Trains Magazine published a news item today on the Broadview sub. According to the article coal should start shipping from the mine next week! Wish I could be there.

Here’s a couple of other interesting facts that I did not know from the Trains news wire. The first is about the station of Walter which is the junction with the Laurel sub….

BNSF and Montana local and state government officials dedicated the station in honor of Great Falls resident Walter Breuning, the world’s oldest living man at 112 and a retired railroader who worked for the Great Northern Railroad and its successor companies for 50 years. His namesake junction, called Walter, is located south of Broadview, Mont.

Bravo!

How many trains will this line see?

Within two years, Signal Peak (formerly known as Bull Mountain) is expected to produce more than 12 million tons annually, or three to four trains daily.

I’m looking forward to next year’s visit and I’m hoping the train count is as expected.

[tags] train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, Signal Peak, Broadview, Montana, coal [/train]

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

Railroad business is down and this isn’t a surprise to anyone who follows our economy. My next statement won’t surprise you either. Business is down in Central Montana too. Last year at this time BNSF ran daily trains between Sweet Grass, MT and Laurel, MT. This year they are no longer daily and only go as far as Shelby, MT with a local handling the CP interchange to Sweet Grass.

M-LAUSHM, the lone through train on Thursday, crosses Otter Creek near Armington.

Looking at things from a manager perspective fewer trains and different management of power at Shelby probably are more “efficient” for the bottom line. In a tough economy, that’s what you have to do. These changes do mean delays to freight though as cars can sit at Laurel, Shelby, or Sweet Grass for an extra day before being moved to the opposite end of the line for delivery. A calculated decision I’m sure.

The lone through train on Friday, the M-SHMLAU, passes the unused elevator at Windham.

In addition to the reduced traffic cars are stored everywhere. In the back tracks at Armington, Geyser, and Stanford are enough 1970s steel coal cars to make a full coal train. Down at Cushman the passing siding is full of TOFC flats. The Lewistown Sub, which has traditionally been storage, is packed. The most telling sign of our economy is the 120+ aluminum coal hoppers stored on the Central Montana at Moccasin. Modern cars that were part of the constant growth of Powder River basin coal shipping are now just sitting.

Got coal train? Stored coal hoppers at Stanford.

Economic doom and gloom aside there are some positives. Despite being less than daily the trains are running longer than last year which means there is still business. Farming around Central Montana appears on the outside like it did a year ago. The wheat is ripe and being harvested, the cattle are every where and are being shipped for processing, and the grass is green and being cut for winter feed. The Great Falls local pulled a cut of 50+ stored boxcars off the Lewistown sub Thursday an whether they are headed back to service or for scrap it means something good for someone.

Healing the economy will most likely take some time so hopefully by next year’s visit operations around here will be back to normal.

The Shelby-Laurel train approaching Judith Gap.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, Central Montana, economy, farming, Armington, Stanford, Geyser, Judith Gap, Montana

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

Never heard of it? You are not alone…

BNSF’s Broadview sub is a new spur into the Bull Mountain mine north west of Billings, MT. The spur was recently constructed as part of an overall upgrade to the Bull Mountain facilities. The line is 35 miles long and leaves BNSF’s Laurel subdivision at a new station called Walter about 2 miles south of little town of Broadview.

South Siding Switch Walter

While exploring the south end of the Laurel sub yesterday I took some time between trains to drive out to the mine and see what a brand new railroad looks like. As you might guess any railroad that will see coal trains will be built ruggedly and this is no exception. There are quite a few grade crossings but there are also a few overpasses and underpasses where the terrain dictates.

Broadview as seen from the overpass at MP 8.8

My goal for this visit was to take some pictures for myself of the completed line. Then a funny thing happened. The Montana branch dispatcher called the BNSF 5214 and asked what time they’d be back to the mainline at Walter. During this discussion it was revealed that the 5214 was leading a geometry train up the branch. I couldn’t believe it, all of my photos wouldn’t be sans trains!

S curve south of the Majerus Rd. overpass

The Broadview sub is easily accessible for the railfan thanks to parallel roads. Some of the roads follow a grid pattern so chasing may be a bit challenging though. Yesterday it helped that the geo train was moving slowly so I could easily leap frog and get to the next location ahead of it. I’m not sure what the final speed on the branch will be, but if its any faster than 25 mph keeping up with a train on the gravel roads will be tough. To see the line for yourself leave MT 3 at 21 Mile Rd. in Broadview. This road takes you to MP 11. Next turn north on Cushman Rd/Gooding Creek Rd then right on Majerus Rd for the rest of the line to US 87.

Crossing the valley at MP 11

I don’t know that I’ve heard a schedule for running the first train out to the mine but from the looks of it the railroad is ready. Chatting with a local yesterday he told me that the geometry train was the first thing other than ballast and rail trains he’d seen. Once the trains start to roll its likely many of us will hear much more about the scenic Broadview sub.

Almost back to the mainline at MP 6

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, bnsf, montana, broadview, bull mountain, coal, mine

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

If photography is prohibited on an Amtrak platform without a ticket is chimping also? Names, dates, and locations to remain private to protect the innocent.

Chimping on the Platform

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, Amtrak, platform, photo policy

One of the most abused and little loved locomotives on the roster is the switch engine. Yard goats are usually grungy and carry the evidence of the constant work demanded of them. To add further insult to injury railfans tend to ignore them since they don’t carry the flashiest paint jobs and are usually well hidden in the confines of the yard.

UPY 1300 works the south end of Lake Yard

Then there are the railroaders that work the yard. What job could be more difficult and dangerous than working the ground in a yard with close clearance between the tracks and equipment constantly moving? I respect those that do it safely and efficiently every day as they are a breed apart from those of us that man a desk everyday.

“Kick’em 1300″

So here’s to the yard goat and all the railroaders that work with them…

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, photo, photography, Union Pacific, Lake Yard, Oregon, Portland, switch engine, UP

Lining out at the south end of the NP Pass

Returning to your home turf after a refreshing vacation can spark all sorts of creativity. For me I look at things with a whole different view point and desire after I’m away. Before I headed to Stevens Pass last week I had almost no desire to get out of my vehicle (it is comfortable after all) and make some photographs happen. Thanks to last week’s vacation the juices were flowing and the motivation was on this week. I hope this euphoria continues for a few more weeks until my next vacation!

A late Amtrak 500 crosses the Columbia River Drawbridge

Directions

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, photo, photography, bnsf, amtrak, vancouver, washington

As I mentioned last week I made a visit to Stevens Pass and Trinidad Hill over the weekend. The weather was expected to be hot but turned out to be cooler than expected with highs barely reaching 90 at Wenatchee. Saturday dawned with thunderstorms east of the hill which persisted throughout the entire day. Not all was lost though as one small thunder-bumper near Plain helped me produce one of my favorite images of the trip.

The Rain on Plain

The sun did pop out from time to time making for some interesting photos like the photo below.

These poor guys were really screwed by the dispatcher. She called and asked them if they could get the train started at Berne to which they replied “yes!”. Instead of maintaining track speed up the east side she stopped them on the main at Merritt. They waited for over an hour while an eastbound Z passed through the tunnel and down the hill. Upon meeting the chit chat between the trains resulted in the agreement that there was plenty of time for a Scenic meet and a flush which would have resulted in a more efficient meet. All that said, this photo would not have been possible without that delay.

Out of the Slot and into the sun

I posted some additional photos along with the group at railroadforums.com.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, BNSF, Stevens Pass, Wentachee River, Nason Creek

I’m headed northeast this weekend for some time on the Scenic and Columbia River subdivisions. It should be fun as usual and the weather should be…well…hot. Hey, should I expect anything different in Wenatchee in July?

S-SEALPC climbs around the Trinidad loop in 2007

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, wenatchee, quincy, trinidad, washington, bnsf, intermodal

One part of me would have loved to spend the last week chasing the Daylight to Minneapolis. In this case the economic side won out over the railfan side and I settled for a few pictures around Portland and Vancouver. Here’s some of my favorites.

Prep Work

A quiet moment

On the road…at last

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, daylight, sp4449, stream

As I alluded to in this post I spent on time on Pengra Pass a couple of weeks ago. Pengra is one of my favorites places thanks to the long mountain grade, interesting scenery, and heavy tonnage. In addition to the usual photographs I tried to capture some additional photos to portray the essence of the pass. My hope is to combine all these photos into a segment of program for this fall’s Autumn Leaf slide show.

Read more about my Pengra visit: Summer Solstice on Pengra Pass

Pengra at its best, lush forests and lumber laden trains

After Pengra Pass I headed north for Stampede Pass. Stampede has always been a sentimental favorite for me because of my childhood love for the NP. Growing up I spent quite a bit of time studying the history of the pass so it became one my first efforts as a railfan. I visited in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1984, 2006, and of course 2009. In 1977 the pass was closed due to the Borup washout and in 1978 I just didn’t see anything. In 1979 I saw my first train on the pass at old Stampede. In 1984 the pass was closed again, this time due to BN wanting to be rid of it. Of course 2006, and 2009 were much busier!

Like most railfans I can see the potential in Stampede Pass and I hold out hope that all the rumors at some point come true and Stampede traffic steps up. In the mean time I still visit because Stampede still has its charm and there are plenty of great photos to be made there. Look for more on Stampede this fall at the Autumn Leaf slide show.

Read more about my Stampede visit: Relaxing on Stampede

Since 1913

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, pengra, stampede, pass

I returned home from vacation to find Kodak decided to stop production of Kodachrome slide film. This is no surprise as clearly the demand for most film products has dropped significantly with the digital age and the fact producing Kodachrome is complex.

Being I’m over 40 years old I grew up in the era when the little yellow boxes were everywhere and Paul Simon’s hit “Kodachrome” played on the radio. In the 70s camera’s, even SLRs, were fairly simple and getting the best quality film was your first step to success after good glass. The film of choice? Kodachrome of course.

What’s the attraction for railfans? Kodachrome had vibrant colors and the slides lasted darn near forever. Both of these features helped to solidify it as the film of choice in the hobby. Being one who always wanted something better I jumped to Kodachrome and used it exclusively once I saw what print film did in my SLR.

I moved over to Kodachrome 64 slide film in 1988. My first K64 photo was Amtrak 7 entering the east portal of the Cascade tunnel on June 7, 1988. Over the next 4+ years I shot K64 and K200 in the Northwest and in Michigan finally finishing my Kodachrome run on July 24, 1992 with a Central Michigan B23-7 stopped at signal 2D at Durand.

Why did I stop shooting Kodachrome and film in general? Over the next 3 years my life changed dramatically with a move from Michigan back to the Northwest and the birth of my first child. Moreover I became increasingly frustrated with the whole film process (shoot today, mail tomorrow, results back to you in two weeks) and the limited capability to improve the image in any way without dark room equipment. I desperately wanted something more flexible than what Kodachrome and film in general offered.

Despite my feelings about its post production limits Kodachrome was magical. Yes, the colors were vibrant and accurate and capturing a good sky (quite important to railfans) was easy. I’m proud to say I used it and I still occasionally sing Mr. Simon’s song when I look out and see a deep blue sky with puffy white clouds. So with fond memories of railfan adventures with Kodachrome in the camera I say so long Kodachrome….and everything looks worse in black and white.

Addendum: While researching the Kodachrome song for this post I found several interesting interpretations of the lyrics. The funniest is that the song is actually about LSD. Apparently replacing the word Kodachrome with LSD throughout works just fine. I wouldn’t know.

The popular belief is the song was originally written to fly in the face of those that didn’t believe artists should include commercial references in their songs. Clearly with its repeated mentions of Kodachrome and Nikon this song archives that. Apparently there were several songs at the time that had commercial references in them and were banned from the radio for a time.

Another interpretation is that Paul was just reminiscing about about the good old days of the 50’s and 60’s when color photography really came into its own. Anyway you look at it, the song is great and really memorializes a great product from Kodak.

Stay tuned, the light at the end of the tunnel might just be a train!

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, track, tunnel, light

As Lon mentioned in a reply to my post last week the BNSF 9316 was pulled off the empty Rawhide coal train at Vancouver due to flat spots. This left me with a hole in my coal train monitoring for the week.

Running an hour and a half behind the C-RHMCEC coal train last week was a C-SCMCEC (Spring Creek Mine) load. The Spring Creek train was lead by an ES44AC BNSF 5892. When I arrived at the depot Sunday morning I heard the BNSF 5892 announce its arrival at Felida so this gives me another week where I can post stats on the Centralia coal train cycle.

Last week the SCMCEC passed 39th St. at 6:30pm on its loaded trek (above) to Centralia. This week Lon tells me that it passed at approximately 5:30pm giving this train an average speed of 13.1 MPH for the week.

So what would speed up this cycle and is it worth the investment to improve the cycle? Both of parts of that question require quite a bit of research and analysis. I’m sure the class Is do that sort of analysis on critical delivery lanes but how important is it for coal delivered to Centralia? I’m sure if the cost of providing delivery service could be improved the railroads would be interested even for Centralia coal. For now though I’m betting the 13-14 MPH average speed is close enough to the sweet spot.

Thank you Lon for the spotting notes.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, coal, bnsf, centralia, spring creek mine

Brut·ish

Pronunciation: \ˈbrü-tish\
Function: adjective
1: resembling, befitting, or typical of a brute or beast
2 a: strongly and grossly sensual b: showing little intelligence or sensibility

SD70ACe’s sure are imposing when they are coming straight at you. Instead of the sleek, elegant lines of an F unit, they were given utilitarian features to improve their safety and performance. Their square, boxy nose is designed to maximize crew safety but arguably their worst feature somehow gives these brutes appeal.

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, vancouver, washington, union pacific, sd70ace, emd

Yep, I ran into the BNSF 9316 again this week while out enjoying some afternoon railfanning with friends. This time it passed 39th St. around 5pm on Saturday which gives it an average speed of 14.5 mph. That’s up a bit from last week’s 13 mph figure. I can just hear a bean counter somewhere scream for joy!

Richard from Centralia tells me the coal trains spend about 8 1/2 – 9 hours off the main line. That includes the dumping time (just over 4 hours for this train), down time waiting for his crew to get on the train and coordinate with Trans-Alta, and down time waiting for a BNSF crew to retrieve the train and get it on the main line again. Richard gives the BNSF a 2 hour ‘pre-release’ call but BNSF doesn’t always have a crew there two hours later thanks to the vagaries of railroading and the economy.

Its been fun keeping track of this train, I wonder if I can make it 4 weeks in a row?

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, coal, BNSF, Centralia, Power River Basin, Rawhide

UP’s A-SENP heels into the 45mph curve at the Wildlife crossing south of Ridgefield, WA

Birders and Foamers Unite! Ridgefield South is the place!

Last Sunday when I visited Ridgefield South not only did I see three trains but I saw enumerable birders out enjoying the nice weather. I photographed the coal train from the main 2 side and after it passed a gentleman set up his gear on the main 1 side. He however pointed his very long, very camouflaged, Canon lens into the trees at a woodpecker nest. In the mean time other folks showed up and acted very interested in what he and I were shooting. Finally someone walked down and asked what all the excitement was about. I explained a southbound freight was coming while the other gentlemen discussed the nesting habits of the woodpecker he was photographing.

It was a beautiful day for the pursuit of a hobby at Ridgefield South err…ahh…Ridgefield NWR S Unit.

Technorati Tags: trains, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, UP, Union Pacific, Ridgefield, Washington, Ridgefield NWR

Two Sundays in a row I’ve run across the BNSF 9316 and its coal train. Last week (5/3) I photographed it northbound at 39th St. around 9:30am. This week it passed the same point just a few minutes after 10am.

Think about this for a minute. That train was dumped by Richard and his crew in Centralia last Sunday, taken empty back to Rawhide mine in Wyoming, loaded again, and returned in one week’s time. I calculate the average speed over the one week period at right at 13mph. That’s pretty darn good considering what this train went through….

1. approximately 2200 mile round trip
2. two 1000 mile inspections
3. multiple fuel stops
4. helpers at Helena for Mullan Pass
5. unloading at Centralia
6. loading at Rawhide
7. crew changes in Gillette, Sheridan, Laurel, Helena, Hauser, Pasco, Vancouver, and Centralia

Impressive bit of work I say…

Technorati Tags: train, railroad, railfan, photo, photography, coal, BNSF, Centralia, Power River Basin, Rawhide