by Steve Eshom on November 16, 2011
As I sit writing this post we are getting our first good winter storm of the season. Typical Northwest stuff with gusty winds and plenty of rain. The remaining leaves that are hanging on will likely be blown away by this. Oh, and my favorite part, weakened trees will now be selected by mother nature to meet their end. All of this is part of the circle of life in the Northwest.
On a warmer, drier, sunnier day in the fall of 2009 I captured an empty coal train in gorge east of Bingen. I took this photo on Day in North America 2009 and thinking about where we are today I’m amazed how coal traffic has changed. Sure coal trains still go to Centralia but in just a few short years they won’t. More trains now head north to Roberts Bank than ever before. It seems like the stream of coal is stronger than ever with even more coming down the road tomorrow. Good, bad, or ugly it means more trains.
by Steve Eshom on November 9, 2011
Fall in the Northwest still lingers on. Some trees have completely lost their leaves while others have not. In a few short weeks everything will be gone until spring. Until then we still enjoy seeing places here and there where the color is strong. At this location on the Washougal River most leaves hang on under the mild conditions near the river. At locations not protected from frost the trees look much more bleak.
With a La Niña winter ahead who knows what condition the Empire Builder will see as it passes here. Cold and snow are certainly a possibility.
by Steve Eshom on November 3, 2011
Signals for the Oregon Slough Drawbridge and North Portland Jct. indicate stop. This is one of the rare quiet moments on BNSF’s Columbia River Drawbridge in Vancouver, Wa. It seems the bridge is either closed because a train is crossing or open for river traffic. On December 21, 2010 shortly before 8PM everything is quiet ahead of an eastbound manifest and Amtrak 509.
by Steve Eshom on October 27, 2011
The past few weeks I’ve been busy with work and with helping Robert with the Autumn Leaf Slideshow. The more fun part of this time period was of course the slideshow.
This year’s Autumn Leaf was one of the best ever in terms of the content, venue, and technical set up.
Content wise we had some fabulous shows from Ted Smith-Peterson, Steve Carter, Ken Storey, Dave Honan, and many, many others. I debuted my program, Magic! also. All the programs contained some fabulous photography and in some cases one of a kind images which could not be made by anyone other than the person who took them. Dave’s program and Mike Sawyer’s program also used some creative photos and presentation techniques to make their presentations interesting. Good stuff all the way around.
The venue this year was the Fox Theater in Centralia. The theater is undergoing renovation right now and is a bit rough around the edges but the bones are there and formed a great basis for the slide show. It should be a wonderful venue moving forward. Next year Robert has some ideas about how to bring some of the photography into the lobby to facilitate more discussions and to have more of people’s work on display. Look for improvements for next year!
Technically this was one of the best set ups we’ve had at a railfan slideshow ever. Dale Skyllingstad brought professional audio gear and a brilliant projector. The sound quality was impeccable! Additionally the set up was easy to complete and literally worked on the first try. Talk about a stress free presentation! The icing on all of this was Paul Peterson’s projector calibrator. If you’ve calibrated your monitor (you have haven’t you?) you know just how much of a difference calibration can make. The 6 or 7 minutes spent letting the calibrator do its job was literally the best investment of time that we made. We did not receive one comment on the color or black level from any presenter or viewer and for me that is the best compliment. If we do the technical set up the same next year I’ll be happy.
The one area of presentation flaw (and I emphasize very minor here) is in the shows themselves. If you are planning to present next year expect that your show will be held more closely to the presenters guide than ever before. While there were no major issues with shows this year we do want to notch it up a bit more for next year so expect to see a revised presenters guide, an absolute deadline for show submission prior to the event and comments from me on adherence to the guide.
As is normal there is some photography to be had on the slideshow weekend. For me that was Sunday. I was up fairly early and took advantage of the morning fog to take a few photos before I had to head home for the day.
by Steve Eshom on October 10, 2011
The last day of our “Ghosts of the NP” tour started at Lyons on the former GN (gasp!). The light at Lyons in the morning can be wonderful and we wanted to take advantage of that. In fact an hour before the first train arrived I took advantage of the rising sun to capture an image of the track curving way from Lyons with the Coeur d’Alene mountains in the background.
After two trains at Lyons I gave the guys a tour of the Columbia River sub as we meandered west. Next we caught 2 eastbound trains in the S curve east of Bluestem and then jumped ahead to Marlin for an eastbound coal empty.
The coal empty would prove to be the last photograph of the trip. We needed to turn in the rental in Bellevue by 3:15PM so we had to continue west without significant delay.
I believe our trip was a success. We saw quite a few trains, had some good light and some not so good light, and saw some of the most beautiful scenery in the west. We found places we’d like to visit again. We found places we could care less about visiting again. We of course had a great time hanging out together including plenty of laughs and serious moments.
As regular readers of this blog know I love Montana. Leaving this time was not any easier than it ever is. The moment I get to Idaho I’m ready to return even though I haven’t seen home for week. It is a unique place and I hope the photos I’ve posted over the last weeks show that.
