I thought I would start this weeks photo thread with a short video. When attending the photo charter at Huckleberry Railraoad, I mounted a GoPro to the top of my camera so you can see what I was shooting.
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A 1927 Plymouth gasoline locomotive warming up on an 11 degree morning before doing some light work around the roundhouse. For a 92 year old locomotive with its original Climax engine, it really didn't hesitate too much when I tried to start it in the cold. They built them well. This one originally moved carloads of coal around the facilities of a Detroit power plant between 1927 and 1973 when the plant converted to oil fired boilers.
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Great start to the midweek so far, everyone!
I started back to work this past Monday, and snagged this photo of the Sun shining on the Electric City Trolley Station & Museum in Scranton, PA. It was a great way to start the day.
This is how today started. Not our worst snow storm. Light and dusty, we got a little more than 3 inches, which sugar coated the Steamtown Yard. The Reading FP7s on display in the parking lot are favorites of mine to shoot when the snow falls.
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I snagged a few photos in DC while waiting for my train back to campus. Not my best photos (because of the glass) but it was still cool to photograph Amtrak D.C. operations in a significant snowfall.
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Mrs. Number 90 went to an out-of-state quilt show last weekend, so I took an opportunity to spend Saturday out on the BNSF Hereford Subdivision, between Amarillo and Clovis. I have not taken many train photos in recent years and am rusty, but I had a very enjoyable day. For the Panhandle of Texas in winter, it was great weather and a very nice sky. I moved around a lot and the railroad was busy, as it normally is. On the drive over to Bovina I had a short telephone conversation with Hot Water, who lives in a western suburb of Chicago. He was pleased that it was warming up there -- to 5 degrees. Therefore, I did not feel too bad about a day that was merely cool and not frigid.
The first photo stop was the signal bridge at the east end of Bovina.
By early afternoon, I had worked my way back to Hereford. The flags at the ADM complex were unfurled by the almost constant Panhandle breeze. This westbound coal train had a Citicorp unit in the head-end consist and another in the remote consist. I understand that these are going to be disappearing soon from BNSF trains.
As the day waned, I ended up west of Canyon. This westbound stack train had settled down around 40 MPH on the 1% ascending grade toward Umbarger, as it faced into the warm light of the setting sun, approaching Dowell Road.
Just after the westbound stack train had passed, I heard a whistle, and, merely minutes before sunset, an eastbound grain train approached Dowell Road at 70 MPH.
Finally, I visited the memorial for this young family at the Dowell Road crossing, and removed my hat for a minute, remembering the day when it occurred. The family had added a solar light since the last time I was here. The Dad and the kids were returning home after spending the day together. Their home was not close to the track, but the crossing was visible in the distance. The Claims Agent told me that the Mom was watching from her porch, as the three were due back, and she witnessed the crash as he drove the pickup right in front of a train. At that time, there were only crossbucks at Dowell Road, but the State of Texas has been proactive in installing active warning devices at rural crossings , especially on the BNSF transcon, as it is so busy. There are now crossbucks, bells, flashers and gates here.
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