade device.  All that aside, I have to say it works.  After installing the software, I plugged it into a free USB port and calibrated my Dell flat panel and in just a few minutes.  Simple.

Did I notice a drastic change?  Not really, though my wife and daughter both claim the colors appear richer.  Where did I see the biggest difference?  Well, I spent lots of time calibrating the monitor manually to ensure the darkest darks and the whitest whites appeared correctly.  Apparently I was close but didn’t get it quite right and with the Huey both adjustments look much better.

In the end I think the whole concept of calibation is worth the effort.  Whether you decide to spend for a high end color calibration tool or something simple like Huey, the results are much improved over manual methods.

Aaron and I would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season…

Anticipation. It can be the excitement of a child, counting down the days until they open a Christmas gift.It can also be the feeling of a railfan, waiting for something, knowing it’s a moment he won’t capture again soon, wondering if things will turn out correctly or if the scene will result in disappointment.

Anticipation at Dorris, California

Every now and then a vacation away from home, the weather, the kids, hobbies, and everyday things is needed.  My wife and I just finished an 8 day eastern Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas.  Along the way we stopped at several popular eastern Caribbean ports including San Juan, Puerto Rico where I stumbled across a touch of railroad history.  After Columbus discovered many of the islands of the Caribbean, the Spaniards, French, Dutch, and others established sugar cane plantations.  What’s the best way to move the cane to port and factories?  By rail of course!

Today though the transportation infrastructure (err, roads) on most islands is pretty good so the use of rail over such a short distance isn’t practical.  The railroad on Puerto Rico ceased operation in 1957, but thanks to the fine people at Bacardi a small bit of it is preserved.

After shooting this photo of railroad remnants we were whisked away to have our two free rum drinks.  Nothing like rum and trains!  That was it for the railroad content on the cruise, in fact the rest of the trip looked quite similar to this photo from the beach at Phillipsburg, St. Maarten.

The 962′ long, 13 deck, 90,000 gross tons Radiance of the Seas is docked at one of the three cruise ship docks in old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

And now back to your Northwest winter already in progress….

This is an actual bulletin about a missing railfan from the Atlanta area.

I want to pass it along in case anyone has any information. Sue’s email address is skampe1021@aol.com. Although this is near Atlanta I want to pass this along to everyone.

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My uncle, Barry Helling, is an avid railroad fan and a member of your site [Trainorders.com]. Last Saturday, 12/9/06 he went out railroading and we have not seen him since. He railroads in the Lawrenceville area, around the CSX tracks and the Norcross area. His appearance is being considered a possible homicide. We need help trying to find either him or his car. He drove a 2001 Gold Jeep Cherokee, license plate WD700D, wildlife plate. He is 61 years old, white hair and close beard. WE NEED HELP. Possible dark color Silverado truck seen with his possessions in the Birmingham area also. Police has not searched areas specifically. Please have anyone finding anything contact me or the Gwynette County Homicide Department ASAP.

Thank you,
Sue Kampe

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I also received this from Gwinnett County Police Department:

One of your fellow train enthusiasts has gone missing under suspicious circumstances. Barry Helling, age 61, has not been seen since 12/09/06. He lives in the Atlanta area and drives a gold Jeep Cherokee with tag # WD700D. If anyone has seen Mr. Helling or heard from him please call 770-513-5100 (Gwinnett County Police Dept) Mr. Helling is known for his white beard and Santa like appearance. He is also known as the “Silver fox” to some conductors on the CSX Line that runs through northeast Atlanta.

Thank You
Detective Brian Ray

Last weekend I was up on Pengra Pass on the ex-SP Cascade Crossing in Southern Oregon. We worked east from Oakridge and ended up as far south as Grass Lake, California. I’d heard rumors they run trains on the line but you sure wouldn’t think much of it based on what we saw. Only one southbound in daylight on Saturday, and only one train at all in daylight on Sunday. Despite the shitty train volume, I managed to get a few decent foamy photos:

Sunrise at Oakridge with a passing auto rack train

Amtrak 14 near Chiloquin

Clean GEVOs and decent lighting at Chiloquin

Further south at McDoel

Passing the old water tower at Grass Lake

Light trails remain after the departure of Amtrak 11 from Chemult

Amtrak 14 in a snowstorm at Mowich

Crossing a bridge at Westfir

I have some other photos that I intend to post as standalones, with more commentary or observations over the next few weeks. In addition, some non-train photos from the trip will end up on my Flickr stream in the next day or so.

Last weekend was the first runs of the ORHF’s Holiday Express train. I wasn’t able to attend since I was out of town railfanning in Southern Oregon (photos to be posted soon) but I understand it was a lot of fun for a lot of people. Last weekend featured the SP&S 700; this weekend it will be the SP 4449 leading the trains. Here’s some links to folks who have been posting pictures of the event:

• Brian McCamish (who put together a very nice layout for his photos as always)
• Greg Brown posted a couple on TrainFoamers (free registration required)
• Nickatnight on Trainorders
• RailroadForums.com thread (photos near the end)
• This Space for Rent has several photos in recent posts

As I’ve been scanning and cataloging my older photos I ran across the first railroad photos I took with the Canon AE-1 Program I received for Christmas 1987.  Are these photos anything special?  At first glance not really, they are just wedgies of BN trains in the snow and gray skies.  Going back to my comments in Historic Preservation I can say I’m very happy I did snap these relatively mundane photos.

The first photo of the east siding switch Cunningham (WA) depicts an approach signal to west Cunningham.  Big deal right?  On December 30, 1987 this former Northern Pacific line is into its first few months of being operated bi-directionally with CTC.  During 1986 and 1987 the BN worked on a project that would end with the two lines between Spokane and Pasco narrowed to one.  For reasons that aren’t entirely clear they chose to demote the former Spokane Portland & Seattle line and improve the former NP. The improvements to the NP line involved creating 8000+ foot sidings, replacing ABS with CTC, replacing 1920’s era bridges, and installing concrete ties.  Cunningham was one of the new sidings guarded by CTC.  

All was not well with the new operating plan though.  Just two weeks before this photo was taken, the Lakeside sub had plugged up with trains.  In fact one night while I was studying at WSU and listing to the scanner I heard the Wishram East dispatcher talking to Amtrak 27 as it entered the Lakeside near Cheney.  He told them that they’d have clear blocks all the way to Pasco because he’d already filled all the sidings with trains and wasn’t taking any more from Pasco.  At the time I remember not being all that impressed with all the ‘improvements’ that resulted in a plugged railroad.  I guess the BN noticed too because by the early 90s construction was underway to add a second track over Providence hill (connecting the Cunningham and Sand sidings) and adding several new sidings.  

I’m happy I have these photos of a meet between BN train 1 (now known as the Z-CHCPTL) and an empty grain train because the addition of the second track 6 years after my photo eliminated any chance of regular meets at this location.  I caught a short lived piece of history with my first photos.

Approach!

BN Train #1 passes the elevators at Cunningham

Meet at east Cunningham

An empty grain train departs east Cunningham

Once again the SP&S 700 and SP 4449 will be in operation for a couple weekends pulling the Holiday Express in Portland.  The event is a benefit for the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation which is dedicated to the creation of a museum to showcase the area’s railroad history and provide a permanent home for the city’s three steam engines.  This year the train starts at Oaks Park and travels north.  Best wishes to the volunteers for this event, hopefully things will run smoothly.
Find out more about the event and how to purchase tickets via the ORHF website.

EMD’s SD60 lease units have had quite a life that began with their delivery in October through December of 1986.  Yes, that’s right they are 20 years old now!  On the BN and later BNSF they’ve been used in every role from emergency passenger power to slugging it out in coal service.   Today they still seem to fill a jack of all trades role.

I saw my first Oakway in Rathdrum, ID on April 11, 1987.  At that time lease power was just starting to work its way onto the BN and seeing the crisp blue and white was a refreshing change from solid Cascade Green.  Despite 20 years of wear they are still a refreshing element of an engine consist. today.

To celebrate 9079’s birthday I thought I’d dredge up this image of her just after her second birthday.  On January 7, 1989 she and a sister are lugging BN train 613 over the summit of Providence Hill.  For those of you familiar with this area, notice how many tracks appear in this photo!

Little has changed with the outward appearance of these units over the years.  The most noticable changes are the painting over of the GM nose logo, the addition of ditch lights, addition of some safety stickers, and addition of reflective tape as shown by 9079’s sister 9045 as it departs Vancouver, WA on 2/12/2006.

 Happy Birthday 9079, lets hear it for another 20 years!

ZooLights is a holiday light display at the Oregon Zoo. On Thursday night, our family went to the event and I took a bunch of photos. Here’s a couple of the Washington Park & Zoo Railway #1 which was under steam and operating as the sole train that night.

In addition to these photos, more photos from the event can be found in this Flickr set.