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.
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