PROTOTYPE Weekend PROTO FUN! 01/01/2021

Mike VE2TRV · Jan 4, 2021

Nice beast!

There seems to be some interesting stuff behind the fence too...

PGE-N°2 · Jan 4, 2021

Mike VE2TRV said: ↑

Nice beast!

There seems to be some interesting stuff behind the fence too...
Click to expand...

Someone else posted a drone video. You can see more the interesting stuff:

Mike VE2TRV · Jan 4, 2021

PGE-N°2 said: ↑

Someone else posted a drone video. You can see more the interesting stuff:
Click to expand...

Great little collection. They've found an efficient way to load the coal in the tender.

And a colorful GP30 to boot!

Thanks for posting that.

Kurt Moose · Jan 4, 2021

Dang, that's just beautiful!!

gmorider · Jan 4, 2021

YoHo said: ↑

Happy New YEAR!

On this first day of a brand new year, I have a story...A story of frustration perfect for the last few days of 2020.

So, I had 2 weeks off over Christmas. And I managed to figure out a day to go out and do some railfanning up in the Feather River. Specifically I wanted to sit my but at Keddie with a book and catch a train across the wye.

I thought Monday the 28th would work out. But I waffled, wasn't sure if I wanted to use up the gas for the trip. (My son and wife are January Birthdays, so I'm always counting Pennies this time of year.)

But Late Sunday I commited...but I needed to get gas and I needed to charge the camera battery. Neither of which happened till Monday. I FINALLY left the house at around 10:30am. It was gray and cold, but promised to be fun. I figured I'd catch something somewhere.
Driving up CA 65, I caught a southbound train between Wheatland and Lincoln, but I refused to turn around and chase. My goal was to see something in the canyon....Passed Marysville. Always good for train counts with the West Valley and Canyon route crossing. But no, I wanted the Canyon.
I get to Oroville, I need to take a bio break and restock coffee. So I drive around to find a Starbucks that has their bathroom open. The one I find is within spitting distance of the yard in Oroville, so I drive around to take a look. Not much going on. Turn around and head back towards 70. Cross the tracks near the Fish hatchery. It's a really nice area so I stop to take some pictures and look around.

Back in the car, I decide that I might as well go up and see the dam. I hadn't been to oroville since before the Dam spillway failure a few years ago. So I drove up to the top of the dam to look around and see the new overflow.

Now this is fine. It's around 12:45, I have plenty of time...until I park at the edge of the earth fill and walk all the way out to the spillway. That walk was at least a mile round trip. It was great, saw a bald eagle even, but by the time I get back to my car it's after 2pm. Pull up google maps and Kiddie is an hour and 45 a way. I'd basically get at best 45 minutes till sunset and of course it will be dark well before that.

So, I hem and haw. The Pulgas bridges are only about 20 minutes away according to google. Done. I'll go shoot the bridges. If I see a train I see one. It's all good.

So, I get back on 70 and head up the canyon. There's a point just out of town where the railroad is up above the highway following along. Then the highway turns to the canyon and goes over the railroad. The railroad does a horseshoe around a hill and ducks back under the highway. I see nothing.
Finally I'm in the canyon. No sign of any train. I stop about 6 miles short of pulgas and shoot some scenes of the river and tracks and scars from the fires.

Focus was a bit off on this one, but that's a burned trunk of a pine of some type in this shot

No trains.

Finally I get to the bridges. I spend about a half hour driving back and forth shooting them from various angles. No sign of any rail activity.

Losing my light, I give up and turn back for home. I had a good day anyway. Lots of fun. No regrets.

So, I'm driving back. drive over the railroad as it loops around the hill, no trains.
Get on to the freeway part of 70. I glance up at the tracks and $%#$% there's PSR nightmare with doublestacks and mixed merchandise coming down the hill heading into Oroville. #$%#$ How did I manage to miss this thing? it's tail must have literally been leaving just as I got to the bridges and I just missed it.

Thinking quick I consider, I'll bolt in and set up at the Fish hatchery, that will be cool, but alas, the lights were against me. just as I round the corner I see the train shoot past the hatchery. Fine I'll chase it through town. But it's at track speed with a grade separation and I have to deal with traffic lights through the center of town. (which is nice with some nice restaurants, but....)
#$%#$%#
So I gave up. I'll get back on 70, chase it down and catch it going through the valley...except that it's nearly impossible to get back close to the tracks. There's a good bit of farms and half paved roads between 70 and the railroad south of Oroville.

$%#
fine, fine, I'll bolt back to Marysville. Climb up to the crossings at Binny and get a shot of it there.
So I drive just a little above legal limit. cursing every driver who slows me down. It's not a complete freeway so I hit the occasion light.
I make it in to Marysville. I get to Binny Junction. I pull into the neighborhood to find my favorite access spot wondering if the recent rain will make accessibility an issue. And that #$@# train is there, moving over to the west valley line to head to Roseville. @#$#@$ #$@# @#$@#.

Fine, I give up, you win. I'll head home, maybe I can catch it in Wheatland or Lincoln at least.

So I start to get into the traffic pattern going through Marysville. When low and behold the train starts to crawl. It is now at grade and has to cross a series of streets. And I'm finally getting ahead of it.

So in a last desperate attempt, I bolt a few blocks down, turn to the tracks, pull to a stop and get my phone (not camera) up just in time to snap this:

The Majesty of the Northern Sierras this ain't. But I got a picture of a train on my railfanning trip. So as Ice Cube would say. It was a good day.

(All those ASCII characters also represent words Icecube would say, but I digress)
Click to expand...

Great account! I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

gmorider · Jan 4, 2021

Candy_Streeter said: ↑

One of my favorite photos taken here in my home state. I know this spot well. View attachment 229917 Deep River Connecticut
Click to expand...

Me too! Thank you for sharing.

RailMix · Jan 4, 2021

PGE-N°2 said: ↑

Someone else posted a drone video. You can see more the interesting stuff:

Click to expand...

Nice video. Also a good look at all the barrels, totes, pallets and boxes of maintenance supplies that make great details on a model railroad. Well worth paying attention to and incuding all the "stuff" needed to run a railroad.

Mike VE2TRV · Jan 5, 2021

Candy_Streeter said: ↑

One of my favorite photos taken here in my home state. I know this spot well. Deep River Connecticut
Click to expand...

Found it on Google Earth:

Looks like they gussied up the place since Candy's photo was taken.

Candy_Streeter · Jan 5, 2021

Mike VE2TRV said: ↑

Found it on Google Earth:

View attachment 230059

Looks like they gussied up the place since Candy's photo was taken.
Click to expand...

That is it

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PROTOTYPE Weekend PROTO FUN! 01/01/2021

Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

PGE-N°2 TrainBoard Member

Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

gmorider TrainBoard Member

gmorider TrainBoard Member

RailMix TrainBoard Member

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