by Steve Eshom on December 23, 2011
Merry Christmas to all the dogcaught readers! I hope your holiday season is filled with all the things you enjoy.
Last January I was on Stevens Pass (Washington) enjoying my annual winter railfanning adventure. Like normal I was up early and on the road looking for that first railroad photograph of the day. My travelling companions, Robert Scott and Scott Lothes agreed we’d have a pretty good opportunity east of the pass to get a morning photo of Amtrak’s Empire Builder. Off the highway and down a recently plowed forest service road we went to a gap in the mountains called “The Slot”. Cautiously walking up the icy road to this location I set up for an 8 second exposure that would capture the lights from the passenger train streaking by in the very low pre-dawn light. The result is one of my favorite images from 2011.
by Steve Eshom on August 17, 2011
Last weekend I hung out with friends at a spot we’ve been calling “Camp Gaynor”. For those not familiar with Stevens Pass Gaynor was the name of a station on the east side of the pass near the signal bridge at what is now East Berne. About a mile below (east) of that spot is where the GN realigned the mainline in the late 40s by building a new tunnel and trestle to bypass a curve and a steep rock slope. The trestle and tunnel took on the moniker of Gaynor. Our campsite lies on the east side of the trestle in a wide area where the tracks were realigned.
As camping goes this spot is not for just anyone. While the camp spots are far enough from the tracks it is hard to miss the cacophony of sound generated by a train climbing the pass. Even the trains descending make plenty of noise as they are in full dynamic. To top it off the occasional engineer will offer a middle of the night warning of his arrival by horn. If you don’t like trains don’t go.
I focused most of my photographic effort on things after dark. I’ve photographed plenty of trains there during the day so I wanted to take advantage of the full moon and headlights. On Saturday a westbound stack train arrived around 11:30 PM and was having some trouble so I fired off a bunch of frames to capture its passage. Take a look at this video…
http://vimeo.com/27836423
I’m looking forward to next year’s camp out with more exciting times on the pass.
by Steve Eshom on February 8, 2011
It seems like every visit I make to the east portal of the Cascade Tunnel there are more signs on the wall. This year I noticed two milepost signs I did not see last year. On the left one reads 1700.3292 and on the right the other reads 1700.3. Pick your precision I guess? I’m sure the more precise value is important for engineering related work and needs to be that accurate. Day to day train movements shouldn’t need that level though.
I think the more important one out of the group is “Caution No Stopping In Portal”. I suppose getting caught in the door would be bad news.
by Steve Eshom on January 19, 2011
The only thing I don’t like about the annual tracks in the snow weekend is that it has to end. There’s something about chasing trains around the pass that is relaxing and rewarding all wrapped up in one. Add in some awesome railfan friends (and their friends!) and leaving is no fun. I hate to say farewell to my friends the pass but the realities of life are that I don’t make any money railfanning and photographing. So with that thought I have to say goodbye to Stevens every January.
For the past few years the Tracks in the Snow crew stayed at the Cascadia Inn in Skykomish. Henry and his crew do an exceptional job of taking care of us and catering to our needs. The hotel is always very clean, the food very good (especially the prime rib special!), and the drinks plentiful. On top of that the staff is very friendly and welcoming to our group. On Friday night after a wonderful Salmon dinner with couscous, green beans, and garlic bread I stepped outside to capture the hotel while a rolling meet took place in the Skykomish siding.
Dark shadows are the only thing on the fruit trees west of Monitor, Wa. In about 4 1/2 months the trees will be in a splendid bloom and by early September the harvest will take place. The cold, snow, ice, and low winter sun will long be forgotten by then. Soon after though the cycle of the seasons will kick in again and winter will be back.
The early bird gets the worm. On Sunday after heavy rain and warm temperatures through the night rivers were swollen and lapping at their banks. When I arrived at Money Creek just after 6am the Skykomish seemed to be much louder and urgent than the night before. When I compare an image shot just 12 hours before to this one it was clear the river had risen around 2ft. Gone were the ripples of underlying rocks and a couple of trees around the center abutment disappeared. The snow melt was on and in a violent way. Trains continued to roll, that is until around noon when BNSF issued a flash flood warning to two trains slowing them from Gold Bar to the Cascade tunnel. By Monday the pass was closed for a few hours in the middle of the day to let maintenance crews drop rip rap in a few locations. Such is the difficulty of mountain railroading.
This brings to an end the presentation of the bulk of my Tracks in the Snow images.
by Steve Eshom on January 18, 2011
I spent most of yesterday afternoon cleaning up my camera gear and my vehicle after my wet weekend on Stevens Pass. Thankfully all my gear performed flawlessly in the damp conditions and other than the AF/MF switch getting caught in no mans land once (thus preventing the camera from obtaining focus and taking an image) everything went smoothly. I couldn’t be more impressed with how Canon gear holds up to our Northwest winter.
This series of images is from Friday where east of Winton the rain was much lighter and towards the end of the day the sun made an appearance through the clouds streaming across the summit of the Cascades. I guess this is a circumstance where the rain shadow worked to my advantage.
On Stevens Pass Amtrak’s Empire Builder (trian #7) usually arrives westbound around 7am. In the summer a good sunrise photo can be made of this train but in the winter it is still over an hour before good daylight. On 1/14/2011 Amtrak met an eastbound freight at Merritt and then began its ascent of the hill. At 7:10am it passed through the area known as “The Slot” illuminating its surroundings with the artificial light from the headlight briefly bringing a brightness to a deep canyon in the Cascades.
In the past few weeks BNSF has moved a number of westbound baretable trains to the Port of Seattle. It seems one moves every third day. These equipment repositioning moves help the railroad reposition cars when the movement of containers is not equivalent eastbound and westbound. While these moves don’t generate any revenue they are certainly necessary so that the next revenue generating train can run.
Railroads and rivers are frequent neighbors. These days so are homes and rivers. West of Wentachee, in one of the richest fruit growing regions in the U.S., homes are sprouting up just a quick as the weeds. Home owners have the privilege of great views of the Wentachee River and surrounding hills like this home east of Cashmere. Of course they have a great view of the railroad too though I’m sure most home owners would just as soon do without the extra noise and unsightly rusty bridges.
