Archive for December, 2008

My Journey Through 2008

To celebrate 2008 I assembled a program to show off my favorite railroad photos from the places I visited this year.   Assembling this program gave me a great retrospective on the year and the fun I had pursuing my hobby.

I’d say 2008 was a pretty good year and I feel I came out with some nice photographs.  According to Lightroom I shot just over 3700 railroad images this year which is up by 20% over the previous year. Keep in mind I did this in a year where gas prices arguably were an issue for railfanning but in the end they didn’t impact the photo total.  Based on photo counts from the various trips I took I seemed to take fewer total trips but the total number of photos taken on each trip was much greater.

Fuel prices did impact the fall trip with the FoamersNW crew as we chose to stay close to home and skip paying the airlines to get us there.  The end result was some of my favorite images from the year taken along BNSF’s Lakeside Sub.  So from what seemed like a failed trip something good was made.

What will 2009 hold?  Real hard to tell.  With the slowing economy I’d expect freight traffic to be down a bit early which will mean fewer and shorter trains.  I’d also expect that sometime in ‘09 the economy will pick up so hopefully by this time next year there is more optimism and freight traffic will be on the rise. 

Where do I plan to go in 2009?  So far the list is:
Central Montana
Tucson, AZ
Bellingham Sub
Kootenai River Sub 
Nampa Sub
….plus the usual events (GorgeRail, Autumn Leaf, Hot Rail, Winter in the Blues)
….plus the usual haunts (Columbia Gorge, Vancouver, Seattle Sub)

These are of course the wish list and are subject to change but are all locations I’d love to spend a few days railfanning.

With that look to next year, have a happy and prosperous New Year and sit back and enjoy Detours, Deserts, and Snow (4 min 44 sec).

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, photo, photography

In the last half hour temperatures have risen above freezing in Vancouver for the first time since late in the day on 12/18. For much of the northern United States that’s not significant but for the relatively mild Pacific Northwest 6 days is a healthy stretch of below freezing temperatures. The current forecast is for temperatures between 35 and 50 through next week. Bye bye beautiful snow, hello slush and mud.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photos, photography, Union Pacific, Vancouver, BNSF

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, Vancouver, Washington, snow, winter

After 10am last Sunday UPs La Grande sub experienced a bit of a lull so we decided to head west and see what train traffic we could find. Checking the road and news reports we figured a trip down Washington’s SR-14 would be more pleasant than a drive down I-84 in Oregon. It appeared railroad traffic would be heavier on the BNSF side anyway so we headed for the river. Our first stop was Plymouth, WA where the temperature was 21 and the wind was out of the NE at 25! Brrrrr. Certainly not the best photography conditions.

Seeing the 2 warbonnets and the CN unit we decided to chase the PASTAC west. The winds died off around Roosevelt but the road was just icy enough that we could only make 45-50 mph which was not enough to get ahead of him. Finally he announced an approach medium to east Bingen! We stopped at Lyle and took a photo that in August you’d never think would be possible!

We heard the PASTAC meeting another train at Stevenson so we decided the grade crossing in the middle of the Bingen siding would be a perfect spot for a great blowing snow photo.

The gorge in winter is just as spectacular as in summer! I wish there was more traffic so we could have visited more of the regular Gorge spots but that’s the way it goes.

Technorati Tags: train, photos, photography, railroad, snow, cold, BNSF, Plymouth, Bingen, Lyle, weather

The weather here in the Northwest has been quite chilly, with current snow accumulation at my house in Vancouver around 6″. Today I ventured out towards the depot to see what might be happening on the rails. The scanner told me things were messy, with lots of switch and signal problems throughout the terminal.

I took a few typical train-in-the-snow photos, but I also captured a few shots of railroaders at work despite the weather:

Conductor on the Coast Starlight train 11. Ten minutes prior, he was on the ground lining a switch.

Conductor on Cascades train 516, asking on the radio if he can depart (and get back inside)

The station agent loads bags. I wonder if he was contemplating chains for the baggage cart?

Conductor from the Z-CHCPTL uses the handle of a broom to remove snow from a switch

Technorati Tags: photos, trains, snow, weather, vancouver, railroad, amtrak, conductor

What is it about snow that attracts people so much?  For railfans I believe it is the struggle between the railroad and the elements and the raw effort used to keep the freight and passengers moving.  There’s something magic about seeing a train continue to roll through despite the obstacles placed in its way by mother nature.  Its almost as if the railroad is saying “to hell with you we’ve got trains to run”.

On Saturday 12/13/2008 I had the privilege to witness Union Pacific thumb its nose at 24″ of snow in the Blue Mountains of Oregon.  The storm began just after noon on Friday with light flurries and a dusting.  By 8am Saturday snow depths had reached 24″ at Huron (west of Meacham) and 12″ at Kamela.  By 3pm when I left the Kamela area there was over 18″.  How’d the railroad fair?  As you’d expect things slowed down a bit but the freight kept right on rolling.  UP was in control.

On the east side of the pass things were in control.  Near sundown on Saturday the Z-KCPD climbs up from a meet at Hilgard.

Not everything was perfect though.  Around 10am an eastbound stack train went into emergency between Nordeen and Motanic.  On a normal day the act of tying a train down is a bit of work.  Add in the snow and its a major pain in the ass.  I’m sure the conductor was not real happy to be out wandering up the right of way in 12+” of snow though given a choice I’m sure he’d take that over the alternative.  Having this train stopped for nearly 2 hours did give the snow fighters a chance to get out of Meacham and head for Huron to get clean up started.

Back in control.  The crew of the K-TALN6 was probably happy to be out of the elements and back on the move after their emergency stop at West Motanic.

Timing is everything.  After the K-PDG1 passed Meacham there was a lull in train traffic so the snow fighters and signal maintainers got their chance at putting the Huron and Camp sidings back in service.  Thanks to those guys the trains kept rolling all day long.

How’d I do?  Well, thanks to four wheel drive and tire chains maneuvering through the snow was pretty easy.  The Yukon did its job just as intended! I was regularly plowing snow with the front bumper on the unplowed road up to Kamela.  The snow was up to the running boards but I had no problems being in control.

Thanks GMC!

Stay tuned for more photos from this adventure.  Take a look at this thread on trainorders.com and this thread on rrf.com for more photos and commentary from Robert, Mike, and I.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, union pacific, oregon, blue mountains, snow, Kamela, Meacham

Soon I’ll be headed east for another visit to the Blue Mountains of Oregon. Last week it was looking like the visit would be for the most part snow free but today’s forecast indicates there may be some cold temperatures and snow around the weekend. Certainly this year is nothing like last year when there was several feet on the ground by this time. Eventually the snowfall in the Blues set records and drew the spreader out for service for the first time in a long time.

Time to go break out the warm clothes…

The I-PDG1 grinds its way up hill just shy of Kamela summit. Engineer Baller is about to reduce throttle for the 15 m.p.h. restriction over the summit.

After meeting one at Pleasant Valley an eastbound stacker starts down the steep part of the grade east of Encina Hill. Treacherously icy roads and bitterly cold wind conditions limited our time east of La Grande last year.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, Union Pacific, Oregon, Blue Mountains