On Wednesday I received the February 2010 issue of Railroads Illustrated. Inside I was pleased to find two of my photographs published as part of the 2009 “A Day In North America” feature. That day was very enjoyable for me as I was able spend time exploring locations I don’t normally visit on a Gorge tour. If you don’t have a copy, I recommend you pick one up as the DINA photos are carefully selected and there is a nice feature on the east end of the Milwaukee Road electrification.
Cooks Tree – One of the staples of BNSF’s line through the Columbia River gorge is garbage trains. Most days see at least one in each direction and Day In North America was no exception. At Cooks U-ROOINB (Roosevelt-Interbay) winds through an S curve led by a former Santa Fe warbonnet. In 2009 the power on garbage trains made a transition from solid sets of SD40-2s to BNSF’s ubiquitous Dash 9-44-CWs.
Tunnel 3 – Railroads passing through the Columbia River gorge pass through a variety of geological features including this basalt rock tunnel east of Cooks, Washington. For the next few miles BNSF’s M-PTLPAS (Portland-Pasco) will dive through four tunnels before arriving at the station of Hood. The Portland-Pasco train moves manifest freight in BNSF’s Vancouver yard to Pasco for classification.
Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, railroads illustrated, white river productions, day in north america, DINA, BNSF, columbia river gorge
