Archive for October, 2008

What a weekend of fall colors! Maples around the Northwest were in brilliant color from the Seattle Sub to the Gorge and I was fortunate enough to be out Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. With nice weather and pretty good train traffic it was a perfect combination for some wonderful photos. Most everyone I railfanned with this weekend agreed that this is about the best they’ve seen. Let’s hope next year’s weather follows the same pattern!

BNSF’s Z CHCPTL rolls west under gorgeous scenery at Home Valley

An empty UP grain train is surrounded in fall foliage north of Castle Rock

The fall colors around Vancouver are looking good here and there. Some maple trees are in full color while others look like it is still late summer and are showing no color. This spot near Camas, WA demonstrates that well as the maple in the background has quite a mix! I found about the same thing on my Seattle sub expedition on Friday. Obviously higher elevations (like Vader, Winlock, and Napavine) have more widespread color than lower elevations. This is the Northwest so I don’t have high expectations for perfect fall colors but they are still worth a look.

This morning’s Z train runs out its last miles in the orange and yellow garnished forests of the Pacific Northwest.

I don’t know how this happened, but it’s been a year since I last railfanned the Seattle Sub. Sure I technically railfanned it while capturing images of the construction around Vancouver, but honestly since I’m still in Vancouver its not the same. I’m looking forward to the next two weeks when I’ll have two days dedicated to the sub. Hopefully the falls colors will cooperate like last year.

Just south of Wabash, WA UP’s A-GBSE 22 rolls north under fall colors

BNSF suffered a minor derailment around 3am Sunday near this photo location at Cunningham, WA. From what I read its was only a few cars of an empty grain train and track damage was fairly limited. Trains were running again Sunday afternoon.

A faster Z-CHCPTL overtakes the G-AIFVAW at Cunningham, WA

Summer in the Northwest extended all the way into October this year.  Usually there is a bit of rain in September but not this year!  We made it all the way to Thursday last week without rain but sadly it has rained ever since.  Ahhh the pleasures of living in western Washington.

Passengers wait in the early October rain for a tardy Amtrak train 500.

I took the following shots recently while walking parallel to the tracks into downtown Portland.  I had tried making the trek a few times earlier in the week and various things got in my way; from running errands to the alarm clock not going off.  After finally hitting the ground early enough I managed these shots.  One is the Amtrak Cascades approaching form the south, and the other is the same train moving north toward downtown Portland.

Amtrak Cascades CAB leading in Push Operation

 

Amtrak Cascades #500 in Push Operation