by Steve Eshom on January 1, 2013
Happy New Year! Yep, it is now 2013 in the Pacific Time Zone.
BNSF’s Shelby-Laurel manifest train blows through downtown Stanford, Mt. on a cold December morning. The snow which fell on Christmas eve lingers around town thanks to temperatures which hover near zero.
How was your 2012? Mine was pretty good. In January last year I published my thoughts about where I would go in 2012. From the looks of it I accomplished 5 of my 7 railfan photography goals for the year. Here’s my summary:
- Watch for snow in the Columbia River Gorge. Last year was a bust hopefully this year will be positive. (Met)
- MLK holiday railfanning somewhere in the area. (Met)
- Montana at spring break. I’m looking forward to another visit to Central Montana, this time while the snow is still around. (Met)
- GorgeRail in May. I’ve signed up to be a presenter, so make sure you can find your way there. (Not met, however I did present at Autumn Leaf in October)
- Hot Rails/Gaynor Campout in July or August. I’ve passed on a couple of trips to Stevens Pass lately so this will get me back up there again. (Not Met thanks to family obiligations)
- Autumn Leaf in October. I think I enjoy fall best in the Northwest so this should be a good time as always. (Met)
- I have a few weeks of vacation to use this year so I’m sure there will be more. (Met)
Moving on to 2013 I can see some similar items on the horizon.
- Repair my 70-200mm lens in January.
- Tracks in the Snow in February.
- GorgeRail in May.
- Hot Rail/Gaynor Campout in the summer. This year I have a chance to make it since we don’t have a huge family event planned
- Autumn Leaf in October.
- September may contain a visit to Canada. Plans for this were just discussed today so this is very tentative.
On top of the usual I need to assign myself a photography project. I have some thoughts but I need to think through the ideas and get plans put together.
What plans do you have for 2012?
by Steve Eshom on December 29, 2012
I got lost. The Lost Local that is. On my last day in Central Montana the local which runs out of Great Falls to serve industries and branch lines from Moore to Conrad made a trip to Moccasin and the Grove elevator loop. As normal the local power is primarily painted in BN colors though this time one odd duck, the 2352, came along. On the southbound trip the train consisted of 2 covered hoppers. On arrival at Moccasin they lined themselves into the Grove elevator loop and headed around to the fertilizer facility. There they spotted the first car over their dumper. While the first car dumped the power ran around the loop to the other end. They then spotted the rear, now first, car and waited while it dumped. I found it unusual (these days) they waited for the customer to unload the product instead of just spotting and running.
BNSF’s Lost Local passes the Grove shuttle train elevator on its return trip to Great Falls. Dear BN BNSF 1504, your logo is showing through!
The next chore involved a 31 car pickup. After two tries with the dispatcher to see if they could get paper work on the hazardous cars they knew they had to pick up they reluctantly backed on the the Central Montana interchange track and began the search for their cars. Come to find out their pick up was not amongst the 60 or so tanks spotted on the interchange. Instead they found their 31 empty rail cars sitting on the Moccasin siding. I’m not sure why there was so much confusion over the location of the pickup and whether or not the Great Falls yard had given them the right paperwork (which they had).
Once on their way north I chased the train to a couple of my favorite photo locations around Benchland, Stanford, and Geyser. With the sun and the mountains out I chose a couple of locations which would put the train right in some of the best scenery in Central Montana.
The Lost Local, with empty rail cars in tow, is just about to blast through Geyser, Mt. Geyser is set at the base of the scenic Highwood Mountains.
by Steve Eshom on December 26, 2012
For Christmas this year my family and I trekked east to the Central Montana town of Stanford. As readers of this blog know I usually visit here in the summer however our last two trips have been “off season” thanks to our desire to spend more time with our young niece.
Travelling in winter can has it challenges especially when there are 3 passes to cross between my home and Stanford. Fortunately on the trip east we encountered no issues. When we arrived in town we found no snow and temperatures in the mid-teens. Christmas Eve day saw around 4″ of snow fall with temperatures plummeting to -8 on Christmas morning. The snow was the consistency of powdered sugar and wasn’t even slippery. Other than having to sit in a very cold vehicle getting around is pretty easy.
On Christmas Day I told my family I didn’t expect any trains since almost all the trains passing through Stanford are low priority manifests. I was shocked when just after 3pm a manifest rolled south through town. I headed out and found one of the remaining locations with sunlight still on it.
As the sun is about to set on Christmas Day, BNSF’s southbound M-SHMLAU exits the Windham tunnel. In just a few moments the sunny part of Christmas will be gone. For the crew the remaining 8 or so hours to Laurel will be in the dark 0 degree night.
On the day after Christmas clouds once again ruled and when the northbound Laurel-Shelby rolled through I headed out for a couple of locations I knew would work well with the clouds and light snow. In addition to this image of the train at Hay Creek north of Geyser I caught it in the canyon between Spion Kop and Raynesford at the Williams Creek bridge.
The “Laurel-Shelby” train crosses Hay Creek north of Geyser, MT. The snow and 10 degree temperatures don’t seem to hamper operations through Central Montana.
I have a couple more days in town before I have to head back west. Until then I’ll continue to enjoy the cold weather and snow!
by Steve Eshom on July 3, 2012
For me, one captivating aspect of railroading is sound. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Barking exhaust, thumping wheels, squealing flanges, rail contracting and expanding, horns, bells, and whistles. Oh my! Back in April I experienced one of the best sound shows I’ve heard in some time but documenting without a recording is not easy. Here’s my attempt to describe what I heard.
First, let me set the scene for you. I’m on a desolate gravel road. Since I left the pavement 20 minutes ago I passed a ranch a ranch which at 7:20PM appears abandoned. I stopped a few hundred feet short of a grade crossing guarded by a pair of cross bucks. Getting out of my vehicle I hear the ducks in a nearby pond chasing one another about (it is spring time!).
To my east (railroad south) I can see the track as it descends through a valley for about 2 miles on its gradual descent to Surprise Creek. To my west (railroad north) the track is pretty much straight and is on a steady .6% climb to a summit near Geyser. Nothing steep mind you but the train headed my way is 2X2 123 car coal train which will definitely need all 8 notches of throttle on this hill. Oh, yes, there are crickets too.
At 7:20PM in April the sun is about to set. The unseasonable warmth of the day is gone and I’m already feeling the coolness creep in. There really isn’t any wind, highly unusual for this part of Montana. East of me 4 miles the Surprise Creek tunnel and a bench provide a physical and sound barrier. I won’t hear the train until it exists the tunnel. I sit for the next 15 minutes in the relative silence.
Pretty soon I hear a distant rumble. My coal train has reached the bottom of the Surprise Creek valley and has started the climb toward Geyser. For the next 6 minutes the lead GEs begin overpowering the sounds I hear. First the grass rustling disappears then the ducks. As the train appears around the corner I begin to hear the whine of AC traction motors under the steady thump of FDL prime mover exhaust. For the next few minutes exhaust sounds overwhelms me as the lead locomotives pass. Next comes 123 cars laden which Powder River Basin coal. Each one creaks and groans as is passes over the crossing. Occasionally flat spots pass…thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk…at a pace equal to the 20 mph the train is making.
2 minutes later two GE ACs on the rear roar by. Soon the exhaust sound begins to fade replaced by the high pitch of of AC traction motor whine. For a few minutes I stand there soaking it in. The train sound continues to fade but the drama of it is still fresh in my head so the sounds I pick out still remind me of what I just heard. Slowly the relative quiet returns to my little spot by the tracks.
As I pack up my camera gear and walk back to my vehicle it strikes me how impressive that particular train passage was. I’ve heard thousands of trains pass but somehow the atmosphere, train, and mental state all lined up to really leave an impression on me. I should have pulled my sound recorder out.
by Steve Eshom on April 18, 2012
Central Montana has no end to scenery. Despite visiting the area for 6 straight years now I’ve never stopped west of the Hay Creek trestle near Geyser. Why? Who knows. It seems like a prefect location with the tracks nicely in the foreground and the Highwood mountiains and their foothills in the background. It could be I’ve not stopped here because there is no nice place to park. In this part of Montana that’s not an excuse though as there is plenty of room off the highway shoulders.
This time I did stop and I captured the Lost Local on its return to Great Falls passing below the Highwoods. In the morning when the local went south there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground. As the day moved along the clouds cleared and the sun came out. Away went the snow. In fact by 1:30PM when I photographed this location the heat waves coming off the grass were quite strong. It is interesting how things can change so quickly during a Montana spring.
One last thing about the Lost Local. It has always fascinated met that more often than not it will have exclusively BN green locomotives. How do they do that? Someone in Great Falls must have some skill at getting just the right power.
