by Aaron Hockley on February 20, 2011
I’ve visited the Powder River Basin area of Wyoming a couple times. If one wants to watch coal trains run like streetcars, that’s the place to go. Here’s an image from a couple years ago as I caught a UP empty train heading towards one of the mines. This particular section of track is triple-track; some areas have four mainlines. The scenery of the area is that of a grassland and this image captures that look.
by Steve Eshom on January 3, 2011

Lon and I have been discussing in the past few weeks how there are very few Cascade green painted units in Vancouver. Sunday I didn’t see any. Does that mean the BN is gone? It seems it is at least from a paint job perspective. Heck, even a lowly workaday engine like the 2258 pictured above is now in the proper corporate scheme.
I’ll miss Cascade green. As I was growing up it was a fresh new color on a hopeful new railroad and I came to love it. Something about the green and black meant serious railroading, prosperity, and a bright future. I was hooked. When I lived in Michigan I sought out the Powder River Basin coal trains that passed through town because that was the only way I could get my fix of the green in a land of blue. I needed it because blue was different and just didn’t represent railroading the way I knew it.
I’m sure a few more Cascade green units will pass through Vancouver before the last one is repainted. I’ll keep an eye out for them but I don’t expect much. Does that mean the BN gone? For now I’ll just say another chapter in BN’s history book is nearly finished and leave it at that.
by Aaron Hockley on April 14, 2008
Yesterday Vancouver had a surprise foreign visitor, KCS 4100 which I believe is the class unit of their SD70ACe series in the newer Heritage paint scheme. It was the trailing unit on a westbound train at 8th street (in some amazingly craptastical lighting… but you take what you can get, right?).

Technorati Tags: trains, railroad, vancouver, vancouverwashington, kcs, sd70ace
by Adron B. Hall on April 13, 2008
Recently I went about town for some photo taking opportunities and managed to grab a few decent shots of a Portland & Western freight rolling on through Union Station downtown. It’s been gorgeous the last few days and I just figured that at least a few trains ought to be photographed.
by Aaron Hockley on December 23, 2007
For some reason there is a strong association between Christmas and trains. Stores include trains in their holiday displays. Many folks have a loop of track around their tree. And, if you’re the Oregon Zoo, Christmas provides a great time to light up Washington Park and Zoo Railway’s #1 steam locomotive as part of ZooLights:

Merry Christmas to all!
Technorati Tags: trains, railroad, christmas, oregonzoo, zoolights