An indecent occurred last month when the 844 was heading down into Texas. A well known railroad book author and video producer was following the special, shooting video from a car window with a good friend driving. They were pulled over by the police. Another car with another friend pulled up and stopped behind the patrol car. The guy grabbed all his gear and got into the following and left his first buddy to get the ticket while he continued to follow the train shooting. Talk about contingency planning.:camera::film2::eh-laugh:
A great tip! It's not bad to pace the engine, and get some shots, but at least give the next guy in line a chance at it! I can guarantee you that in NE, the UP can really highball. And I'm talking freight. Steam can go faster. Faster than you should dare to go on I-80, much less US 30. I was driving down I-80 in central NE several years ago, following the UP racetrack, and while driving 75MPH, I was passed by a freight. You really have to have steel cajones and a vision of traffic court to pace and overtake in NE.
The last shot in this video, 844 overtakes us in less than 50 seconds! She was booking! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwQtteJywwo
Sounds like this was well rehearsed, like it had been done previously. If so, he probably did this as a normal part of operating. Writing off the ticket and insurance costs as a business expense. :tb-wacky: Boxcab E50
Man, I miss that engine. *snif* 844 will really fly when those 80" drivers get going. Those siderods are really moving in that last shot. I estimate 60-70 MPH in that closing scene.
You got me curious... I went back to the raw footage I had to time the drivers, they made one revolution every 7 frames. At 30FPS that's about every .233 seconds, which puts her turning ~15450 revolutions per hour. The 80 inch drivers have a ~251 inch tread, times 15450 turns makes her running 3883179.39 inches per hour, or roughly 61.28MPH! Nice guess work Hemi!!
Sadly, Lynn Nystrom, who was probably running in many of the videos and stills of 844 and 3985 published here, died suddenly last night. God rest your soul, Lynn. :tb-sad:
RIP, Mr. Nystrom. I'm sure you and Watash will be having a great time swapping stories for eternity...
Wow. Some very good discussion and helpful tips here. Thanks, all! A followup / extension question: I mostly have access to tracks and facilities in an urban setting. Any suggestions or tips specific to that area that haven't already been covered in the more general stuff? Also, and feel free to point me at existing threads... what about a good, basic, no-frills handheld scanner? Something just to get started with?
TwinDad, Urban settings are, in some ways, even easier for railfanning than suburban or rural settings, and the reason for that is that there's so much public right-of-way in the form of streets and sidewalks that it is not usually hard to get a good view. For scanners, I have a RadioShack 80something handheld. I got it off Craigslist. It's a 200 channel scanner. What I did was program into five of the 20 channel banks every AAR frequency, and then in an additional bank I programmed the most often used AAR frequencies in my area. If I am railfanning locally I simply turn on only that bank, and that way I am not scanning a bunch of blank frequencies. I have seen a need for trunking, yet. People have all sorts of opinions on this sort of thing, but I haven't had any major issues or problems getting frequencies with my little 15 dollar special. The only thing I would perhaps want in a newer scanner would be an increased ability to pick up signals from further away. I don't know if that is related to power or antenna or a little of both. Adam
One problem with Urban settings is that they are more likely to be blocked by security fences. For instance, there are only a few good angles of UP's Proviso Yard in Melrose Park Illinois and those from overpasses. And I wouldn't relish trying to get shots of Corwith Yard in Chicago both from a personal safety and viewblock situation.
Thanks, Adam. I'll check RS and Craigslist... $15 sounds like a good deal to get started. As for picking up more distant signals, that's all about antenna design and receiver quality/sensitivity. Unfortunately, that also means it's all about $$$ and you get what you pay for. Power only comes into play on the transmit side. So if you can convince your local railroad to upgrade their transmitters, you're golden!
I think mine is the Pro-83. I just went to a site that shows several pictures of different RS scanners and the Pro-83 looks like the one I have at home. It has that antenna mount where you can swap out antennae. I took the rubber whip that came with it off and got a telescoping antenna from Radio Shack. I would rate this scanner as pretty good with the warning that I have very little direct experience with scanners so I don't know the full range of features, sensitivities, etc.
I went into Agpro (Chemurgic) today in Turlock, California. The home of the Turlock and Western stub. I went to the office, and identified myself as a railroad writer/photographer, and asked for permission to shoot the vintage equipment they had on the premises. The employees were quite friendly, and they had an employee (Who also drives their locomotive) accompany me for security purposes. I thanked both the office employees, as well as the employee who accompanied me whilst I was shooting. I also sent an email to the boss, thanking him for allowing me to shoot on their property. I also promised a link to my article when published early next week. The key was being polite. If they had said no, I would have had to shoot from the street through chain link fence. I also would have missed out on a few of the close ups I got, as well as some interesting information about the GE 40 tonne switcher that they have on property and is still active. Unfortunately, the person who runs the adjacent rail graveyard was not available to allow me access to that. But, the information I got on who to speak to should help with that in the future. After the holiday weekend, I will have an article and slideshow published based on what I saw, and it's history as a stub of the Tidewater Southern, and its connection to the current Tidewater Subdivision of the Union Pacific. To make a long story short, I have to say that being polite goes a long way. I was shooting a local UP mainline and stuck up a polite conversation with one of the workers and the didn't give me no flack. I plan on contacting the MET to see if I can get their cooperation for a shoot, having a media background may help open the doors, but The key is to be polite, IMO.
I know this is late,but this is the scanner I use: http://wiki.radioreference.com/images/thumb/f/ff/Pro-528.jpg/150px-Pro-528.jpg and this is the antenna I also use(even when I'm at home,I want a big outdoor antenna,just don't know what to get!): Motorola Railscan Gain Antenna - Motorola Two Way Radio Dealer Railcom Memphis Tennessee It has a range of about 10 miles in any direction when it comes to hearing trains,but I can pick up the dispatchers with no issues at all. If the conditions are good,I get even better range. When the weather is just right(on rare occasions),I can hear CSX over on the Main Line Sub,about 15-20 miles from my house. Typically at home it's the CSX dispatcher,occasional PAL,and R.J. Corman's operations on the Bardstown Line here at home and the Central Kentucky Line. I prefer railfanning out in the country compared to the city,since there's quite a few undesirable types in the city. Nearly every time I've been in Louisville to watch trains,I've had no issues at all.(Sans a UofL cop asking me if I was photographing their stadium,and getting involved in an auto accident on UofL campus)
The Right People to ask If it was me, I would ask people whom are fellow railfans, whom work for the railroad, that can get onto rr property. And ask them to take you onto railroad property.
