by Steve Eshom on March 30, 2011
For Oregon Multnomah Falls is its “go to” tourist destination. More people visit here than any other single attraction in Oregon and I’m sure you can see why. It is beautiful, natural, spectacular, awesome, and many other adjectives. Man has done his best to encroach on the falls with the freeway, railroad, highway, visitors center, and trails all in very close proximity. The good news is the falls itself is undisturbed save for the Benson footbridge. Fortunately the bridge design is elegant and it really does not detract from the beauty of the scene. In fact I think it gives photographs of the falls a sense of human scale so that your mind can wrap around the fact this falls is 620 ft. tall.
Saturday was a perfect Oregon day to photograph a train in front of the falls. It was raining. Not hard of course, just a very heavy and wet mist. I spent the morning with some friends photographing waterfalls in the area. As we were leaving Multnomah Falls radio conversations indicated an eastbound was due any time. I hustled under bridge and set myself up with the spectacular falls in the background.
This photo has of course been done many times before as have most photos of Multnomah Falls. Still it is one I didn’t have in my collection until Saturday. I love it because it has Oregon landmark written all over it.
by Steve Eshom on March 19, 2011
I found myself out in the gorge this afternoon. My daughter is learning to drive and up until today she’s focused on driving in and around Vancouver. City street, boulevard, and a touch of freeway driving for the most part. She still needed some exposure to the open road. To give her a bit of experience with highway speeds, curves, and hills I pointed her east on State Route 14.
Being a smart photographer I threw my gear in the car just in case we landed somewhere that the light might be good.
After a successful trip east to Stevenson we turned around and headed back to Beacon Rock State Park for a quick rest break. Just as we pulled into the park I could hear a westbound approaching. I quickly unpacked my camera to photograph the westbound Z train passing under Beacon Rock. The Z train was one of 4 trains we saw on our 2 hour jaunt. The break down was 2 grain trains, one manifest, and this Z.
If you are curious, we did arrive home safely and my daughter has some good highway driving experience under her belt.
by Steve Eshom on November 18, 2010
For those of you that may have missed the announcement at Autumn Leaf or on rrf.com, the big news is GorgeRail is back! Check out the GorgeRail website for all of the latest information on programs and registration. See you in the Gorge in May….
by Steve Eshom on October 29, 2010
Last weekend was the 8th Annual Autumn Leaf Slide Show at McMenamin’s Olympic Club in Centralia, Wa. Part of the slide show weekend tradition is getting out and railfanning with friends in the Gorge, on the Seattle Sub or where ever the whim may take us. So that’s what I did despite the fact the weather forecast for the weekend included lots of rain.
Friday I headed to the Gorge and met up with a railfan visiting us from Atlanta. It was a productive day and I was able to show Boras a few locations he’d seen photographs of but didn’t know how to get to. Saturday I intended to take it easy with the railfanning as I’d have a full evening of slide show work ahead of me. The result was I just hung out with friends at Winlock and Vader and only snapped one photo the entire day. Sunday started out up in the air plans wise. As it ended up I had Ryan and Scott riding with me and it turned into quite a productive day. Over the next few days I plan to post photos from the weekend.
Friday, 8:00 am, Stevenson, Wa. Standing on the corner of 1st and Russell in downtown I came to the conclusion Stevenson is much like many small towns in our country. People were moving around and going about their Friday morning. Many were headed to the post office to get an early jump on the mail. One was staying at the Riverside Lodge and was headed up town in search of a coffee. Another was headed down to the park to walk her dog while others drove to their jobs in town.
While everyone went about their business BNSF did too. Approaching town were two train which were set up for a meet at the siding in town. With some businesses across the tracks a mis-timed meet in town can tie up things up for some time. Today the Pasco West dispatcher had the timing down just right and executed a nearly perfect rolling meet. The result? Most people going about their business in town probably never noticed.
Friday, 9:00 am, North Bonneville, Wa. At just over 35 years old tunnel 1.5 is the newest tunnel on BNSF’s Fallbridge subdivision. Constructed in 1974 as part of a project to build a second powerhouse in the dam, this tunnel is located at the east end of a long S curve which takes the railroad around the new river channel. Despite its diminutive 1,503 foot length the tunnel serves an important purpose getting the railroad out of the way of the river and the highway without disturbing the hillside above. Friday’s M-VAWPAS (Vancouver, Wa to Pasco, Wa) slips easily through the curve and through the tunnel just like the Army Corps of Engineers intended.
by Steve Eshom on February 21, 2010
It was nice to see some sun in Vancouver this morning! After a week that felt more like spring than winter it was good to be able to top it off with a sunny day photograph.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder crosses the Columbia River and begins to accelerate away from the Vancouver, WA depot.
