Dang JD, if I could find a "Day out with Thomas" t-shirt in my size, I'd buy it! I do have a blue Thomas the Tank t-shirt. I sometimes wear it when I need to embarrass my teenage son around his friends.
Well, I finally got back out on the trail of the Rapid City, Pierre, and Eastern (RCPE) last weekend. It's warmed up enough now that I can sleep in my van. That does two things for me. First, being a cheapskate I don't pay for a motel. Second, I'm right by the tracks so I won't miss any trains. RCPE is difficult to catch in general, and even harder out on their western end. There's a train during the day and one at night, usually. Except "usually" doesn't seem to apply to this railroad! I drove the 350 miles out there Saturday morning. The weather report looked good--lows in the 50s, clear sky, not much wind. My buddy told me there should be two trains on Saturday. Another employee confirmed that was the plan.
I found a w/b dead on the line just short of Rapid City, meaning the e/b wouldn't move until the line was cleared. The trainmaster confirmed a crew was called for midnight and the e/b should be heading out by 2am. My buddy confirmed this in a text. I parked by the tracks in an empty field near Rapid City, and crawled in my sleeping bag around 10pm. An hour later a car drove into the field and parked near me, turned off the lights. Hmmm. I peeked out the window and saw a teenage couple in the car, going at it. Crying out loud. 
A little while later another car with a teenage couple pulled up and parked on the other side of me. I considered turning off the dome light in my van, slipping outside, and setting up my big 1340ws monolights! 
They could go find their own field to camp in.
It actually got down to 40 degrees that night instead of 55, and I got a little cold towards dawn. Finally, I heard an air horn! I opened my eyes to bright light. The headlights! Well no. It was actually sunlight. 
The train was about seven & half hours late. I went after it anyway. Got to do the best you can with what you're given. The w/b was also screwed up and wouldn't be coming until too late in the day for me. And then the wind picked up to 30 mph and clouds came rolling in. Nothing was going as planned. I did my best and got a few shots anyway.
1. Train passes through the ghost town of Owanka, SD, population zero. At least they did put a nice engine on point for me.
2. Train passing through Cottonwood, SD, another ghost town. Sign says the population is 12. Maybe, if you count the cats. I had two hours to set up--the track speed is 10 mph for about 100 miles out there.
3. Cottonwood, photo'd with my Darlot Petzval lens, made in the 1870s and mounted on my Nikon D800E. (F-mount made by SK Grimes.) Cottonwood was founded in 1907 on the C&NW line. This was once a substantial town, but it was decimated by the droughts of the 1930s, then the railroad switched to diesels and they didn't need to stop for water any more, then U.S. Hwy 14 was paved. Trucks started hauling the cattle so there was no more need for the stockyard by the 1950s. The town has been slowly dissolving back into the earth ever since. Many buildings were moved to Wall, SD about 20 miles west. Most of the rest were abandoned, fell into disrepair, and were blown down by the winds. There are no business, no jobs in Cottonwood any more. Most of the towns along this line are ghost towns.
I do plan to make another trip out there this month, to get my night shots. It's an ~800 mile round trip so I'll again be sleeping in the van. Maybe I need to find another stretch of prairie next time?
Kent in SD
