As I mentioned last week I made a visit to Stevens Pass and Trinidad Hill over the weekend. The weather was expected to be hot but turned out to be cooler than expected with highs barely reaching 90 at Wenatchee. Saturday dawned with thunderstorms east of the hill which persisted throughout the entire day. Not all was lost though as one small thunder-bumper near Plain helped me produce one of my favorite images of the trip.
The Rain on Plain
The sun did pop out from time to time making for some interesting photos like the photo below.
These poor guys were really screwed by the dispatcher. She called and asked them if they could get the train started at Berne to which they replied “yes!”. Instead of maintaining track speed up the east side she stopped them on the main at Merritt. They waited for over an hour while an eastbound Z passed through the tunnel and down the hill. Upon meeting the chit chat between the trains resulted in the agreement that there was plenty of time for a Scenic meet and a flush which would have resulted in a more efficient meet. All that said, this photo would not have been possible without that delay.
Out of the Slot and into the sun
I posted some additional photos along with the group at railroadforums.com.
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