Archive for the 'general info' Category

My last experience redeeming Amtrak Guest Rewards points for travel was a bad one, with an agent who was hard to understand, couldn’t provide definitive answers, and didn’t seem to know much about train travel in general.

I’m happy to report that today I had a much better experience… in fact, I doubt it could have been any smoother. Next month I’ll be taking a railfan trip to Colorado and Wyoming, and I’ll be getting there via Amtrak to Denver. I wanted to redeem Guest Reward points for a roomette from Vancouver, WA to Sacramento on #11, followed by a roomette on #6 east to Denver.

I called the 800-number and after “Jackie” confirmed my rewards number and phone, she asked if I would be booking sleeper travel. I said yes, and she brought another agent, “Mike” onto the line. Mike handled the reservation and it was perfect. He was able to book me on the exact trip I wanted. He even noted that the system had booked me into lower-level rooms and asked if I would prefer upper level. He then read to me the list of all available rooms/cars on those trains and asked exactly which one I wanted.

Mike confirmed the train numbers, arrival/departure times, and all other pertinent information. He asked if I’d like to have the tickets mailed or pick them up at a station. He confirmed my e-mail address and sent a reservation confirmation via e-mail.

My experience with Mike today was exactly how every Amtrak customer service experience should be.

How many of you have a picture of your first time?  As I mentioned in my recent post on Stampede my first railfan adventure was in the spring of 1977 on a visit to Stampede Pass.  Here I am outside of Tunnel 4 in full railfan regalia topped off with a BN logo on my pinstripe hat.  Classic.

So what’s changed in this photo?  Station sign Stampede has moved to a new home (most literally).  It now resides on the other side of Tunnel 4 at was is considered ‘Old Stampede’.  This location is no longer the east end of the Stampede siding and this point is no longer under CTC control (TWC now).  The speed board just west of the tunnel is gone, replaced by a constant 20 mph from Lester to Easton.  There’s a speeder set off just west of the speed board, that’s of course gone.  During the reopening of the pass in 1996, the wood ties were replaced by concrete up to the west portal.  Surprisingly the Tunnel 4 snowshed is the same, virtually unchanged after 30 years.  Wish I could say that about me, I’ve grown another couple of feet and have facial hair.

This photo was snapped with a Kodak Instamatic camera and the film developed by King Size Photo in Seattle on Kodak paper.  The paper has a ‘Magicstick’ backing to peel and stick into your photo album.  The original photo is in surprisingly good shape after 30 years.

As I mentioned a few days ago, lately I have been expanding my photography interests beyond the world of railroading.  In order to showcase a wider selection of my photography I have started a photoblog.  There are several posts up now, and it will be updated several times a week with new photos and photo-related material.

Dogcaught will still be the home to my railroad photograpy, writing, and trip reports.  Things aren’t changing here, but if you’re looking to keep up with a wider selection of my photography, check out the new site.

I see that the Blog Herald has blogrolled and pointed to Dogcaught this morning, and if that’s how you got here, welcome! (Welcome to all my regular readers as well)

Feel free to poke around the site. There’s links by category and date on the left, and you can also view either my photo gallery or Steve’s photo gallery as well.

If you find us interesting, subscribe to the RSS feed. Again, welcome and enjoy!

I haven’t posted many photos here lately. Thankfully Steve has been posting some nice ones. Over the last month or so I’ve been in a bit of a funk when it comes to railroad photography. I haven’t gotten motivated to take any long trips for photos, and I’ve grown tired of shooting the same old things around town. I’m sure the funk will pass; it always does. I have a four-day railroad photography trip planned for next month.

In the meantime I’ve been doing more street photography and other photography around town. I’ve been posting those shots on Flickr. If you’re curious you can view my entire photostream, or just the ones in my Wandering Vancouver/Portland set.

I’m working on an online project to showcase my general photography in a better manner than my gallery.  Stay tuned.

The longer I hang around railfans and the rail fanning hobby the more impressed I am with the diverse interests that exist within a single hobby.  I firmly believe that each of us involved in this hobby likes something different about it.  And just to spice things up, those that like the same things approach them in a unique way.  Think about your railfan friends, enemies, or just people you know.  What do they like?  Is it the historical perspective, the locomotives, the freight cars, the operations, the structures, or photography?  I think you’ll be surprised at the variety you can come up with quickly.

So what prompted this diversity discussion?  I read an interesting piece on RailroadPhotoEssays about how one of the photographers I respect got his start in the hobby and how one particular aspect keeps his love for the hobby alive.  To me this piece demonstrates perfectly the variety of interest that keeps all of us coming back for more. 

You probably saw the announcements this morning about Adobe’s Lightroom Beta 3 for Windows.  So, what is Lightroom?  Lightroom is a workflow and editing package which is one part Photoshop, one part photo organizer, and one part import tool.  Adobe calls it a ‘project’ at this point because as they describe, the software is being ”built from the ground up by photographers, for photographers”.  According to Adobe the goal is to provide a flexible streamlined work flow adaptable for any photographer or photographic style.

As a Windows user, this is my first opportunity to get my hands on this and see what it can do for me.  I’m excited about this because from what I’ve heard from my Mac friend this software is spectacular and really improves the import functions.  My current photo editing tool is Photoshop Elements 3.0.  This software is certainly adequate for the amateur photographer and has served me well.  I’ve long been thinking about jumping to CS2, but on the average foamer budget that isn’t necessarily possible.  According to what I’ve read, Lightroom is supposed to be priced somewhere between Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.  So, if the price is right and the features are focused to photographers this could be the right thing for advancing the state of the art in my room.

If you are serious about your digital railfan photography and digital processing, go check out the 20 minute overview video on the Lightroom site and see what you think.

I’m excited to announce that a second person will now be posting here on Dogcaught. Steve Eshom is another Pacific Northwest railfan with a good photographic eye and some interesting thoughts on railroading. I’m looking forward to his participation here and have updated a few things on the site to reflect this is now a two-man effort. To see some of Steve’s past photography work, check out his gallery.

If you haven’t checked out Trainfoamers, you should.  It’s where a lot of the decent ex-Trainorders members (photobob, Don Winslow, MargaretSPfan) have gone, and it hasn’t yet been invaded by the immature teenagers that seem to be taking over RailroadForums.

The other site worth monitoring at the moment is RailroadPhotoEssays - it’s a bit slow, but the quality of the material and discussions is usually pretty good.

I saw this thread title on photo.net and was momentarily puzzed: “Good, non-SLR digital camera for my brother (around 150 pounds)”

My first thought was damn, that’s a heavy camera.  Then, as my mind realized that wasn’t what the poster meant, I thought what the hell would his brother’s weight have to do with anything?

Finally I figured out he was talking about the British unit of currency…

Todd over at Trainorders is holding a contest to see who will post the first pictures of the CNW Heritage Unit.  From the rules: “The first person to post a picture showing the locomotive in its new scheme will receive a one year membership or extension.”

Let me point out that unless you already have a premium membership, you can’t post photos.

Ever wondered how to get some of those cool motion-blurred shots that look like they were taken on the road?  Go read this tutorial.

Me?  I’d be worried about bugs splattering all over my camera and glass…

How do you lower congestion on the freeways? By increasing rail capacity, of course… or at least that’s the theory being proposed in the state of Washington. Proposals are going to be made to the state legislature that state investment in increasing freight rail capacity will benefit the public both by eliminating trucks from highways, and reducing delays to passenger service.

Read more here…

According to information on the SP 4449’s website, several break-ins have occurred in the last week at the roundhouse with over $35,000 worth of equipment stolen.

Unfortunately railfans are going to suffer because of the desires of criminals.

Supporting the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation will help ensure a permanent, secure storage facility for Portland’s railroad history.

How many more people will be killed because they can’t take the extra 5 seconds out of their life to look both ways before crossing the tracks?

Four killed in grade-crossing collison near Castle Rock, WA tonight…

Looks like another big name is now in the Digital Asset Management field.  Microsoft has purchased iView, makes of iView Media Pro, one of the biggest DAM tools.  This means Microsoft will now be competing against Adobe, Imatch, Extensis, and others in the market for tools for cataloging photos and other media.

Well, my plan to go see some cars being hauled off for scrap at lunch didn’t pan out… I drove by around 11:30 and there was not a soul to be seen, the fences were still up, and no heavy equipment was around. There wasn’t too much going on but I did find a stack train stopped at 39th street with a lead unit in need of a paint job:

I just saw this article by a Kansas City news outlet which is stirring the pot regarding one-man operating crews on freight trains.  While safety is a valid concern, unfortunately the article quickly delves into nothing but scare tactics, and the so-called real world examples they cite have nothing to do with crew size.  Here’s some bogus examples cited in the article:

• The London Subway bombings.  Not freight trains, totally irrelevant to how many men are in the cab.
• A plan to release chlorine gas into the New York Subway.  Again, irrelevant to how many men are in the cab.
• An air hose broke in the back of the train. One person would not be able to get to it quickly.  So what?  It’s not like the current two-man system is quick.
• A train is involved in a grade crossing crash. One person would not be enough to handle such emergencies.  Huh?  It takes two people to plug the air?  The person who goes to check out the carnage can’t also use their radio to call for help?

I won’t argue that one-man crews would be safer, but I’ve yet to be convinced of any doomsday scenario of losing a crew member.  Yes, there’s union labor issues involved, and job security is really the number one issue, hiding behind the screen of “safety” and “think about the children!”

I’ve heard from a reliable source that the remaining Pullman passenger cars at the former Crossing Restaurant in Vancouver (adjacent to 8th Street on the BNSF Fallbridge Sub) will be removed for scrap on Monday.  I may try to sneak down there around lunchtime and see what’s going on.

It’s the longest day of the year… the summer solstice.  Unless you’re Kit Courter, who probably favors the winter solstice, there’s no excuse for not getting out and snapping at least one picture of a train in daylight today.  I’ll be out for a bit after work.

The best way to improve your photography is to take more photos and study them.  Go take more photos!