Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I'm very fortunate that I get to travel for work, and this is my second trip to the south-west this year. After a mind numblingly (and butt-numbing) tedious trip on BA298 on Friday, I got up at 3am to drive the three hours north to Seligman, one of my favourite spots on the BNSF transcon across the high plateau. I think Selgiman is just over 5000 feet above sea level, and the line climbs both ways out of town towards Flagstaff to the east and Yampai to the west. Trains can be seen for many miles, and I wanted to see what the place photographed like at sunrise. Not too shabby really. Here's some pics.... First train of the day (that I saw at least, I heard one heading north for Ash Fork when I stopped near Paulden for an, ahem, comfort break). 05.57 dropping down into town I fluffed a bunch of shots as it was too dark until the sun came up around 06.30. This was a 'oh fluff it, I'll just bang off a going-away shot for the hell of it'. Turned out rather nice. Sun just up, 06.27. Bloody cold at this height and time of day, so shivering isn't helping my photos any. I seemed to get a lot of meets wherever I stood, this weekend. I'm not complaining but several shots were missed as trains got in each others way. This one turned out ok. The main problem with shooting in a place like this with such big skies and intense light is that the best shots only really happen during the magic hour just after sunrise and just before sunset. The rest of the day is really too flat or too contrasty, and I seldom get anything I really like after about 8am or before 4pm. Anyway, I tried a few more before moving on west and up to Yampai to see if I could get something. Yampai is a nice spot, although a bit of a hike from the road. I can never seem to get the time of day right and these shots don't really work for me. Moving west to the other side of the summit, the views towards Peach Creek are less spectacular but it's a new location for me. The first shot is near the grade crossing which marks the summit of Yampai Hill, it's downhill both ways from here. A bit further west on a dirt track, looking towards Peach Creek. The other side of the line would work better, but I couldn't find access. I headed back towards Williams and Flagstaff after that, but fatigue got the better of me and I quit at 1pm rather than face the three hour drive back to Phoenix in the dark. The I-17 has some hair-raising descents and curves on its way down from the high plateau, not wise when dark and tired.... Sunday I had an hour or two in the evening, and went to find the CG switchers... then I moved on to Shawmut Hill. Unfortunately, although I saw 10 trains (all eastbound,weirdly) between 5.30 and 9pm only one of them ran in daylight! At least it had something interesting blowing smoke rings in third base. The last train of my evening was an eastbound manifest which I paced along the Mobile Road, until it rolled to a stop at Estrella. As this is all double track now, I couldn't figure out why they had stopped so I decided to wait. After about 30 minutes, an east bound stack blasted past on the adjacent track (travelling in the same direction). After about another 20 minutes, the manifest got under way and I started to pace it at a gentle 40mph. Imagine my delight when on the adjacent track another manifest roared by, at 60 - I've never seen this kind of parallel running here before and to get two manifests together was a sight and sound to behold. I beat them to the next grade crossing and just stood by enthralled as they roared past in tandem, making the ground shake. That ended my weekend of railfanning - not too much to show for the hours and miles, but sometimes it's like that. I may get trackside this evening then I'm busy right up to next weekend when I intend to go to Cajon and Colton again. This was the view from my hotel room this morning as I was on my way out for breakfast at 06.30... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Reichert Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Don't you just hate it when someone drives across the scene right when you are taking your picture. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 They must have had a lot of rain up there recently, it looks quite lush. The track on the mainline is certainly beautifully maintained - it answers all those who think US trackwork, sucks. Second photo is really well lit. Colours look rich. Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Huge amounts of rain, even Phoenix was under water a few weeks ago. There's water in the Salt River, which I've never seen before. Bad side of that is the local flying insect life is maddening, and I'm being eaten alive! Actually made trackside the other night almost unbearable. I hope Cajon has fewer mosquitoes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold John B Posted September 23, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 23, 2014 It'll be dry on Cajon.. we've had no measurable rain in SoCal since long before Thanksgiving last year, a couple of showers apart. San Diego and Riverside counties are a tinderbox waiting to happen.. I reckon San Berdoo and LA / OC are the same. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 someone's been shopping ....going to be busy this winter. Especially pleased to pick up another Atlas GP38-2 for $60.... now all I need to source are BNSF patch decals... All courtesy of my good chums at An Affair With Trains. Buy stuff from their webstore, and pick it up in person. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Where's the "Jealous" Icon, or the "Lucky So-and-So" one...??!! Apart from the being eaten alive by insects bit.... been there, done that in Jamaica a few years ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted September 24, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 24, 2014 With a pile of goodies like that in the hotel room I often find it very hard not to start building them!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Reichert Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 What do the guardians of the "green" and "red" lanes think of this kind of stuff nowadays? Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I'm very fortunate that I get to travel for work, Gizzajob! and this is my second trip to the south-west this year. After a mind numblingly (and butt-numbing) tedious trip on BA298 on Friday, I got up at 3am to drive the three hours north to Seligman, one of my favourite spots on the BNSF transcon across the high plateau. Trains can be seen for many miles, and I wanted to see what the place photographed like at sunrise. Not too shabby really. Here's some pics.... The last train of my evening was an eastbound manifest which I paced along the Mobile Road, until it rolled to a stop at Estrella. As this is all double track now, I couldn't figure out why they had stopped so I decided to wait. After about 30 minutes, an east bound stack blasted past on the adjacent track (travelling in the same direction). After about another 20 minutes, the manifest got under way and I started to pace it at a gentle 40mph. Imagine my delight when on the adjacent track another manifest roared by, at 60 - I've never seen this kind of parallel running here before and to get two manifests together was a sight and sound to behold. I beat them to the next grade crossing and just stood by enthralled as they roared past in tandem, making the ground shake. That ended my weekend of railfanning - not too much to show for the hours and miles, but sometimes it's like that. I may get trackside this evening then I'm busy right up to next weekend when I intend to go to Cajon and Colton again. Awesome!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted September 27, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 27, 2014 I can testify that the plastic pellet transfer facility comes out very nice. I changed out the hand railing on mine on top of the silo's which was a lesson in patience. I'd have never done it without that Optivisor I mentioned a while ago though! Edited to say I found a better pic of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted September 27, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 27, 2014 Looks like those 2 GP40's were once SP loco's. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=862021 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted September 27, 2014 Author Share Posted September 27, 2014 They certainly were - I've photted both in their patched schemes previously. What did you paint your plastics facility with? It looks really super. And in response to Andy R, I have taken the kits out of the boxes and slipped them into my suitcase. I shall just walk nonchalantly through the green channel. Did a bit more shopping, at Allied Model Trains in Culver City. Got a pair of undecorated Atlas ACF 17,360 tank cars and some decals to suit, also some steel coil loads for my coil cars. Ought to be making a move to go to Colton, but just don't seem to be able to face the traffic... on the live traffic map, there are several stretches of solid red on the I-10 this afternoon.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted September 28, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 28, 2014 That was Model Master / Testors 'Panzer Interior Buff' in enamel but It seems harder to come by now. Didn't Testors announce a little while ago they were pulling the plug?? I did have a UK supplier but a google search cant find it and I cant remember the name of the shop either! One thing about the silo's I found was that you need to take time to fill and carefully sand the joins or you'll see them. Time spent on that will pay dividends later. Excellent set of pics Dr! I'm envious. Got to get out that way myself some day! Tehachapi loop being one place on the to-do list, breathtaking! GOT IT!!!! These folks sell Testors over here, good reliable service. Testors also do some usefull weathering colours to! http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/testors-m-37.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Good link Gary!! Now all we need is a "comparison chart" to show what are close matches to R.R. paint colors. Which ones matche CSX 'Bright Future" Blue, Yellow & Gray, for instance?? There's also Metalsmith, for Floquil solvent paints. http://www.metalsmith.co.uk/floquil-paints.htm Edit - their website's last update says Oct 2013,so I don't know what tbe current situation with Floquil paints might be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gerbil-Fritters Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Righto, final full day. I've been suffering from a head cold all week - certainly made the flight into LA 'interesting'. Despite feeling like death warmed up, I dragged my sorry a$$ the 85 miles to Sullivan's Curve to see whether I could equal my splendid hit rate from February. Sadly, it was not to be as there were no BNSF trains running at all during my 9-3 time slot. The first I saw all day was a northbound manifest while I was driving down the I-15 into San Bernardino at about 4.I also couldn't get any where near the Cargill SD40T-2 either, although I could see it photos were impossible. UP were running but hardly busy, only two trains on the Palmdale cut off and two stacks on the BNSF main 1. Very disappointing, but railfanning in the US is a lot like fishing. You show up, and sometimes things happen, mostly they don't. Weirdly, it was also cooler than February too, with a naughty wind blowing up the pass. Here's the pictures. I decided to walk in from a different starting point to see if I could find any new locations. I parked at Cajon Station, and walked over the stream and up Santa Fe Road, which is a dirt track leading to the Pacific Ridge Trail. Pleasant enough, but no new vistas. A short uphill local, headed by a pair of SD60Ms, 10am. 40 minutes later I get a downhill on main 1. Seems quite promising thinks I... another 50 minute wait, and then another downhill manifest on the Palmdale. No BNSF trains at all .... and that's it. I see one more UP while eating lunch at Cajon Station, then I give up at 2.20 and head for Colton, where to my surprise the yard is almost totally deserted! Even the deadline has gone! Not my day at all. at least trains are running past the yard, even if the departure bowl is empty apart from a single local and a BNSF transfer run, which you can just see to the left of the stack train. The GATX facility is busy, and here's one victim for rebuilding or more likely scrapping. A light power move takes off for the Palmdale Cutoff. I've not seen this before - I thought it might be an iron ore train, but the hoppers were big and filled almost to the top which suggests something lighter. Looked like red sand... Only a single tractor front and rear which also suggests probably not iron ore. (edit - a quick google search says this is the Robertsons Ready Mix Concrete 'rock train'. The unusual hoppers are cut down ACF coalveyors. A nice catch.) another light power move heads eastwards to the Palmdale Cutoff and finally, I get a r/c switcher set. And that's me done for another trip. This one really didn't gel in terms of trains seen, but at least I got to pick up some essential buildings for the Eagle has Landed. More on those, when I finally get home. Flying out tomorrow, my first trip on an A380.... have to say dreading it unless my head miraculously clears in the next 18 hours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Where’s the “ouch” button when you need it? On so many levels..... Thanks for posting what you got! Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted September 29, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 29, 2014 Ya know its funny, I watch heaps of video's on You Tube of these trains in that area and its so easy for the ill informed (like myself) to run away with the idea that its a continuous festival of freight trains all day! I wonder if its all governed by when or not there's one of those huge container ships in LA port? Maybe there could have been engineering blockades on the other mains? I'm only surmising ofcourse but it would just be my luck to travel 3000 miles and see 4 stack trains all day! Still very nice pics all the same Dr and well worth posting, thank you! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Ya know its funny, I watch heaps of video's on You Tube of these trains in that area and its so easy for the ill informed (like myself) to run away with the idea that its a continuous festival of freight trains all day! They should video the gaps between them too....(maybe not!) Those RRMX conversions are odd, as they have shortened them and then added extensions to increase capacity! Wonder if it was to fit some specific pre-existing loading or unloading kit? Great pics again - and yep, some you win, some... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Shift patterns affect it a lot. I believe a lot of the big eastbound trains are leaving California around daybreak. There always seems a lot passing through Flagstaff (for example) in the mid-day hours. Then changing crews at Winslow? Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted September 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 29, 2014 I have spent many hours at some of these locations and only seen one or two trains, other times a procession of trains passing by over a number of hours. Maintenance windows can either bring a whole host of trains either before or afterwards but none during any works which can be at any time of day but normally cleared for the Amtrak train where there is one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Those RRMX conversions are odd, as they have shortened them and then added extensions to increase capacity! Wonder if it was to fit some specific pre-existing loading or unloading kit? They are quite interesting. The load area is a fair bit shorter than the car so it is probably quite a high density load (seems to be a similar capacity to a 100T ballast hopper). I'd guess that they cut the car down to the minimum length that would work with a rotary dumper (these are gons, not hoppers, and the different coloured end usually indicates the rotary coupler end), and then built in a bay that would bring them up to max load. On the photo you can see the traces on the side sheets where the new bay ends are. Here is a crudely marked up copy of the original photo: Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevorsmith3489 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 These vehicles carry ?sand? from a quarry opposite Cabazon Outlets and Morongo Casino just west of Cabazon on the I10. Google earth shows some of the vehicles from above. Trevor Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.