Archive for June, 2007

Thursday’s family expedition was a trip to Malta, MT to see a local museum that contained several dinosaur skeletons. That was of course quite interesting. To top it off the museum was right across the street from the Hi-Line so I was able to capture a couple of the trains whipping through town. In this first photo an eastbound stack train passes underneath Malta’s version of the ubiquitous grain elevator. I’m not sure if the banner on the leftmost elevator (Break The Habit) was pointed at railfans or potential drug users?

Break The Habit

East of Malta is the Bowdoin Wildlife Refuge which includes a 15 mile driving tour around the refuge. We spent nearly an hour and a half viewing wildlife in this fantastic location. Wouldn’t you know it, but the railroad cuts through the southern third of it. During the time we were there Amtak 7 and 8 passed along with an eastbound Z and the Z-CHCPTL (hey a piece of home in MT). I chose to capture the eastbound Z at one of the rural crossings in the refuge. If you like wildlife and trains, this place has it all and it is priced just right for the railfan (free!).

Bowdoin Crossing

As I’ve mentioned in my two previous posts there are two regular trains on the Laurel Sub. Last night the sky was clear which made for great sun and allowed me to get some nicely lit photos of the M-LAUSWE from Judith Gap up to Stanford. The daily M-SWELAU didn’t arrive in Stanford until after dark (sort of) however.

Depending on where you stand in the Judith Basin you can see for miles. In this first photo from Moccasin, MT the Big Snowy Mountains providing the backdrop are around 18 miles away! The town of Moore, MT is just out of the photo to the left and is 20 miles away by rail (via Sipple). What a view!

Moccasin and the Big Snowys

In this photo taken at 10pm shows the M-SWELAU rolling through Stanford. I know it doesn’t get dark very early in Vancouver in the summer, but here in Big Sky Country it seems twilight lasts for hours. It was still light enough out that I could work the camera without any additional light.

Montana Elevator Co. - Stanford

That covers the regulars, now to the local. Today the ‘local’ was a Moore turn out of Great Falls. The train consisted of 5 geeps and 52 empty grain cars for the elevator at Moore. Moore is located on the Lewistown sub about 7 miles east of the junction at Sipple, MT. For all of you history buffs, here’s a question. Who was the original owner of the line segment BNSF calls the Lewistown Sub? BN doesn’t count because it is too obvious. If you know, post a comment.

In this photo of the local the southbound local is crossing the Judith River at Hobson with the Little Belt Mountains providing the backdrop. The scenery never stops here!

Moore Turn at The Judith River

On the radio yesterday morning a welder recieved track and time to do a weld north of Stanford. As typical he asked the dispatcher how much time he’d have. The DS told him “oh, until 17:00″. That pretty much sums up the trains that passed through town during the day!

Around 19:00 things started hopping. First a northbound from Laurel rolled through. In this first photo I captured it just south of Stanford as the herd was ‘moooving’ back to the feeding area.

Moooving. The M-LAUSWE crosses Skull Creek south of Stanford.

At 19:20 a southbound arrived and picked up 3 ballast cars that were then going to be set out 7 miles away. Needless to say the crew wasn’t too happy. I choose to chase the northbound because the lighting would be more appropriate. I shot it several times north of Stanford including at the west portal of the Wayne tunnel.

Exiting the Wayne Tunnel, the M-LAUSWE is just a few minutes from Great Falls.

Over the past two days my family and I have trekked east from Vancouver to my mother-in-law’s home in Stanford, MT. What do Stanford and trains have in common? BNSF’s Laurel subdivision. The Laurel sub is the is ex-GN line that runs roughly northwest from Laurel, MT (Mossmain for the NP fans) to Great Falls. The Great Falls sub then continues north to Shelby and the Hi-Line. The area around here is on the down slope of the Rockies and is primarily rolling hills covered with grass. The railroad climbs in and out of various rivers canyons, crosses many trestles, and includes 5 tunnels!

On our arrival here today I heard the BNSF 7923 get a track warrant from Great Falls to the south switch Judith Gap. Doing some estimating I figured the M-GRFLAU into Stanford around 6pm. After eating I dashed out to the grain elevators north of town and caught the train in mixed light.

Stanford Elevator

I drove south towards Hobson partially to scout and partially to get out from under a thunderstorm forming west of Stanford. In this photo the train is descending from Moccasin (junction with the Central Montana) to the crossing of the Judith River at Hobson.

Hobson

On my return to Stanford the Montana Branch dispatcher passed on a tornado watch to the train from MP 95 to MP 45. It certainly turned into quite the storm.

Severe Storm

Look for more from Stanford throughout the week….

Around the summer solstice I find it fun to look back on winter photos as a reminder of what the weather in January was like. Whew, I’m glad summer is here.

With a skiff of snow on the ground a westbound manifest train glides into the Stevenson siding for a meet

The day before father’s day my daughter and I had a bit of daddy-daughter time so we visited the Crossett Western 10 pulling its monthly excursion out of Yacolt, WA. I hope all the father’s out there were able to spend time with your kids sometime this weekend like I was able to. Happy Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day! CW 10 has its excursion train well in hand as it rolls smoothly across the Lewis River.

I mentioned in my post about the southbound steam double header that there were quite a few local residents waiting patiently for the “steam train” south of Woodland. I choose to get one of my last photos of the train at speed on the sweeping curve that leads onto the Lewis River bridge where a group had gathered.

The Centralia South dispatcher held the 4449 north of the crossovers at Woodland until Amtrak 506 could get out of the way. The Lewis River bridge area is notorious for trespassers so I’m sure the engineer on 506 was nervous about blowing across the bridge at full speed knowing the ‘foamers’ would be hanging around the north end. His concerns were justified one individual continually stood between the rails as if he was taunting the engineer to come and get him. Fortunately he had the sense to move before this series of photos was snapped.

Waiting For The Steam Train

As some of you know who have followed my photography, I have been branching out into more general photography and not just trains over the last year or so. I’m still taking railroad photos but have also started a new web project to share some of the things I’ve learned as I’ve grown as a photographer.

I call it Photoschooled.

The topics include general photography information, ideas on how to improve your photos, and digital image management including organization and online photo websites. Bookmark the site, subscribe to the RSS feed, and comment on what you see.

I grew up in the Puget Sound region so I have a soft spot for scenes from that area. I’ve seen numerous photos from Steilacoom, but the ones that interest me most are the ones of the trestle between the ferry dock and Gordon Point. Its a quaint setting with a boat repair facility in the foreground and a typical Puget Sound background. To top it off the entire location is nicely framed with typical Puget Sound vegetation (maple trees, fir trees, and a madrone tree).

A Pasco to Vancouver, BC manifest slows for the Pioneer crossovers as it crosses Steilacoom Bay

In places like Arlington, OR mother nature doesn’t provide that many natural frames but man does with built environment objects like the grain elevator. With nice evening light I captured a Gilliam garbage train waiting for a new crew.

A garbage train basks in the sun at Arlington, OR

I guess you could say I practiced framing techniques on my Sunday railfanning trip. The first image I’ve played around with a couple of times. The second was pretty much a grab shot that presented itself as the Z train came around the wye. Thanks to a 10mph speed it was easy to try different things as the cars rolled by.

As is typical with with Sundays this time of year the traffic dropped off to nothing after Amtrak 501 passed…

The morning westbound Z train comes around the wye from Eighth Street towards the Columbia Draw.

Vancouver’s Amtrak depot

Vancouver has a modest (very modest?) engine service facility just south of 39th St. Power is serviced here as required with a preference given to fueling at Hauser, ID if there’s enough gas in the tank. While waiting at the 39th St. crossing a few weeks ago I captured the Z train power getting the once over.

A BNSF crew fuels and checks a set of power before its next assignment.

The SP&S 700 folks, Oregon Pacific Railroad, and Oaks Park are presenting a “Summer Steam Special” this year in Portland on July 12-14.  The event will offer both public (and private party) rides behind the SP&S 700 or one of OPR’s diesels.  For more information head over to their website, but it should be a few days of fun.

Oh… did I forget to mention they’re offering cab rides?

[tag]sp&s 700, sps700, oakspark, portland, pdx, trains, railroad, steamtrains, prpa[/tags]