Archive for the 'trip reports' Category

On Saturday April 5 I made another one day trip to BNSF’s Oregon Trunk sub hoping to again capture some of the detouring UP trains.  Unlike my previous trip this time I was bound for Madras with the focus on the South Jct. to Crooked River segment.   I knew the places I wanted to visit but I really didn’t have a plan of which one I’d hit first.  I just headed towards Madras to see what happened.

As I left Warm Springs I heard the UP 8619 N get a box 7 (after the arrival of) with the BNSF 7644 S at the North Siding Switch Paxton.  A meet!   I headed for Paxton and started off with the Z-LCBR meeting the M-VAWRRB in some decent morning glow.  At this point I was faced with a choice of which train to chase.  Given its unusual for the LCBR to be on the Trunk I chased it north.  That proved profitable since a meet was set up with the UP 5355 S  (M-EURVB) at South Jct. 

Clawing into Paxton

Between Gateway and South Jct. the route drops into the Mud Springs Creek and Trout Creek canyons.  Both of these canyons are neatly carved out of the lava rock and provide the railroad a route to gain some elevation as it climbs out of the Deschutes canyon toward Madras.  Like other parts of the Trunk this part doesn’t lack for scenery!  I think the most fascinating part is a horseshoe curve that nearly turns the train 180 degrees!  The UP 5355 S proceeded to Opal City for a meet with another northbound UP manifest (M-RVPT).

Trout Creek Horseshoe

By the time I photographed the M-RVPT passing through the horseshoe the light was about right for the traditional Trout Creek trestle photo.  Since everyone has seen that photo many times I’ll share some others from this fantastic location.  As I was standing on the hillside above the trestle waiting for the M-PASKLF, I thought to myself how little fun it would be to stand on that hill on a hot August day.  I’m thinking the spring and fall would be best for the Trunk.

Grand Canyon of the Deschutes

Trout Creek

I chased the BNSF 7622 S down to the Crooked River bridge and captured the usual side shot there.  As the day wore on more and more clouds streamed over Cascades into the high desert so by the time the photo was taken the sky and lighting were quite diffused leaving things a bit drab.

Leaving the Crooked River I heard a southbound finishing a meet at Oakbrook.  Doing the math I figured I had enough time to return to Madras, fuel, and head for South Jct.   My estimates were correct and as I arrived at South Jct. the southbound H-PASBAR was finishing a Dixon meet.  That gave me 30 minutes to scope out the area for my photo.  Man was I surprised to see the second unit in the consist!  The UP 2002 of all things on a BNSF manifest.

2002 at South Jct.

The southbound was headed for Round Butte for a meet with another northbound UP manifest (another M-RVPT).  Again doing the math I figured around a couple of hours for the northbound to arrive.  That allowed me time to enjoy dinner (yes, food at South Jct. is BYOB) and take a walk around the recreation area to scope out photo locations.  As it ended up the two spots I liked either required good light or for it to be dark enough to allow for about 20-30 second exposure.  With the streaming clouds and occasional showers it was clear that good light wasn’t going to happen so I hoped for a delay so it would be darker.  I got neither so my last photo of the day was a compromise based on the conditions.

After dark at South Jct.

That does it for my Trunk adventures for now.  I do have to say I’m hooked on this unique operation so I expect to be back again.

The nice thing about the section of the Trunk between Dike and Nena is the access.  You can easily pick up a train south of Dike and then give chase south towards Maupin.  Train speeds vary from 25-35 mph and with all the bends in the river the road often takes a shorter route.  In that stretch there is 17 miles of gravel road that is in generally good shape plus another 10 miles that is paved.  I did that with the UP 5423 south which I caught at Sinamox, the bridges and Sherar, and finally at a river access near Maupin.  The road south of Maupin is not in very good shape and 15 to 20 mph is about the max so chasing is out of the question.  The UP 5423 ran away from me on that stretch though I nearly caught when it went into a 10 mph restriction north of Nena.  With good planning though you can get a shot north of Maupin and then muddle along the road south and get one more.

The Deschutes is a popular fishing river.  Since it was a beautiful day there were several fisherman and a couple of drift boaters on the river.  I’m sure most of the time the fisherman don’t pay any attention to the trains but this one actually gave it a glance.

The Z-BRLC crosses the White River north of Maupin.  This spot is in good light all day from sun up to sun set.

Clear block!  BNSF 4171 North illuminates the rock wall at MP 45.1.

With UP’s Cascade line shut down due to the massive slide at Frazier I took an opportunity to head over to the Oregon Trunk to photograph some of the regular and detour trains.  Other than a couple of random photos at Moody and a 4449 excursion to Bend I’ve never spent much time exploring the details of the “Trunk”.  Since driving between various points can be time and gas consuming I chose to concentrate Saturday’s exploration to the segment between Dike and Nena (approximately).  This section has a public road all along it and is pretty ‘easy’ to photograph since everything is right out in the open. 

For the day I saw 7 trains!  Here’s the breakdown…

North:
2 UP
1 BNSF

South:
2 UP
2 BNSF

Over the next week or so I’ll post some of the photos as I have time to post process them.  For now here’s a couple that really reflect on the area.

Just after sunrise in the canyon, UP’s Z-LCBR winds its way north at the confluence of the White River and the Deschutes.
Mt. Hood looms above.

The Oregon Trunk between OT Jct. and Gateway traverses canyons formed by the Deschutes, Trout Creek, and Mud Springs Creek.  These rivers have cut their way though the rock giving the railroad a pre-made path from the Columbia to Central Oregon.  UP’s Q-PWRV takes advantage of this as it winds along the Deschutes 3 miles north of Sherar.

Last week on my way home from my weekly tour of Vancouver railfan hangouts I noticed the Vancouver Land Bridge was open and folks were wandering all around it.   I’ve been watching this project and keeping an eye out for how it might be used to see to never before photographed areas of the Fallbridge sub. 

Before I dive into the trains, what the heck is the land bridge all about?  The Vancouver Land Bridge is “a 40-foot wide, earth covered arch over Washington State Highway 14 providing pedestrians, bicyclists and non-motorized vehicles with scenic vistas and safe passage from the Vancouver National Historic Reserve to the Columbia River waterfront”.   Unfortunately the berm that the railroad rides on from Eighth Street to east of Eavan cuts off the bulk of eastern downtown from the Columbia River water front.  The land bridge combined with the existing underpass for Old Apple Tree Park are one of the many steps planned to break down this barrier and reconnect Vancouver with the Columbia.   

What is the Vancouver Land Bridge?

When I arrived at the park this morning two trains were imminent, Amtrak 27 and an eastbound Tacoma stack train.  I expected 27 to be the full 7/27 consist today so shooting it from the land bridge seemed like a good plan to get all or most all of the train in the photo.  I climbed up the bridge to the “River” rotunda and scoped out the situation.  The views are quite good from here though since the land bridge is on the north side of the tracks caution will have to be used with the lighting.  In the summers when the sun rises and sets quite far north I’m expecting early morning and late evening photos will be fairly decent.  The tracks are on a WNW-ESE orientation so only time will tell how this will work out.  I did laugh to myself when I thought about 200 railfans lining the fence the next time the 4449 heads east! 

Amtrak 27 has a full 7/27 consist thanks to the snow in the Cascades

With 27 by the S TCPLPC departed Vancouver and headed for the land bridge.  With eastbound trains you can incorporate parts of the bridge to give a context to the scene.  For the first photo of the stacker I included the curvy walkway along with some folks getting some exercise.   The fence along the track side is easily photographed over even for the most “height challenged” railfans. 

S TCPLPC passes the Vancouver Land Bridge

For the railfan purist there are other views of eastbounds including this unobstructed view from the “River” rotunda.

S TCPLPC departs Vancouver with the iconic I-5 bridge as a backdrop

The land bridge is adorned with signage to help the visitor to Vancouver’s National Historic Reserve understand the significant history of this area.  All sorts of topics are covered including transportation.  Though I have to say I think the transportation sign missed a significant use of the Columbia River that is…well…right under its nose. 

This sign celebrates the Columbia River as transportation corridor though some
obvious usages of the river canyon are left out despite their relative closeness.

As a link between Vancouver and the River the land bridge gets high marks.  It seems folks are using it since in the hour I was there 15 or 20 people passed by.  It is very comfortable with wide open spaces and natural, small to moderate landscaping.  Other than the constant noise from SR-14 the user can barely tell it is present thanks to careful visual obstruction.  As a railfan location its not bad though, like I warned above, the lighting won’t be great through 90% of clear summer days.  Cloudy days where the lighting is more diffused will prove to be the best use of this spot.   There are still some hidden gems (in fact there is a sign dedicated to one of the gems) here though.   In the end I think we have us a $12.25 million dollar railfanning platform to enjoy!

(Note: Another fan group, airplane fans, will enjoy the “Land” rotunda thanks to it proximity to Pearson Airfield)

As I mentioned in my November post I participated in DINA 2007 by visiting UP’s Brooklyn Sub.  I have posted several additional photos from the day into my gallery including “Station Stop Salem” which was published in the DINA issue.   Of course these images have a bit of a story a true Northwest railfan can appreciate.

My visit to Oregon City (Train Time at Oregon City) was probably not what most people would call fun.  It was raining.  No, not the annoying mist kind of rain, the heavy downpour kind.  Ugg.  To get a decent photo of the elevated platform the photographer has to be elevated also.  For me this meant getting onto the roof of my vehicle.   I successfully set up the tripod and took a few test shots without getting overly wet.  Once I was back in the relative dryness of my vehicle, I calculated that when I heard a horn as the train blew through downtown I could climb up and minimize my time in the rain.   When I heard horns I started the process.  In the 3 minutes the train took to get from downtown to the depot I was soaked.  Since I was committed I didn’t give up and as the train pulled in I fired away just as planned.  I returned to my vehicle completely soaked but pleased because I got the shot.  In the end I think it is my favorite photo from the day. 

Just after I left Oregon City I heard the detector south of Hito go off.  I knew I had another northbound but didn’t have a great plan of where to shoot it at.  I really wanted to shoot something on the new Pudding River bridge but there was no way I was going to get there ahead of the train.  Instead I took a few minutes to scout around Coalca and came up with “Fall In The Northwest“.  It was taken at 8:15am on a rainy October 20…so how dark was it?  Take a look at the EXIF and you’ll see quickly just how dark it was.  The outcome though was far better than I expected and it ended up being my second favorite photo of the day.

Not long after Coalca I dried out (heat on hot, fans on high) and fortunately as the day wore on the rain turned to showers.  By the time I captured #11 exiting the trees at Shedd (below) the rain stopped altogether ending a good day of railfanning.

Rarely do I say too much about railroad operations in a public forum but today is an exception. I’m sure you are all thinking the worst since this is a post about the UP. Before you go there read on.

On Friday a westbound grain train left LaGrande with a 3X5 configuration (3 on, 5 in) and not long after leaving Hilgard stalled. This time of the year a stall on the hill with the usual power is not uncommon according to those that operate there regularly. They say it takes a couple of snow storms and cold weather before the UP remembers to have a manned helper around just in case something like this happens. After the 4022 west contacted the dispatcher about the stall it was around two minutes when the dispatcher came back with explicit and concrete directions on what to do. Two minutes? The UP responded to a situation like this in two minutes? Steve, you’re nuts, no way. Way.

The train was instructed to get the conductor on the rear end and back down between switches at Hilgard to await the arrival of a manned helper. After safely backing the train to Hilgard the train crew once again contacted the dispatcher to let him know they were stopped. At this point the dispatcher informed them a crew van was on its way from Hinkle to pick them up and a fresh crew from LaGrande would be put on along with a helper. What, the crew wasn’t going to continue west and risk dying on the road? What foresight on the part of the UP! As someone who analyzes business process for a living I was impressed with the quick and reasonably smart decision making on the part the UP. Instead of letting the crew continue, only to reach their hours of service in the middle of the canyon (Camp, Huron, Bonifer), they relieved them and set the next crew up to be successful in getting the train to Hinkle under the law. To me that is somewhat unusual these days. [Note: Some would argue the helpers should have been called and on the train to begin with. I suppose, but weighing the cost of a crew and locomotive fuel and the fact the weather was good at the time the likelihood of that occurring was not high.]

Now that I’ve said that….on Friday 12/7 Robert, Richard, and I left LaGrande around 6am and worked our way west over Kamela summit towards Hinkle We spent most of the morning photographing near the summit but it was clear our crush of trains was drying up. We continued west until we ran into the first eastbound just east of Echo. The PDG1 met a couple of eastbounds that we’d already photographed west of Gibbon so we decided head back up the hill to continue chasing it east. In nearly the last light of the day we shot it for the last time between Hilgard and Perry at one of the most interesting locations in the Blues.

PDG1’s Wild Ride

After driving up and down the road between Glover and Kamela we became very familiar with the various nooks and crannies where a person could stick their camera and grab a photo. I liked this location so I separated from the group to get this photo of an eastbound stack train between Nordeen and West Motanic. This train’s crew must’ve been bored because they spent a bit of time with the whistle after they spotted me set up on the road.

Descending Quietly

Steve wanted to shoot from the old highway bridge at Glover and since I’d already sampled that location a couple of times I decided to camp out underneath for something different. I guess since this train is dubbed the Super Fruit was fitting it have some clean power leading. Nothing like putting the best on one of the hottest trains on the railroad!

Super Fruit!

…ahhh, winter in the Blues!

Many people get “the blues” in the winter. This year I got the blues too….more specifically Oregon’s Blue Mountains.

I just returned from a three day railfan adventure along the Union Pacific in eastern Oregon where Robert, Richard, Steve and I photographed whatever UP threw at us in various weather conditions ranging from sun to snow and ice. It was a fabulous trip that not only included plenty of trains and great photos but a bit hijinks to spice it up.

Mother nature cooperated with a nice a 6″ dumping of snow Thursday night followed by some cold temperatures that held the snow in place for the weekend. Sunday morning’s 8 degree temperature at Kamela marked the lowest temperature of the trip but the 30 mph wind with a 30 degree temperature at North Powder felt much colder! Either one of them is colder than I’m used to so I’m still working on warming up.

The grade between La Grande and Kamela summit is lined with various conifers and they were loaded with snow! In this first photo a westbound manifest crawls upgrade between Motanic and Nordeen through one of the rare straight sections. For the most part railroad operations didn’t have much trouble with the weather save for one stall and a switch heater or two that malfunctioned. Both were easily overcome with manned helpers and a signal maintainer.

Winter At Motanic

East of La Grande there are few trees and the amount of snow deposit was much less. The winds out there kept things interesting with frequent snow drifts over the road. Just like on the west end things moved smoothly except for a couple of stalls and some switch heater issues. In this photo an eastbound Z train stops at the Pleasant Valley to await the arrival of an uphill manifest.

Meet at Pleasant Valley

Look for more coming soon…

The last installment about my 7 day railfan adventure around the desert…

Day 6 - After a lengthy but beautiful drive from Tucson north to Kingman we headed out for the western Seligman and Needles subs. Ok, you’ll have to sit down for this one, but we were semi-skunked at Kingman around sunrise. Yes, that’s right, the transcon failed to produce a train at the exactly the right time. It was Monday, so I guess we get what we get. So much for the beautiful sunrise shot at Kingman.

We spent most of the mid day hours at Klinefelter enjoying the various curves and rock cuts. We headed west following the H-KCKBAR9 which turned out to be quite the joyful encounter! After photographing it we landed at Ludlow for some of the last light of the day where I captured the Z-WSPNBY8 ripping around the curve in the setting sun.

Desert Sunset

Day 7 - We spent the night in Barstow and headed out in the morning for a West Daggett sunrise. Just like always this spot never fails for a fabulously orange desert sunrise. This time the V-SBDMGO3 provided the subject.

Desert Sunrise

Next we headed for Basin at the east end of Afton canyon. This place is raw and at spots the railroad appears to live on a limited lease. It seems like a torrent of water could wash down this canyon and wipe out 100 years of railroading history in a few moments. Fortunately it was far too hot and dry for that on our visit so we just enjoyed a day of normal operations on the Cima Sub.

K-Line Exits Afton

After a few trains at Basin the Cima sub cooled off. We started making our way to Las Vegas for the rendezvous with our flight home. We took the ‘long way’ following the railroad over the summit hoping to catch something. Along the way we made a stop at the fantastic Kelso, CA depot to wrap up our adventure.

Kelso

So ends my trip of good light…may there be good light in your future!

Part III of my 7 day railfan adventure around the desert…

Day 4 - Leaving Flagstaff we followed BNSF’s Phoenix sub south to the the big city. First though we stopped off at Maine to wait for a train headed down the Phoenix line and to enjoy the incredible lighting around sunrise as demonstrated by this westbound Z train.

A Z train is illuminated by the raising sun at Maine, AZ

Leaving our southbound at Congress we could see thunderstorms building off to the south and west of Phoenix. Yes, this should be good! Listening on NOAA weather radio we determined the storms had turned severe and flash flood warnings were up. As we arrived in Buckeye the gust front of one of the storms passed over us so we decided to wait it out in the parking lot of Subway. We parked the vehicles facing into the storm so we wouldn’t miss any action!

The storms passed to the north so we headed south for Gila Bend. Once we joined the UP there we headed east and followed a vehicle train climbing up the hill to Shawmut. With the sun starting to come out following a storm the I-LBEW-14 crawls towards Estrella.

Crawling Up to Estrella

We timed our arrival on the Sunset line just right because it seemed we were in the midst of quite the crush of trains. With the back end of the storms still overhead and the sun popping out underneath, the lighting turned out to be spectacular! I captured the I-MNLB-13 at Enid with a rainbow from one of the storms.

A rainy day in the desert

The last train of day 4 was the I-LBEY-14 which passed as the illuminated the bottom side of the clouds. I’m glad we stuck around at Enid for this last opportunity!

The end of the day

Day 5 - After an over night in Tucson we headed east so I could show the guys Cienega Creek, the Mescal summit, Benson, Dragoon summit and Cochise. Just after sunrise the I-LBNO-14 winds its way up Cienega Creek. I noticed on this trip that the village of Vail seems to be growing further up into the canyon.

Snaking up Cienega Creek

Part II of my 7 day railfan adventure around the desert…

Day 3 - After an overnight in Flagstaff we headed east of town for the morning. This area of high desert is a spectacular mix of desert like shrubs and small trees with the added bonus of great backdrops made up of the mountains of the Arizona divide.

The S-LHGCLO1-13A glides down grade toward Canyon Diablo below the Sunset Crater of the Arizona Divide

After a morning east of Flagstaff we high tailed it over to Williams to chase the Grand Canyon Railway’s morning trip to the rim. Half the group had never visited the canyon before so we decided a trip into the park was in order. This was my first visit and I do have to say it is one of the most breath taking sights.

During the mid afternoon it looked as if we might get our first thunderstorm as clouds were building all around. Unfortunately nothing was very well organized so as sunset approached the clouds dissipated. Certainly nothing as interesting as we experienced the next day.

A Trip to the Edge

Leaving the canyon we headed for an afternoon at West Eagle Nest on the transcon. The S curve here is wonderful and offers the photographer many opportunities. BNSF delivered us 6 west and 2 east in just two hours and because of the diversity of this location I shot all of them from a different spot!

One of the few manifests transcon, (H-ALTBAR1-11A) lead by a pair of former Santa Fe Dash-9s, roars upgrade at West Eagle Nest.

Last month I visited Nevada, Arizona, and California on a 7 day railfan adventure around the desert. I travelled this year with a contingent of friends from the Northwest and Colorado including Robert Scott, Michael “Mad Dog” Sawyer, Greg Wierich, Brian Vancamp, and Drew Mitchem. As usual with the desert southwest the weather was generally warm and dry while in some places it was down right hot! I said generally dry because during a two day stretch we encountered a severe thunderstorm and many scattered storms. No problem because those only added to the interesting lighting conditions!

Over the next few days I plan to post some of the more interesting photos I captured that demonstrate the good light we experienced. Some times mother nature smiles on you…

Day 1 - Meadow Valley wash - After arrival in Las Vegas we made the trek east of town to the Meadow Valley wash. After arriving in Eligin we saw a couple of trains but unfortunately the sun set about 15 minutes before the one that would have been in ‘good light’. Luck was not on our side for that one.

Day 2 - Kingman and Crozier Canyons, Seligman Sub, Williams - Sun up in the desert is one of the most pleasant times. As soon as the sun hits you the cool of the night is chased away almost immediately. As we waited for a flurry of trains in the Kingman Canyon that early morning light warmed us and lit the trains nicely.

An empty X-BARBCY grinds up Kingman Canyon just after sunrise

When we arrived in Williams the haze from controlled burns filled the sky. No matter, it only made the setting sun on the Grand Canyon Railway more interesting.

Grand Canyon Railway’s F40 239 rests while the train crew off loads guests at the Williams depot.

As promised!

Just for some context, I work 4 10 hr days on my current job I’m wrapping up. This last week I went on site, which is in Tacoma, but stayed in Seattle and utilized the reverse commute Sounder Train to get to and from work.

I stayed at a hotel close to the King Street Station called Pioneer Hotel (owned by Best Western, but it is a nice boutique style hotel built in 1914). From there I’d rise in the morning and walk the dozen blocks to King Street Station. Once I arrived in Tacoma I’d take the streetcar to downtown Tacoma where I’d go to work. Transit rocks, and definitely commuter rail!

For a point by point of all the commuting rail action, just select the direction and trip below.

Day 1 - Monday 24th

• A Week of Sounder Commuting
• Cascades #1008

Day 2 - Tuesday 25th

• Sounder #1501 - Trip One on Tuesday
• Sounder #1510 - Tuesday North Bound
• Sounder #1510 Becomes Express #594

Day 3 - Wednesday 26th

• Sounder #1501 - Wednesday’s Trip Number One
• Sounder #1510 North Bound for the First Time

Day 4 - Thursday 27th

• Sounder #1501 - Thursday Morning’s Declining Exuberance
• Sounder #1510 - Thursday North Bound

Day 5 - Friday 28th

• Cascades #1001 - Departing to Tacoma

First off, the cool stuff about Port of Tacoma.

The Port of Tacoma is working on, as one of the port workers informed us today, to become the second largest port in the United States. It seems there is a lot left for this to be done, but I think they could get there with continued efforts.

The tour was really cool riding along in smooth comfort on port Amtrak coach cars through the port. There where announcers in each car, and additionally what was obviously some port workers in each car too, touring their own port. While aboard we left the Tacoma Rail yard and weaved through and across streets, viewing the primary waterway and the huge cranes that lift the cargo containers off of the ships. Interesting factoid, the Port of Tacoma moves over 2 million 20ft equivalent cargo containers per year. 70% of that is moved out of port by rail.

Second Topic, Tacoma Rail.

Tacoma Rail itself was also an interesting exhibit itself. We where able to walk freely through a diesel engine, in through a maintenance warehouse, and they also had a Lionel train set on display.

The real kicker started when we where able to board the touring train. The passenger coach cars where in great shape. As mentioned earlier they are ex-Amtrak cars which obviously are either fixed up or barely used. The tour of course went off well.

I’ve returned home tonight after the tour and dug up some interesting information about the Tacoma Rail System.

• 204 miles of track.
• 100,000 line hauls per year.
• Infrastructure has recently been upgraded in the last decade for dozens and dozens of additional track mileage.
• For a break down of their three divisions; Tidelands, Mountain, and Capitol check out their maps page which is marked up via Google Maps.

I came home with a fun trip, good information, and a better understanding of port operations.

Last weekend several folks were out railfanning the Scenic and Columbia River Subdivisions and I joined them. This was my first time to the Columbia River sub (other than as an Amtrak passenger) and my first time to railfan the Scenic sub when there wasn’t snow on the ground.

Amtrak’s Empire Builder heading downgrade near Trinidad

The Everett to Spokane daily manifest works hard climbing the hill approaching Quincy

A westbound Z train pulls uphill through the “slot” near Cascade Meadows

For more photos of the event, check out the photo thread over at RailroadForums.

While I was perusing the Judith Basin County museum in Stanford, MT I ran across this photo of a modern ‘grain train’ next to the elevator in town. Since the elevator is under construction and the fact the modern Stanford town site was created around railroad I’m presuming this ‘grain train’ was pictured in the teens when the GN built the line through town. Who says the unit grain train was a creation of the 1970s?

Steam Powered Grain Train at Stanford, MT

One of the most common scenes along the railroad in this part of Montana is the grain elevator. At one time every little town had one and the funny thing is most still exist despite thier replacement by more modern facilities. With the lack of trees in these parts it certainly makes locating the railroad easy as you can stand on any high point and look for the line of elevators. They of course make a great backdrop for modern day railroad photos.

There are four elevators in Stanford. Three are clustered together near ‘downtown’ and another modern facility, capable of loading 110 car trains, is located north of town along with a seed facility. They are certainly the epitome of old and new.

Old Stanford Elevator

New Stanford Elevator and Square Butte

At Moccasin, MT (20 miles south) another modern elevator exists and has a loop for loading full grain trains. On Thursday an empty was delivered there and was partially loaded during the day Friday. This facility sits adjacent to the Central Montana RR interchange.

New Moccasin Elevator

On Saturday we made the two hour trek to Conrad, MT so my mother-in-law could teach a painting class. I took advantage of the trip to see the Great Falls sub. Up there the scheduling is a bit different as the M-LAUSWE leaves Great Falls early in the morning and the M-SWELAU arrives Great Falls sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Our timing was good and not so good. I was able to capture the M-LAUSWE north of Conrad, but unfortunately I missed it crossing the two trestles over Muddy Creek and the Teton River at Collins. Something for next time I guess.

Elevators at Ledger, MT

Sadly this is my final day in Stanford. Look for more photos from this trip here and in my gallery.

Thursday’s family expedition was a trip to Malta, MT to see a local museum that contained several dinosaur skeletons. That was of course quite interesting. To top it off the museum was right across the street from the Hi-Line so I was able to capture a couple of the trains whipping through town. In this first photo an eastbound stack train passes underneath Malta’s version of the ubiquitous grain elevator. I’m not sure if the banner on the leftmost elevator (Break The Habit) was pointed at railfans or potential drug users?

Break The Habit

East of Malta is the Bowdoin Wildlife Refuge which includes a 15 mile driving tour around the refuge. We spent nearly an hour and a half viewing wildlife in this fantastic location. Wouldn’t you know it, but the railroad cuts through the southern third of it. During the time we were there Amtak 7 and 8 passed along with an eastbound Z and the Z-CHCPTL (hey a piece of home in MT). I chose to capture the eastbound Z at one of the rural crossings in the refuge. If you like wildlife and trains, this place has it all and it is priced just right for the railfan (free!).

Bowdoin Crossing

As I’ve mentioned in my two previous posts there are two regular trains on the Laurel Sub. Last night the sky was clear which made for great sun and allowed me to get some nicely lit photos of the M-LAUSWE from Judith Gap up to Stanford. The daily M-SWELAU didn’t arrive in Stanford until after dark (sort of) however.

Depending on where you stand in the Judith Basin you can see for miles. In this first photo from Moccasin, MT the Big Snowy Mountains providing the backdrop are around 18 miles away! The town of Moore, MT is just out of the photo to the left and is 20 miles away by rail (via Sipple). What a view!

Moccasin and the Big Snowys

In this photo taken at 10pm shows the M-SWELAU rolling through Stanford. I know it doesn’t get dark very early in Vancouver in the summer, but here in Big Sky Country it seems twilight lasts for hours. It was still light enough out that I could work the camera without any additional light.

Montana Elevator Co. - Stanford

That covers the regulars, now to the local. Today the ‘local’ was a Moore turn out of Great Falls. The train consisted of 5 geeps and 52 empty grain cars for the elevator at Moore. Moore is located on the Lewistown sub about 7 miles east of the junction at Sipple, MT. For all of you history buffs, here’s a question. Who was the original owner of the line segment BNSF calls the Lewistown Sub? BN doesn’t count because it is too obvious. If you know, post a comment.

In this photo of the local the southbound local is crossing the Judith River at Hobson with the Little Belt Mountains providing the backdrop. The scenery never stops here!

Moore Turn at The Judith River

On the radio yesterday morning a welder recieved track and time to do a weld north of Stanford. As typical he asked the dispatcher how much time he’d have. The DS told him “oh, until 17:00″. That pretty much sums up the trains that passed through town during the day!

Around 19:00 things started hopping. First a northbound from Laurel rolled through. In this first photo I captured it just south of Stanford as the herd was ‘moooving’ back to the feeding area.

Moooving. The M-LAUSWE crosses Skull Creek south of Stanford.

At 19:20 a southbound arrived and picked up 3 ballast cars that were then going to be set out 7 miles away. Needless to say the crew wasn’t too happy. I choose to chase the northbound because the lighting would be more appropriate. I shot it several times north of Stanford including at the west portal of the Wayne tunnel.

Exiting the Wayne Tunnel, the M-LAUSWE is just a few minutes from Great Falls.

Over the past two days my family and I have trekked east from Vancouver to my mother-in-law’s home in Stanford, MT. What do Stanford and trains have in common? BNSF’s Laurel subdivision. The Laurel sub is the is ex-GN line that runs roughly northwest from Laurel, MT (Mossmain for the NP fans) to Great Falls. The Great Falls sub then continues north to Shelby and the Hi-Line. The area around here is on the down slope of the Rockies and is primarily rolling hills covered with grass. The railroad climbs in and out of various rivers canyons, crosses many trestles, and includes 5 tunnels!

On our arrival here today I heard the BNSF 7923 get a track warrant from Great Falls to the south switch Judith Gap. Doing some estimating I figured the M-GRFLAU into Stanford around 6pm. After eating I dashed out to the grain elevators north of town and caught the train in mixed light.

Stanford Elevator

I drove south towards Hobson partially to scout and partially to get out from under a thunderstorm forming west of Stanford. In this photo the train is descending from Moccasin (junction with the Central Montana) to the crossing of the Judith River at Hobson.

Hobson

On my return to Stanford the Montana Branch dispatcher passed on a tornado watch to the train from MP 95 to MP 45. It certainly turned into quite the storm.

Severe Storm

Look for more from Stanford throughout the week….