by Steve Eshom on August 17, 2008
I’m in Montana this week visiting Stanford on my annual visit to my mother-in-law’s. After last year, I’m surprised the state and my mother-in-law let me back in…but they did so here I am again!
On our trip east yesterday after clearing the Rockies at Rogers pass I caught a warrant for the southbound freight on the radio. He was cleared to NSS Moccasin with a clear main track at last named point. Sounds like a meet with the northbound at Moccasin. Doing a bit of calculating based on the fact the northbound was at Hedgesville I was pretty sure the meet would happen around 7pm. After a dinner stop in GRF we headed east about 7:15pm. I figured we’d meet the northbound en route and sure enough just after Raynesford I heard “EMD 9058 north approaching Geyser”. We pulled off at my favorite location just north of Geyser and captured the train under Square Butte. I love the scenery here!
Continuing to Stanford we arrived for a fabulous sunset. There’s just a touch of smoke in the air so the colors are enhanced a bit.
Look for more posts over the next week, I have several fun things planned which should make for some interesting photos.
Technorati Tags: bnsf, stanford, montana, photography, trains, railroad, big sky country, photos
by Steve Eshom on August 10, 2008
Amtrak train 27 passes over the venerable 6th St. overpass
Modern, elegant, and stylish or old, boxy, and crumbling. How would you describe the railroad underpass at Sixth St. in Vancouver? I’m afraid I’d have to go with the latter three descriptions just based on appearance. Each time I drive under it I question its strength though I’m sure that its design and construction is sufficient because the trestle still does its job just fine. I guess I’m spoiled by more modern construction that looks far more substantial and overbuilt…especially in the railroad arena.
I thought it would be a good idea to start capturing some images of this structure since over the next few years it will be replaced as part of the re-development of the former Boise Cascade paper plant site. From what Aaron and I gathered at the open house last winter there will be a shoo fly in place for several years while the new structure is constructed. The new lead for the Port of Vancouver is being built with a very nice overpass structure at 6th St. and 4th St. which should allow for two 10-12 ft. auto lanes plus a bicycle lane. Oh, and the clearance appears to be much more modern than the current 8′ 8″ height. It will be nice to be able to pass under this without having to remove the railroad radio antenna from my rig!
Another, more ‘edgy’, version of this image is available in my gallery.
Technorati Tags: trains , railroad, railfan, photo, photography, amtrak, vancouver, washington
by Steve Eshom on August 4, 2008
Its good to railfan with others because you usually get another point of view…if you listen. Take this photograph of the M-SPOEVE descending from Quincy towards Trinidad. I’ve passed this point at least one other time but until someone said “hey this is a neat spot, check out the curves” I didn’t notice them. Once I did I was convinced this location was alright. Now if only I had an 8,000 ft. stack train! I find it funny that if you would have asked me what was between the crater and WSS Quincy I would have said “oh just a long straight with a slight curve”. Live and learn!
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Technorati Tags: bnsf, columbia river, photography, photos, quincy, railroad, trains, washington
by Aaron Hockley on August 3, 2008
I’ve completed a variety of upgrades on the site; some are visible and some are behind the scenes. Nothing too dramatic has changed but there are a couple new features available to make it easier to participate in Dogcaught and share with others.
Subscribe via e-mail. In addition to viewing posts online or via the RSS feed, we’re now offering an e-mail subscription service. Sign up here and you’ll receive updates via e-mail.
Share This A “Share This” icon and link now appear at the bottom of single-post pages, which makes it easy to share Dogcaught articles via popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and more. Just click the “Share This” link and choose your favorite service to let others know about an article.
I had one other upgrade that didn’t go as planned and will be attempted again without requiring downtime. Stay tuned.
(and since all good posts contain railroad photos, here’s one from a few years ago…)
