Tilting at Windmills (Part 3)

An earlier post covered my fotography fiasco in southwest Minnesota. Today I'll share some shots that are more presentable, although none of them are anything to brag about.

The first three photos are all of the same train, which I heard getting a warrant to head south on the Marshall Sub fairly early in the morning. I moved to intercept, and located a likely spot at the S-curve shown in the first offering.


This shot gives an indication of something I have noticed in prior trips to the area-there are a lot of AC locomotives on not only coal trains, but also grain trains and manifest trains that operate through the area. This next shot gives a good view of not only the SD70MAC leader, but also a somewhat uncommon BNSF AC4400CW. This GE model was certainly outnumbered by the MAC's that came to dominate many BNSF coal trains.


My last shot of this train was once again near the "summit" of the Marshall Sub's passage across Buffalo Ridge. This is where the windmills are thick. I do love this spot, and hope some day to take a decent train photo here.


This post also has a bonus prize. I happened upon a shuttle train being loaded in Holland, and this CF7 had the honors. Nice paint, and one of the few I have ever seen in person. I think the only others were TCW units that I have stumbled across while travelling central MN.


Next up in this series, the final post. This one will feature blue and yellow paint instead of orange, along with my first railfan photo in South Dakota.

Jim

Tilting at Windmails (Part 2)

Three years and single day before shooting the photo that is the subject of this post, when I was still fairly new to this railfan photography business, I had an outing that I can remember to this day. A big part of the memory is the frustration I experienced by making some dumb mistakes while trying to capture train images in digital form. On September 30, 2009, I was reminded of these dumb mistakes because I repeated one of them.


The ugly image above is the best I was able to recover from a hopelessly overexposed raw file that was planned, set up, and shot with loving care. Go ahead, click on it, if you dare. Let your mind adjust the exposure. Picture the glorious blue sky, the magnificently lit train, the slowly turning blades of the wind turbines, and the deep red barn. It nearly makes me cry just writing these words.

I don't know that there are enough electrons in the world to explain what I think caused me to do this, but what it boils down to was being in a hurry, getting overexcited, not checking things prior to shooting, and just all-around stupidity.

I had changed batteries in my camera in preparation for this shot, as I thought they had to be getting fairly low and I didn't want to be interrupted by an unresponsive camera. Thinking it might be a good idea to get some video of the train as it passed the slowly turning windmills, I inserted the old batteries into my S2, mounted it on the tripod, and aimed it in the general direction of the track. Little did I know that the general direction meant only the top half of the train would show in the video. This qualifies as a second brain fart in this comedy of errors.

In the process of changing batteries, I must have bumped the selector on the still camera to the "manual" position, from the aperture priority where I normally shoot. I had been trying some blur shots last time I shot on manual and the shutter speed was pretty slow. The results of this wrong headed move are obvious in the above photo.

It's also neat that I failed to even look at the results, heading down the road to shoot this train once more as he crossed a bridge, again horrendously overexposed. Once I discovered the error, I had a long and stern talk with myself, making it clear that whichever part of me was stupid enough to make this mistake was not appreciated by the rest of me.

Oddly enough, I was able to get some very nice photos this same day, which I will share soon. This one, though, deserves to stand on its own, as both a memorial to what might have been and a reminder to always double check your settings. Hopefully I can inspire others to avoid the fate I bestowed on myself. If even one train photo is saved by this post, it will have been worth it.

Jim

The Second Coming of 4449

On Tuesday, October 13, the SP 4449 "Daylight" steamer began its trip home from the Twin Cities area back to Portland, Oregon. Seeing as how it was using the Amtrak route, which includes the Staples Sub, to head west, it hardly seemed like a Staples Sub railfan could ignore the passage.

I had made extensive arrangements to fan the trip east in July. This time, having just returned from a week long vacation, taking the entire day off hardly seemed doable. I still wanted to get a glimpse of the engine passing through the area, though, and Mrs. L4T and I managed to sneak out on a late lunch break to wait for him in Bluffton. I figured this was the only spot nearby where I would have a chance at decent nose light, so Bluffton it was. Before we even made it out of Wadena, we came across the Wadena local posing for a photo on the siding north of the mains at the depot, so out came the camera.


After that shot we headed west. We made it to the crossing about half an hour before the crowd began to arrive. Soon after parking and setting up the video camera, a couple more vehicles pulled up. One was carrying two older gentlemen who were following the entire trip, from the Twin Cities to Portland. The rest were locals who just wanted to see the steam engine pass. I got a shot of the fans as we waited for the train.


Before the steamer showed, we were treated to the passage of a Z train the dispatcher had run around the former SP engine during the Daylight's service stop in Staples. The crew on this train probably never expected this kind of attention in the sleepy burg of Bluffton.


I had the ATCS fired up, and along with the GPS on the steam train it was obvious that we didn't have long to wait. The video camera was all ready to go, and shortly the wailing of the steam whistle could be heard approaching. I decided to try a long range tele shot down the throat as the train crossed the Leaf River bridge, and it didn't turn out too well:


I liked the results of the wedgie a lot more-this is the first sunny shot I got of the 4449, after a bunch of cloudy shots on the earlier trip.


Now that's more like it.

And then it was time to say so long to a new friend. Farewell 4449, and may you return again, soon.


I slowly packed up and watched the rest of the crowd race off to the west. Mrs. L4T, my trusty railfan companion, made the comment that chasing the engine all the way to its Portland home seemed a little excessive, and I couldn't help but agree.

We talked about the runby, and agreed that the second coming of the 4449 didn't stir the same excitement as the intial trip. It was still fun to see, and well worth taking the time out of the day, but it's hard to match a person's first encounter with a steam engine.

Jim

Tilting at Windmills (Part 1)

Everyone knows the prairie of Southern Minnesota is flat.

Isn't it? Well, if it is, it's news to the crews of BNSF trains that operate along the Marshall Sub between, say, Granite Falls and the Ruthton area where the line crosses Buffalo Ridge. This 50 miles of right-of-way rise from about 600' above sea level in Granite Falls, climbing all the way to about 1300' ASL as the line snakes through the "pass" through the hills.

I spent a few days in the area a couple of weeks ago. Part of the time featured spectacular weather, and I was able to spend my free time trackside after work. There was still enough evening light to allow some photos. My first evening, I heard the dispatcher setting up a meet at Ruthton (hooray-I finally have a working radio again!) and made it in time to see what the southbound was meeting. I think this rig has been spotted across the state at various times over the summer.


With that backlit shot out of the way, I was free to set up for a shot of the southbound as he snaked through the pass crossing Buffalo Ridge. This is one of my favorite spots in Minnesota for railroad photography, and my interest is a result of a wonderful shot by Mike Vandenberg. I still haven't been able to come close to what he has done in the area.


This southbound had another interesting feature-two what have been called "hospital cars", hauling wreck damaged covered hoppers to a body and fender shop somewhere for a little repair work. I think it's sweet how they keep the parts from the car together-wouldn't want the trucks getting separated from the carbody, now would we?



And with that, having driven much of the way to Pipestone, I headed back to Marshall for the evening and a little homework to get ready for the next day. Luckily I managed a little time trackside then as well, and will share the photos in a future post.

Jim

Armour Yellow in the PRB

(Note: I've got enough photos from the PRB area for a couple of more posts. I will also probably write something about "if you go" that talks about the experience we had, and what I would find helpful when I visit again. Until then, hopefully this UP focused feature will entertain those of you who are kind enough to visit this blog.)


Wyoming's Powder River Basin is unlike anywhere else I have ever been. It's not just the extreme level of railroad activity, but also the remoteness, the wildlife, the barren landscape. When someone who has lived almost half his life in Minnesota's Koochiching and Lake of the Woods counties calls a place remote, you can pretty much take it to the bank that it's remote.

The photo above is taken at what is a metropolis by the standards of the PRB. Mrs. L4T and I were in Bill when I grabbed a shot of this UP train passing, one of the parade of trains out the south end of the Orin line. We had headed to Bill as it was the closest approximation to civilization in the last 70 or so miles. And it turned out to be quite civilized. Penny's Diner, on the east side of the highway across from the tracks, turned out to make a mean patty melt at a very reasonable price. I think they were surprised to see customers who actually wanted to pay money for their meal, though, as the clientele seemed strongly skewed toward railroaders laying over at the attached motel. It's doubtful that Bill is high on the list of many tourists...but for railfans, it's unmatched. In this shot, the same train as shown above is passing another UP set waiting in the yard to proceed south. The Bill water tower, which carries a UP shield, accents the shot.


Fed and refreshed, it's time to head north. This trip was as much about exploration and experiencing the area as it was about photography. I actually was bypassing photos by early afternoon, in order to learn as much about the lay of the land as possible. Here's one I had to grab, as it showed the expanse of the 4 main tracks that carry up to a hundred trains a day in and out of the area.


Just a bit further north, near Nacco Junction, I met another southbound and caught him as he rounded a curve.


My last train for this post was a load headed south from Coal Creek Junction. This train was just starting the assault on what looked to be a 1%+ grade and was working hard. I stood on the overpass shooting him as he approached, the motors up front thundering as they worked to lift the train slowly uphill.


After he passed under the overpass in a haze of heat and diesel exhaust, I shot him going away. The heat shimmer off the top of these engines was impressive.

This was one of my favorite moments of the day, as the brute power involved in railroading is something that draws me to it and makes me a railfan. The closest to this experience I have had in the past is standing on one of the bridges near Hawley as coal loads grind up out of the Red River Valley, but this train was moving much slower and gave the impression of more effort being expended.


Knowing there was an S curve just south of here, we decided to backtrack a bit and get a shot as he passed through the area. I parked in the wrong spot, as there was a herd of antelope just to the left of this image and I couldn't quite work them in. The frequency of trains in this area is demonstrated by the fact that (unlike me) the antelope barely looked up as the train passed them, finally having crested the hill and beginning to pick up speed.


I don't know if any of the crews that run trains in the area will ever read this, but if they do, THANKS! The way they were willing to give a friendly wave or a toot on the horn was really classy. Across the board, they were as friendly as any train crews I have encountered, if not more so. All in all it adds up to a great experience.

Sunshine in the Powder River Basin

If your electric utility burns coal to generate electricity, I am tempted to advise you to buy a generator. It seems likely the BNSF and UP will haul all the coal in creation away by next week.

Just Kidding!!!!!

The thought did cross my mind at one point this afternoon, though, as I stood on the Wyoming Highway 450 overpass at Black Thunder Junction in gale-force winds and counted 8 (EIGHT!) trains. Those are trains I could see from where I was standing. Five of them moved during the less than 10 minutes I stood there.



If you look closely, you can see 5 of the trains in these two photos. There was one out of view to my right, loads coming from the Black Thunder Mine, and two more behind me and to my left, empties for further up the line.

From now on, three things will come to mind when the words "Powder River Basin" are uttered-LOTS of coal trains, lots of antelope, and lots of wind. The common theme is "lots". I had always heard about the volume of trains in this area, but until you visit and see it with your own eyes it's hard to really appreciate what is going on. The description on this sign sums it up pretty well.


I've got more shots that I will be processing after I get home, and I expect at least a couple of more posts with a PRB theme, but being excited about the trip I wanted to share some information right away. Here's one backlit shot I managed to squeeze out on this computer.


Until I make it home for long enough to sit down at the computer, that's all I got. I encourage every railfan to venture out to the PRB at least once and see big time railroading at its absolute peak!

Jim

PRB First Impressions

Well. It seems like there are a few locations every railfan should get a chance to visit during his or her life. Tehachapi, Cajon Pass, Marias Pass, Horseshoe Curve, The "Funnel", and UP's Nebraska main all feature some combination of scenery and traffic that put them on the list in some way, shape, or form.

Then there is the Powder River Basin. I don't think it is famous for scenery, but the traffic level has to be almost unrivaled. Plus, the newest high-horsepower locomotives from BNSF and UP (along with other lines) are featured moving heavy coal trains to utilities across the country.

This week is my chance to visit PRB country. After visits to the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, Yellowstone National Park, the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway, and the Bighorn Scenic Byway, Mrs. L4T and I arrived in Gillette, Wyoming this afternoon to spend a couple of days chasing trains in the area. (Here are some of the scenery photos.)

After checking in to a hotel I set out to find Donkey Creek Junction. Within 10 minutes I had a COLX loaded train in sight. In another 5 minutes, I was in position to see three trains moving at once. Within half an hour I had spotted about a dozen coal trains. I knew in my mind traffic would likely be heavy but this caused me to overload a bit. I didn't even know where to point the camera. Thought I would share a couple of the cloudy, snowy shots with you.


This empty was staged on the line from Alliance, waiting for a couple of loads to leave the yard.

For this last shot, I ran down a muddy county road and got an empty headed south. I just missed the tail end of the load that was moving north.


Tomorrow, hopefully, the sun will come out. You can bet we will be out looking for trains regardless of the weather.

Jim