Skunked By An Outsider

[BrianS]

I don't see the attraction to so-called "foreign power" by railfans. Most of the time when it shows up it ruins an otherwise perfectly good photo. Many times I have setup for a great shot only to have it ruined by these outsiders. Here are a couple examples:

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http://railohio.photo-addicts.com/photos/up/UP4967DeshlerOH1-30-03Small.jpg

When you hear Deshler what do you think of? Most likely “Railfan Park” and "CSX." After arranging some photo props in the park, setting up my tripod and camera and waiting in the cold I was treated to an eastbound, but it came in the form of Q390, the daily UP run-through train to Selkirk. Definately not helping my photo any.

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http://railohio.photo-addicts.com/photos/up/UP8544HancockWV3-25-03Small.jpg

After a full day of 'fanning on the Cumberland Sub in West Virginia I setup at dusk at HO Tower near Berkley Springs to record one final train for the day. HO Tower is one of the last Armstrong lever towers left in the nation and still has a full complent of B&O CPL signals guarding movements. What could be better than a CSX SD50 blasting past these signals in the last light of the evening? Surely not a pair of UP SD90s... And to add insult to injury the color of the background almost entirely blends in with the locomotive.

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http://railohio.photo-addicts.com/photos/bnsf/BNSF9544DeshlerOH12-12-02Small.jpg

Back in Deshler in the winter of 2002 I was setup for a standard Deshler diamond shot. Tower, B&O CPLs, and "Corn Block" signs just scream "DESHLER!" in the photos. Of course, the only train I could catch here was a westbound Powder River coal train with BNSF power...

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http://railohio.photo-addicts.com/photos/bnsf/BNSF4707HamlerOH12-17-02Small.jpg

In Hamler, Ohio CSX serves a rather large grain elevator and services with unit trains of its own covered hoppers. Additionally, the Indiana & Ohio's DT&I Sub crosses CSX here, which has made this spot a shrine for DT&I fans for years. Setup with the famous diamond in the foreground, the large elevator and cut of CSX hoppers in the background I waited for the shot to come to me. Unfortunately I was hosed by a set of Santa Fe GEs, which definately do not show this to be Hamler. Oh well.


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What are your stories of getting hosed by "foreign" power? Surely I can't be alone in my disdain for it...

[BoxcabE50]

Brian-

It's interesting to read your observations. This being part of a pet peeve for me.

That is the general public has way to connect with railroads. No so many years ago, people from the mid-Atlantic area could identify the Baltimore & Ohio RR. Or west of the Great Lakes, the Great Northern RY. Or.... The engines and rolling stock proudly told the world who they were. The people knew what this company was, of the proud history, where it operated simply by name.

These days you have alphabet soup. Locomotives roll past with crummy patch jobs. And stencils for leasing companies. Cars vandalized beyond belief, that look like refugees from garbage dumps. Of those few major companies remaining, many just use meaningless to John Q Citizen initials. CSX, BNSF, KCS, NS, etc. graemlins/bleh.gif How creative. Four years or more of college, and this is the best you can come up with? graemlins/226.gif

Public relations today means nothing. And then the RR's are puzzled as to why people treat the company as a nuisance, etc. Well, when I pull up to tracks in Oregon, and see CSX roll past, I can only wonder- What the heck railroad is this now? graemlins/bleh.gif

graemlins/225.gif

Boxcab E50

[ 06. April 2004, 23:22: Message edited by: BoxcabE50 ]

[Johnny Trains]

Appreciate any train that you see.

Brian, your photos once again are excellent.

Stop nitpicking.

[Martyn Read]

Boxcab, NS has the words as well as the initials, but I know what you are getting at...

Well I think the Hamler shot (to name just one) is great...

Variety is the spice of life, etc etc :D ;)

[friscobob]

Gripe if you will, but my last trip to the Tower 55 site in Ft. Worth was enriched by the presence of CN power. I was more unimpressed by the patch jobs UP was doing to the SP diesels I shot in Saginaw on a Chico Sub rock train.

Off-railroad pool power is always cool to see, and is getting more so by the prevalence of rent-a-wreck leasers and patch jobs. Variety is the spice of life, so I'll take my Prilosec & keep shooting that foreign power.

BTW, great shots. Also, if your first post was tongue-in-cheek, good post graemlins/223.gif

[doofus]

I guess that the only person we have to please is ourselves. I prefer the foreign power myself. If I want to see UP power, I can go down to Kimball or Sidney Nebraska and photograph it all day long. Just another day! Not a bad day mind you. But when I can go to Kimball or Sidney and shoot an N de M on the UP, ....to me, there's a shot worth noting!!

I guess that is because the photo opportunity came me instead of me having to go out and find it.

[YoHo]

Originally posted by doofus:
I guess that the only person we have to please is ourselves. I prefer the foreign power myself. If I want to see UP power, I can go down to Kimball or Sidney Nebraska and photograph it all day long. Just another day! Not a bad day mind you. But when I can go to Kimball or Sidney and shoot an N de M on the UP, ....to me, there's a shot worth noting!!

I guess that is because the photo opportunity came me instead of me having to go out and find it. I generally agree with this.

If I want to know exactly what's on the point of every and any train I see, I can get a scanner and little knowhow.

IT's the unique that makes it the most interesting.
for example, these MRL units in Vancouver Washington

http://www.swmcmmj.com/yoho/spgm-1.3.5/gal/Trains/VancouverWa/VancouvMRL2web.JPG

Or this CN unit on Tehachapi

http://www.swmcmmj.com/yoho/spgm-1.3.5/gal/Trains/California/TehachapiBNSF23web.JPG

Of course, I'm both youngish and from Chicago, so to me, there is no such thing as power foriegn to the srea. Heck, last I checked, Wisconsin Central and CSX were operating 3 blocks form my parents house with those B&O CPL signals.

[dti407]

I live on the CSX main west of Hamler (yes, the Hamler pictured above) and I don't look forward to foreign power, unless it's not UP, BNSF, or NS.

[YoHo]

I just wanted to add that when you live near the BNSF primarily where all you see is C44s for ever and ever and ever, A little variety in paint and body style is looked forward to. UP is a little better, but Armour Yellow is not my favorite.

[friscobob]

Originally posted by YoHo:
I just wanted to add that when you live near the BNSF primarily where all you see is C44s for ever and ever and ever, A little variety in paint and body style is looked forward to. UP is a little better, but Armour Yellow is not my favorite. I live just 3 blocks from a BNSF line (ex-Frisco), which mostly hosts locals, rock trains, and a detour freight or two. We get all sorts of power, from GP38-2s to GP39-2s, GP50s, GP60s, the GP39 V and E rebuilds, plus SD45-2s and SD40-2s. Once in a while four-axle GEs and SD75Is show up. Very few of the C44s areound here- I have to go down to Saginaw to see those beasties.

[abcraghead]

Foreign power, home power, who cares? They could paint them all black and mark them with chalk if they wanted to. As long as it's steel flanged wheels on steel rail, smelling of creosote and dust and grease and dirt, I'm for it!

Besides, you can't blame UP or BNSF for screwing up the authenticity of your pictures of Deshler, unless they were hiding guys sitting in lawn chairs drinking Old English 40.

[BrianS]

Originally posted by abcraghead:
Besides, you can't blame UP or BNSF for
screwing up the authenticity of your pictures of Deshler, unless they were hiding guys sitting in lawn chairs drinking Old English 40. Sure I can! Besides, the beverages of choice in Deshler are Bud Light, Mike's, and Natural Light. ;)

[YoHo]

Iffin you had brought a Scanner, you woulda known. ;)

[Colonel]

To me they are all foreign power since I live in Australia but I love pics of all of them, once again excellent photos Brian.

[E-8]

I would be glad to see any train where I live. :(

Charlie

[BrianS]

Originally posted by YoHo:
Iffin you had brought a Scanner, you woulda known. ;) I always have a scanner, but crews don't always...

1.) Call signals
2.) Give their symbol when they call signals
3.) Give their engine number when they call signals
4.) Make an attempt to make it audible when they call signals

[HemiAdda2d]

Doofus,
You'd be amazed at the oddball stuff that comes into Cheyenne. Almost all of the oddballs I shot on UP have come from east or west, sometimes they go north to Cheyenne from Denver. I have shot CN, BNSF, CP, shortlines, among others on the E-W UP mainline. You'd see similar action, but you have to brave the boring parade of dingy Armour yellow to find the oddballs. Cheyenne is a crew change and fueling point, so almost all trains stop here. giving pleny of chances to shoot the odd stuff. The new engines trek thru here, too, so clean stuff is easier to shoot.

[doofus]

When I go out for a special shot, I plan on spending a good part of the day working to get the shot that I want. I do try to work with what has been presented to me. It may be something that I am not fond of, but I will gain some experience from the photo shoot none the less. Most of the time I don't get exactly what I am looking for anyhow. Today, I was in search of AC 4400Ws and the elusive GEVO. Yesterday, when I did not have a camera, I saw all kinds of ACs! Today, I only found one but it was a trailing unit. Not the shot that I really wanted. Oh well!!! (still no GEVO!)

I think that if you expect to get the shot that you want every time you go out on a photo shoot, you are misleading yourself. About the only way I know to get a certain locomotive or train in a photo is to actually request that the railroad supply you with necessary equipment for your shot. For 99.99999% of us, that is out of the question!

Many people don't realize how many photos get rejected each month for publication. What you may think is "classic" may get sent to the "round file" by a publisher. There are so many other things to consider than just the loco in the shot. If it pleases you, that is all that really matters. If you are trying to please someone else, that's a whole other ball game!!

Hemi, Alliance Nebraska seems to be hit and miss. One month, you will see foreign power on every third train. The next month, you won't see any but for the UP pool power for the Jeffrey Energy Center trains.