Here are a few images shot this year at GorgeRail:

Eastbound at Ruthton Point, approaching Hood River

Eastbound manifest at Goodnoe (east of Towal)

A pair of CSX SD40-2s leads a westbound at East Bates

Crooked road, crooked tree…. crooked railfan? Nah… just Steve

Technorati Tags: gorgerail, railroad, trains, photos, pictures, columbiarivergorge, bnsf, up, csx

With all the excitement around the double header and the UP 844 it has taken me a while to get to work on my GorgeRail 2007 photos. Tonight I finally finished cataloging them and I thought I’d post a few here and and on railroadforums.

I travelled with Aaron the whole weekend and he had the idea of photographing east of Maryhill since we rarely venture that far east on our day trips. We landed at Bates which proved to be quite an interesting location with opportunities for eastbound and westbound photos. Being mid day and quite overcast, the lighting was uninspiring so I decided to try something a bit different and I set up to photograph a nasty smelling garbage train with something that smells much better.

Spring in the Gorge

On Sunday GorgeRail again held a roundhouse tour at Brooklyn. As usual, the tour was wonderful and the PRPA folks who hosted us did a great job. As we wandered around I caught Aaron admiring Doyle’s handy work on the 190.

NKP 190

Technorati Tags: gorgerail, columbiarivergorge, bnsf, trains, railroad, railfanning, photos, photography

Every year as I evaluate options for GorgeRail, one question that comes up is that of location: do we remain in The Dalles, where we have an excellent theater and great railfanning literally out our front door, or do we pull the event into the Portland area, where it’s more accessible and we might get more folks at the show, but we lose the “Gorge” aspect of GorgeRail.

Every year, I come to the same conclusion… GorgeRail just wouldn’t be GorgeRail if we didn’t hold it in the Gorge.   Trains are part of the picture, but the scenery and environment of the Columbia River Gorge just couldn’t be matched in Portland or Gresham or Vancouver.  As you look at this photo (taken on Friday of GorgeRail weekend), the Empire Builder and eastbound BNSF train are just a small part of the picture, in both the literal and figurative sense:

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Due to some scheduling circumstances we have added two new shows to this year’s lineup for GorgeRail.

In a group effort, five railfans from the Pacific Northwest present “Gorge Rails” which is a look at some great photos taken in (where else) the Columbia River Gorge.  Steve Eshom, myself, Drew Mitchem, Paul Petersen, and Robert Scott are all contributing to this show.

The last addition is a short piece I have put together called “North Slope of Hood”, featuring the Mt. Hood Railroad and originally presented at the Railfan & Railroad Show prior to Winterail 2006.

Head over to the GorgeRail website to learn more about the event and registration information.

Technorati Tags: gorgerail, mthoodrailroad, winterail