My Troublesome shots are nowhere near as good as Mike's but here they are. So why did the railfan cross the road? To get the better shots of course! Ben
One last stop at Yarmony before we loose daylight. This concludes my photos from our trip. I hope that we can do another trip soon! Ben
Ben, the rest of mine were so bad at Troublesome, I didn't even take the time to upload them! And all my shots of the evening coal train at Yarmony were blurred. Camera upgrade time. All in all it was a super fun day chasing trains with Ben on the old Rio Grande!! Thanks again for everything, can't wait till next time! The next day I headed back to AZ and was hoping to catch something at Crescent Junction or on the line to Moab, but alas, this was all there was. Mike
You're welcome Mike! Let me know when you are heading back this way. How about Soldier Summit next time? Any other suggestions? It looks like you caught both the mill tailings container train as well as the Potash local at Crescent Jct. Ben
A loaded east bound crossing the 30 Road bridge. Amtrak passing Mount Garfield. My son and I headed out along the Montrose Branch. Here we noticed a new sign that was put up since we were last there. Ben
Also it appears that a Rio Grande fan has been adding to their tagging / artwork. Our last stop along the Montrose Branch was at Rattlesnake Gulch where we caught and empty coal train. K3ndawg were you running this one by chance? Ben
Those are some great shots Ben! Sorry to say, I was furloughed on the 22nd. Several of us were told it would Feb/March before traffic picks up enough to get us back to work. So, I'm back in Denver with the family. I think I'll just plan on "winter vacation" for the next couple of years. Keep it positive. I'll see if I can get some shots of North Yard or 36th Street Yard in the next couple of days. Might be a fun excursion for me and the boy. EDIT: On an operational note, you may notice that the trains are now 1x2 (one lead and two helpers) eastbound to the mines. It's a new thing management is trying. Seems like it would be easier than swapping ends in the snow at the mine.
I'm sorry to hear that you were furloughed. Hopefully traffic will pick up soon so you can go back to work. I am looking forward to seeing what you and you son capture in the Denver yard! Also thanks for the explanation on the 1X2 setup. I found it to be a little strange to see the train running that way last week but now it makes since. Ben
How about a few local photos? A loaded coal train approaches the Grand Junction yard. Several weeks ago we got the local switcher headed back to the yard. As it approached the yard it stopped and then coupled up to a tanker and proceeded to push it back into the yard. Nothing like switching from both ends of the loco! Ben
Yesterday morning my son and I hurried to catch this west bound before it left town. The weather was not the best for photography but me had the itch to catch a train. Ben
Finally today brought us better weather and we were able to catch the local switcher just after they had dropped off some covered hoppers at the local cement plant. Ben
Hmmm. That might be the best word I have seen so far describing railfan reaction to refugees from patches, or worse, of those many ingested companies.
