JAMIE'S RANDOM AMERICAN RAILWAY PHOTOS.

[jamie92208]

Good morning from SW France.  It's not actually raining at the moment but that may change.  The Tardis however is on the road up Rogers Pass on 10th June 1979. The bear started to move towards our car so discretion was the better part of valour and off we set up to the summit.

Hard to believe that the railway ran over here in it's early days before the first of two long tunnels was built. From reading a sign board it's still a problem keeping it open in winter, just as the railway discovered. I believe that a detachment of an artillery regiment spend the winter there to lob shells into avalanches before they become dangerous. Sounds like a real punishment posting for all the years miscreants. Anyway we carried on and at one point this was the view across a lake.

No less than 8 locos.   At one point, as we'd gained an hour on the timezone change we stopped at some hot springs and lazed n the sun for an hour.  Then it was on and into the Fraser gorge.  We stopped at Lytton where the two railroads crossed.  At this point the CP route crossed to the south bank, the lower bridge.  When the CN was built they had to cross as well, the upper bridge.

Here you can see all three routes, CP on the right, CNo the left bank and above it the Trans Canada highway.

That night we got to a town called Hope at the bottom of the gorge, 500 miles of great travelling.  Then we went on into Vancouver and stayed with my aunts Phil and Marj for 2 nights.  One day we went up a skyscraper and I got this view of the CP yards in the town centre.

After 2 nights we drove on south and crossed the border into the US before taking US2 east through the Cascades, following the Great Northern's route.  Our next stop was at Wenatchee, the apple capital of the world as it advertised itself.  This was the view from the motel.

By this point my new wife was getting a bit suspicious about my navigation.  "Why is there always a railway where we stop" or similar words were said.  Some things have never changed in 42 years.  However just for something different we went to a drive in movie.

Another experience.  Just a pity that the Great Northern's electrics weren't still around.

 

Jamie

Edited April 11, 2022 by jamie92208

[PaulRhB]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

One day we went up a skyscraper and I got this view of the CP yards in the town centre.

And the same view 32 years later

 

The next day we followed your route in reverse up the Fraser river and across to Banff. 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

 

looks like a boring movie   compared with

 

[jamie92208]

4 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

 

looks like a boring movie   compared with

 

From distant memory it was a very forgettable  film called Winter Kills, loosely based around the Kennedy Assasinations.  However my forgettery  may well be st fault. There were trains down in the river valley though.

 

Jamie

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

From distant memory it was a very forgettable  film called Winter Kills, loosely based around the Kennedy Assasinations.  However my forgettery  may well be at fault.

Alledgedly no one ever paid attention to the film at drive-in movies anyway. See photo linked to by Dr G-F above for details, & a certain song by Tina Turner.

[PaulRhB]

6 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

Alledgedly no one ever paid attention to the film at drive-in movies anyway.

yeah an A class is far more interesting 

 

 

6 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

 

See photo linked to by Dr G-F above for details, & a certain song by Tina Turner.

Better put the top up first . . . 

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

The steering wheel is in the way.

[Northroader]

I’ll draw you a picture, Doc.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, PaulRhB said:

yeah an A class is far more interesting 

 

 

Better put the top up first . . . 

Why, it would be far more interesting for the rest of the audience to leave it down.

 

Jamie

[PaulRhB]

3 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Why, it would be far more interesting for the rest of the audience to leave it down.

 

1 hour ago, F-UnitMad said:

& a certain song by Tina Turner.

I was thinking if he meant ‘Steamy windows’  

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a rather misty damp and cool Charente.  However the Tardis is still in the Pacific Northwest of the US, following highway US2.  From Wenatchee we took a detour to see the Grand Coulee dam. We stayed overnight in Spokane , where I was granted permission to visit a model shop and bought a few UP items, including an GP38-2.  The next day, 16th June 1979 we carried on and went through Sandpoint, where this GP38-2 was on the Spokane International.

That was the only UP loco that I saw on this trip.

From Sandpoint we carried on and ended up at Belton on the edge of Glacier National Park.  After our meal we went to look for a bar and by some chance found the station. I believe that this is on the ex Great Northern, now BN Marias Pass line.  I noticed that the signal showed that a train was due.  

The sound of thunder came out of the west and then this appeared.  An F45. The engineer has just snatched his train orders but the head brakeman is on the rear platform in case he misses.

The train then accelerated into the pass.

However the rear brakeman was hanging out of the caboose waiting to get the rear end crews copy of the orders.  An old Great Northern boxcar in front of the caboose with the mountain goat symbol.

As the sound died away, even Beth said,  "That was impressive."

 

Jamie

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by jamie92208

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

The UP locomotive is a GP38-2 (four axles) rather than the more exotic SD38-2.  Interestingly, there have been several UP 2026s since that one - firstly it was an ex-SP GP60 (now numbered 1138 I think) and now 2026 is an SD40N.  The original 2026 doesn't seem to be on the roster now, but 2027 is, now running as 527.  Not bad since it was built in 1974...

 

The BN F45 / SD45 combo is a beaut, no wonder the Mrs was impressed by the noise.  We'll pass over the GE piece of cr4p in the middle... 

 

Sorry to butt in again, I am such a bore when it comes to identifying US loks.  I did have a couple of threads about it on an earlier iteration of RMWeb, sadly now lost and so are the pictures that went with it.  I dropped a hard drive and it took out a decade's worth of my US railroad photos.

[jamie92208]

 

11 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

The UP locomotive is a GP38-2 (four axles) rather than the more exotic SD38-2.  Interestingly, there have been several UP 2026s since that one - firstly it was an ex-SP GP60 (now numbered 1138 I think) and now 2026 is an SD40N.  The original 2026 doesn't seem to be on the roster now, but 2027 is, now running as 527.  Not bad since it was built in 1974...

 

The BN F45 / SD45 combo is a beaut, no wonder the Mrs was impressed by the noise.  We'll pass over the GE piece of cr4p in the middle... 

 

Sorry to butt in again, I am such a bore when it comes to identifying US loks.  I did have a couple of threads about it on an earlier iteration of RMWeb, sadly now lost and so are the pictures that went with it.  I dropped a hard drive and it took out a decade's worth of my US railroad photos.

Thanks for that, it's what comes of typing too early in the morning. I've now corrected the loco description.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good morning from a grey and cloudy Charente.   Fortunately the Tardis is still in 1979. The day after seeing the BN freight we drove over the Going to the Sun road into Montana before heading north to Calgary and then red Deer where we stayed with some friends that Beth knew.  On the 18th June we headed back to Calgary airport to catch a flight to Toronto.  Our transport of delight was a Tristar.

Then into a hotel in Toronto where on the 19th we went down into the centre and I took Beth up the CN tower. Fortunately, unlike the Stanley Park totem poles, I had done that visit on my own.  The weather was good and this was the view east along the lakeshore showing the approaches to Union Station.

And the view westwards with the CN coach yards visible.

This time I managed to get some photos of the two roundhouses, here is the CP one on the east side with what looks like a switcher on the turntable.

And on the west side CN's Spadina Avenue facility.

When we got down to ground level again a GO Transit train was heading west.

As it went west an eastbound arrival with an F40 on the point.   I found that watching the coaches at speed was weird as my eyes followed the dips in the roofline.

After a trip to Niagara the next day we caught an overnight flight back to Manchester and back to work the next day, slightly jet lagged.   After 2 years of somewhat exotic holidays across the pond 1980 was back to earth with a bump as we were in a bed and breakfast in the Lake District with a squalling brat who is now 41.  The Tardis gathered dust for a few years but will be dusted down for our next adventure.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by jamie92208

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

Ah, Tristar... another RAF tanker from my youth! What a sound on take off... like a buzz saw at full whack

[Johann Marsbar]

Ten years later, all those CN coach yard sidings had vanished, though if you look hard enough on the second image, there is a London & Port Stanley Railway Bo-Bo electric loco standing on one of those which remain....

 

 

[davknigh]

Wow, those shots of Spadina and John Street bring back fond memories. Both were quite railfan friendly provided you first went in and asked permission to take pictures and then signed a waiver that said the company was not responsible if you did something silly. Now the area is carpeted with condos and Skydome. No fun anymore.

 

Cheers,

 

David

[jamie92208]

2 minutes ago, davknigh said:

Wow, those shots of Spadina and John Street bring back fond memories. Both were quite railfan friendly provided you first went in and asked permission to take pictures and then signed a waiver that said the company was not responsible if you did something silly. Now the area is carpeted with condos and Skydome. No fun anymore.

 

Cheers,

 

David

Glad they energised the grey matter David,  have you looked at page 1 where I did exactly that at Spadina Avenue.

 

Jamie

[davknigh]

Went there did that including setting in the cab of 6060! Those were the good old days for sure, CN, CP, ONR, VIA all in one small area. BTW, the Northlander is an ex TEE train imported to save money on buying new stock. It didn’t like our winters.

 

Cheers,

 

David

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

5 hours ago, davknigh said:

It didn’t like our winters.

 

These days it wouldn't like the summers either...

[jamie92208]

Good moaning again.   You will be pleased to hear that the Tardis has been dusted off and refuelled and we are off again.  A lot had happened since we left Toronto in 1979.  3 kids had appeared, I had managed to get promoted twice and was now working at Pontefract overlooking the last deep coal mine in West Yorkshire.  No 1 son was 15 so we decided to take them all across the pond and show them bits of the US.  This meant that in late July 1995 we boarded an American Airlines 767 bound for Chicago with a connecting flight to San Francisco.  In those pre 9-11 days the flight crew were happy to show the boys the flight deck.

A rather tired me then managed to drive north across the Golden gate to Mill Valley in Marin County.  2 mornings later we headed into SF and of course the kids needed to see these.

After that it ws out into the bay to visit Alcatraz.  I did try and leave the kids behind but didn't succeed. That was on the 27th July.  The next day we headed south along the coast and ended up in San Luis Obispo where I managed to get a visit to the station.  Quite an array of SP power was present. 

A friendly engineer even took this family photo for us. I'll have to look up what the loco is. I do know it's an EMD of some kind.

There were other newish locos around plus an older one in the background.

3 days later on the 31st July we were in Anaheim and I was allowed out of the hotel for an hour with No 2 son and we went to Fullerton.  Here an Amtrak F40 is heading towards LA Union.

Paul, aged 13 is in the foreground.

 

More tomorrow.

 

Jamie

Edited April 11, 2022 by jamie92208

[Johann Marsbar]

SP #9821 was an SD70M model EMD.

[pH]

9 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

The next day we headed south along the coast and ended up in San Luis Obispo where I managed to get a visit to the station.  Quite an array of SP power was present. 

Plus some CSX and BN.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning again from the Charente.  The Tardis is still in Southern California and it's still 31st July 1995. I'm at Fullerton Station in South LA with No 2 son Paul.   There were a couple of older Santa Fe units parked up just east of the platforms.

Then a Metrolink loco headed in with a southbound.

Before, what I think is a dash 8 in warbonnet came west with an autorack train in the evening sun.

I actually managed to come 2nd in our Model railway club photo competition with that one.

Finally an Amtrak F40 headed south towards San Diego. 

Sad to think that this was the location of the terrible head on collision a few years later.

Anyway on Yorkshire Day, we headed into Disneyland and this lovely little loco was running round the park.  Old Walt was quite a rail fan I believe.

That evening we went down to Long Beach and saw the Queen Mary and bit of the Grand Prix track.  I did manage to see the southern end of the Blue Line that I believe runs on the remains of the old Pacific Electric Empire.

That's it for today.

 

Jamie

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by jamie92208

[John M Upton]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning again from the Charente.  The Tardis is still in Southern California and it's still 31st July 1995. I'm at Fullerton Station in South LA with No 2 son Paul.   There were a couple of older Santa Fe units parked up just east of the platforms.

 

 

 

2282 - GP9 rebuilt by Santa Fe with a chopped low nose short hood and new cab.