:teeth:During last weekend's photo special, I did something I always wanted to do, just shoot the guys (and gal, in this case) going about our hobby of rail photography. Also caught some crew members in action. This will be a narration, and I hope you will tolerate my ramblings. First shot is at the Sumpter Valley, White Pass event. The gent at the left is Tim Bain, General Manager of the SV. Like all the volunteers, he gets out and works. He's in contact by radio with the engine crew, instructing them of our wishes for the first runby. Not everyone is ready, judging by the group there. After the first runby, we all piled into the open gon used to transport us. It was uncoupled before each runby and recoupled after. Our lady railfan is at the far end of the car on the right. Nils Huxtable and Jim Speaker are among the others. At one of the very neat reflecting ponds, the fans are settling in on their favorite spots for a shot. Nils is hustling off, presumably to the "dark side" that he prefers. Martin Hansen and Lloyd Palmer are getting serious about their setup. At this mountain of dirt, filled with holes that the swallows have made, Martin told everyone that it was possible to get up there. Most of them did. I stayed down on earth, and was glad I did, as the wind came up and doused the fans and their cameras with dirt. Railfanning is fun! This photo will show up in the next message.
More Railfanning A couple of days later we were in Chehalis, WA. Most of the guys were scheduled to head to the Mt. Rainier Scenic the following day, when Nils received news that a regular revenue train had damaged the trestle there, the one right outside the yard. The MRSR would be unable to get the two scheduled steamers, 2-8-2T #17, Hammond Lumber, and Climax #10 out of the yard. Here is Nils refunding money to the fans. The man in the center had travelled from Germany for this special. Nils was not having a good day. He had locked the keys to his rental car in the trunk. Fortunately his camera gear had already been removed. Tow truck call, courtesy of cell phone from the crew. Nils has no cell phone, no email. Later in the day, out at the end of the line, the troops were relaxing between runs across the long trestle there. Jake, from England, shielding his eyes from the sun, has just weeded the entire right of way by hand. If anyone would like to see this continued, I have more.
I'd like more. I often take "behind the scenes" photos myself...not so much of trains but other things I do. It's fun to document the mundane bits that go into getting the great photos.
I encourage all of you to do the same. You will see many examples of looking behind the scenes in the "More Than Trains" forum.
Crew Shots I am having fun with the fonts, options, etc. Hmm, wonder why this isn't red and bold? No matter. On to crew shots. Here on the Sumpter Valley, late in the day, we were kind of tired after hiking through the rock tailings, climbing hills and generally getting more excercise than normal. Here is our afternoon conductor, whose name I failed to get, helping Tom Shultz by taking some of his gear as he "de-trains" from the caboose. [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=Black][FONT=Arial Black] Ok, something has gone wrong. I can't paste, after copying the file location on RI. I also tried to upload it directly from my computer, but I get "File size 117K exceeds 100K limit", so I'll go figure out how to overcome this. [IMG]http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/522/wp047.jpg
On to the Cowlitz, Chehalis and Cascade. I got to the CC&C at about 10 in the morning, and the show wasn't to start until 1 PM. I found the facility, and found Harold Borovec, Andy Rose, and Dave La Clair mounting up a speeder. I introduced myself to Harold and he invited me to accompany them on a track inspection. One microsecond of thought, and I decided YES!. Harold is contacting the dispatcher with today's comm device, cell phone. Out on the trestle at the end of the line, there is concern over a log jam against the abutment, which will have to be dealt with, but not today. On the way back, Andy trimmed some trees, and cut this one down, as it was an obstruction to the photo op, and it was dead. OK, be back in a few hours with the real good stuff.
Crew running the train About Noon, most of the rest of the photographers showed up. They found Harold "oiling around," as all good steam engineers do. I have to go back in time for a moment, to show you the speeder we were riding. Forgot to put it ahead of this. Now we are ready to leave. Harold is taking care of business, getting all of us loaded into the caboose. We spent hours out on the line, and it was partly cloudy. Lots of holding to wait for the sun for a given runby, only to have it blocked by the cloud. Anyway, too soon it was over, and Nils had the crew pose for some shots for his future publications. This was a neat thing, Harold and his fireman conversing.
End of the trip It is hard to believe that these great experiences have to end, but so this one did. It was late in the day, and a "glint" shot presented itself. I hope you have enjoyed my rant. I love doing these trips, and the reasons why are as follows: And I couldn't let this end without a shot of the John Deeres, another restoration project. I had too much fun. Looking forward to the next one.
Jim- Great photos! :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: Any further information about that trestle damage? Which one? Boxcab E50
Ken, I was told it was the one "right out of the yard" and I don't remember one being there, it was more like a mile down the line. Unless they moved the engines to some other "yard" I don't know what trestle it is. :sad: Thanks for the comments.
Ken, this pic's for you. The boxcar two forward of the Milw one is also Milw with outside bracing, old. According to Martin Hansen, the trestle at Murray Switch is the one in question. That still doesn't help me to know where it is in relation to the yard. :sad: Hope this shows up, as it says it's 105K in RI, and 100 is the limit.
Here are a few from me. I was on vacation visiting family in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The doubletrack CSX mainline (near Broad Street)was being worked on. They were replacing ties, tie plates, and placing new spikes. I was in my rental car taking pics and got a visit from a foreman. He stated that "the guys are a little freaked out" about me having a camera and scanner. They thought I was from the FRA, or from CSX, keeping track of their work ethic. I told him I was "just a railfan, enjoying the view". That settled his mind enough, and he went back to work. Enjoy! I certainly did.
David, good stuff. Some of that new (to me) MOW equipment is pretty awesome. Replaces a bunch of hand laborers, doesn't it? :teeth:
Yeah, the only "extra" hands working were the two guys with the Sledgehammers that made final setting of the spikes.
TRESTLE Guys... The trestle is nowhere near the Murray Switch. The Murray Switch is on the Mount Rainier Scenic, about 50 miles away, and is the switch that leads from the mainline to the Murray yard / Mineral Shops complex. The trestle Harold is inspecting is at Ruth. Was on it saturday, I didn't fall in the river, survived to tie up and go off duty at 7:30 so I'd say, no damage, perfectly safe and healthy. FYI there is a trestle just beyond the yard at Chehalis. It crosses the Newaukum.
Alexander, if you go back to page one and Nils' problems, you will see a reference to the cancellation of the following day's activities at MRSR, due to the Murray Switch trestle damage there. Sorry for the confusion with the pic of Harold surveying one of his trestles. :teeth:
