Archive for the 'photos' Category

This week I had a chance to review and edit a few more images from my visit to Stevens Pass last weekend.   During the review I found a few I particularly liked because they highlighted the dark, moist, and cloudy weather we experienced all weekend.   Who says the days have to be sunny to make interesting photographs?

Blue Amtrak.  Amtrak’s Empire Builder pulls up to the east portal of the Cascade
tunnel to await the dispatcher to get an override for the flush system.

Misty Slot.  A westbound Z train plods uphill between Merritt and Berne.

Baring.  Thanks to Amtrak an eastbound Z train uses the siding at Baring
to meet a westbound stack train attempting to stay ahead of Amtrak.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, blue, misty, dark, rainy, moist, BNSF

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

This morning I’m on my way to Stevens Pass for a winter railfanning adventure.  From other railfan reports there isn’t much snow up there this year.  In fact 6″ is the report from “the slot” where the photo below was taken in January 2008.  During that winter several snowfall records were set and BNSF was one big snow storm away from not having any where to put snow in some locations.  Fortunately for them the weather held and a concentrated effort with the slot train through February cleared out the tight spots.   Thanks El Niño. 

BNSF’s S-CHCTAC climbs Stevens Pass after meeting the S-TACSTP3 at Merritt

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, snow, BNSF, El Niño 

This is how most people view trains…

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, crossing, gate, grain

With the merger partner logos on the side of the locomotive fading badly the nose emblem is becoming the most interesting part of the 2075.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, Pacific Pride, merger

United Harvest Elevator, Moccasin, MT

So maybe this post’s title is a bit presumptuous but in Central Montana having a multi use track in 2010 is pretty big news.  In a January 11 article, the Lewistown News-Argus (covering Central Montana like the stars!) reports that Central Montana Cooperatives is planning to build a fertilizer hub on the loop track at Moccasin (known as Grove, symbol GVE to BNSF).  The loop track is currently home to United Harvest’s elevator which loads unit grain trains throughout the year.  The two facilities will certainly make Moccasin a much busier stop on BNSF’s Laurel Sub and will increase its importance to agriculture in the area.

Coming Soon – Fertilizer

This new facility will likely improve Central Montana Cooperatives’ delivery efficiency thanks to reduced costs to ship bulk product.  Obviously lower or steady production costs will make farmers in the area quite happy. 

With all this good news I want to stop for a minute and consider the other player in the railroad game at Moccasin, the Central Montana Railroad.  They make their living on the carload business distributed to smaller communities along their line.  With the addition of the fertilizer hub what’s going to happen to them when a co-op in Geraldine decides to truck fertilizer from Moccasin because its cheaper?  CMR and the State of Montana are already in a tussle with BNSF over subsidy payments so I’m afraid that the grain shipping business already lost, the subsidy payments lost, and now the potential for the fertilizer business to be lost may not be good for the future of the CMR freight business.

Moccasin Loop

As a railfan I certainly don’t want to see the CMR lose more business and disappear.  Their line is one of the few operating pieces of the famed Milwaukee Road that still operates 30 years gone and has many scenic highlights that are hard to find anywhere else.  On top of that they host the Charlie Russell Chew Choo that is not to be missed on a visit to the region. 

The CMR aside the fertilizer hub is still good for business in Central Montana and should be looked at positively for Central Montana and Moccasin.   It may however be one straw too many for some in the region.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, montana, grain, fertilizer, community, farming

Looks like BNSF’s Seattle sub maintenance project is now in progress.  Ties litter the right of way from Vancouver to Ridgefield and there is plenty of MOW activity around.  Looks like a busy couple of months on the Seattle sub.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, maintenance

A loaded Boardman bound coal train climbs Montana’s Rocky Mountains at Mullan Pass.

I heard on my way to work Friday that PGE is planning to close the Boardman Power Plant by 2020.   PGE has been under tremendous pressure from environmental groups and citizens to close the plant.  Studies of the air quality and health of down winders have brought to light issues with burning coal in eastern Oregon.  In addition PGE faced modifications to the plant to meet updated clean air requirements.  With the effort to clean up the emissions from the plant coming under increasing fire from the public, I think the combination was just too much and PGE decided to cut its losses and move on.

Once the coal plant closes that will mean the end to Boardman bound coal trains.  Generally these trains routed over BNSF from the Powder River Basin mines to Huntley, MRL to Sandpoint, BNSF to Lakeside Jct., and finally down the UP to Boardman.  I think this interesting routing along the coal cars emblazoned with a rose made the Boardman coal trains a railfan favorite.

Back for more coal

Like most railfans I will miss these trains.  On the other hand the environmental side of me is happy to see the polluting plant go.  While I’m happy to jump on the bandwagon to remove the plant, the problem I see is most people don’t realize the energy generated by the plant will still have to come from somewhere.  Just because PGE closes the plant doesn’t mean the demand drops.  It will just have to be satisfied with another source.  With that in mind I really would have preferred PGE to invest in the plant to make it cleaner (and keep the trains!) but I think they were going to be in a position where any plan that kept the plant open would have brought more attention than they really wanted.  In the end PGE’s decision was probably the best for them from a public relations perspective.  I’m curious to watch and see where the replacement energy will come from.  Will it be someplace more environmentally friendly than Boardman?

A loaded Boardman coal train slogs it out with Mullan Pass

On the positive side we still have 10 more years to chase these trains.  At least theoretically we do.  My guess is the plant will not run for 10 more years.  The plant previous had mechanical issues so my feeling is once an alternate source of electricity is located if a mechanical failure occurs that will likely spell the end of Boardman Power Plant and the associated coal trains.  Get your photos while you can.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan photo, photography, PGE, boardman, coal, electricity, burn

Cement cars cross the Fallbridge Sub diamond at the “Cannery Hole”.  These diamonds will be replaced once the Port of Vancouver finishes Phase I of the port access project.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, port of vancouver washington, diamond

This morning the light was pretty typical of January in the Northwest.  The sun is still low and a high layer of clouds from an incoming storm were filtering it a bit.  As I got on the road I heard the H-EVERBAR9 (the BAR-9) finishing up some work in Vancouver’s B yard so I thought it would make excellent fodder for the light.

I met up with the train west of Eavan and found out my friend Michael “Mad Dog” Sawyer was at the throttle.  This gave me a bit more incentive to chase the train as I rarely get a chance to chase one of MD’s trains.   I was a bit repulsed by the Washington Husky hat he was sporting but got over that quickly because the light was just too nice.

West of Eavan the BAR-9 passes the rear end of an Interbay grain train changing crews at Eighth St.

After meeting the BARVAW at west Washougal, the BAR-9 storms away from the meet.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, freight, light

I’ve always been fascinated with the Soo Line though for some odd reason it feels like an exotic foreign railroad. Last time I looked at a map the upper mid-west of the U.S. is very much still within our boundaries so I’m not sure where this feeling comes from. Maybe its the fact the Soo Line was a Canadian Pacific subsidiary for most of its history?

That side note aside I ran across a non-graffitied Soo Line grain car today in Vancouver. This is of those classic 100 ton cars with the large “Soo Line” letters and a wheat stem and head. A southbound UP grain train, in which this car was entrained,  had a few bad orders to set out in the NP Pass.  This car passed by me several times during the set out.  When the air test I took a minute to capture these images as I’m certain a 29 year old grain car won’t be around forever.

Soo Line

Rubber Soled Shoes Only

Wheat

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, soo, grain, car, wheat

As 2009 wraps up I’d like to share some of my favorite railroading photographs from 2009. These photos represent a variety of experiences and viewpoints I had through the year. Comparing these to last year’s best (Deserts, Detours, and Snow), I can see some growth in my approach especially when comparing photos taken in the same locations in both years.

I can see for sure that I’ve grown tired of the 3/4 wedgie as very few of my favorites fall into that category. I think I’ve finally moved past the fact the locomotive has to be the primary subject and in perfect focus. I can see that I’ve learned to look at the whole environment that makes up railroads and I’ve really started to embrace the people the make the trains go (no, I didn’t hug Mad Dog). Those observations about my current position seem like a good launching point into 2010. So here we go…

On this last day of 2009 I’d like to wish every one a Happy New Year. I’m hoping your 2010 turns out to be what you want it to be. See you track side!

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, 2009, best, favorite

That’s right a 2,300 HP mobile refrigerator….

…as seen on the Portland & Western Hillsboro switcher on Friday when the daytime high was 32 degrees.

Technorati Tags: trains, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, “Portland & Western”, PNWR, GP39-2

Yes, its almost time to head into the mountains for a little winter railfanning.  This photo is from Robert’s and my December 2008 trip to the Blue Mountains where witnessed 18″ of snowfall in 24 hours.  This trip provided some of our best winter railfanning ever and will be hard to top though we’ll try!

Just after this photo was taken Robert and I noted that the train was really moving as it rolled down hill from Nordeen.  We stopped just around the corner to grab another photo and as the train’s rear end went by we heard it go into emergency and smelled the unmistakable odor of brake shoes.  As the train’s FRED flashed off into the darkness of the snow storm we were not sure what the fate of the train would be.   

Our engineer friend Bryan shared many stories with us about how easy it was to get a train out of control headed east out of Kamela.   Simply not setting the brakes soon enough was more than plenty to start the recipe for disaster.  He had also shared his own personal parameters as to when it is appropriate to plug it and based on us pacing the train on the adjacent road it was right at the max speed.  Robert and I both expected the worst.

As we drove down toward Motanic we were happy to find the train stopped a mile or so after going into emergency.  The train appeared to be totally intact and on the rails.   Whew, disaster averted. 

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, snow, UP, union pacific, K-Line, blue mountains, oregon, kamela, motanic.

Like in July when I watched the Daylight leave for Michigan, I chose to observe it locally rather than go on a big steam chase. The hassles of spending all day to get a couple of photos didn’t thrill me. My daughter Haley really wanted to see it in action again so the choice of staying local seemed to make more sense.

So where and how should I photograph the Daylight? I headed out along the Fallbridge sub just east of McLoughlin and set up in my favorite spot for pans. I have several hundred photos of the Daylight frozen in time, why not one of her in motion?

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, sp 4449, daylight, vancouver, washington

This past summer, our family took a roadtrip back to South Dakota to visit family. While we were there, one of our activities was to ride behind the “1880 Train” – more properly known as the Black Hills Central Railroad. It’s a tourist line running between Keystone and Hill City, South Dakota. While the train made a passenger and water stop in Hill City, I took a few photos. According to the railroad, the Black Hills Central 110 is the only articulated mallet in operation. Here’s one of my favorite shots from the trip:

Sometimes little things make your day. Today it was standing outside with Haley as this auto train crossed over to main 2 at the center. She dutifully identified the railroad on each auto rack as it passed.

“Horse”
“Gee Tee”
“Bee Nnn S efF”
“Union Pa-cific”
“outhern Pa-cific”
“Cee Nnn”

The only ones she didn’t know were Providence and Worcester and Canadian Pacific. Good stuff!

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, Union Pacific, family, Vancouver, Washington

L-MON8521 (Great Falls or “Lost” Local) passes through the center of Stanford, MT. Central Ave. in Stanford contains everything a resident needs: A grocery store, a restaurant, a deli, a hardware store, a post office, a gift shop, a barber shop, and most importantly, two bars.

This “selective” color version of the downtown Stanford photo was chosen from several different versions I worked up and presented to my review committee (Rachel, Tammy, and Carol). I hope you enjoy it.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, Stanford, Montana, downtown, BNSF

Like many of the towns in this part of Montana, Hobson is a small town of several hundred residence and contains the usual things like a small grocery store, a restaurant, and of course grain elevators! These are classic wooden elevators that haven’t seen any paint for some time so they make for a great backdrop.

Sadly I’ve passed through Hobson dozens of times on my way to other places but have never photographed there. On this trip the 9000 ton (.9 HPT) Laurel-Shelby was moving slow enough that I was able to photograph it outside of Judith Gap and make it into Hobson with enough time to set up.

M-LAUSHM at Hobson

Technorati Tags: train, photo, photography, railfan, Montana, Hobson, BNSF, big sky, grain elevator

UP’s PTFI was the third of three consecutive north bound UP trains on Sunday morning. The repo train rolled through the center first followed 15 minutes later by a short Z-LCSE which used the NP Pass track to get out of the way of Amtrak. The PTFI didn’t get the green light treatment though and had to sit at the center while Opie worked out what to do with the PTLPAS in front of them.

Signal Aspect In View

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, photo, photography, union pacific, Vancouver, Washington