I left Ely this last Sunday, headed for Wells across 130 miles of sagebrush, to catch the UP in action. By the time I left Wells and got to Elko, I had seen two westbounds and one eastbound, shot one eastbound at Elko, and ran into two more westbounds (one a stack train) at Wells on my way back to Ely- and all this was in a time frame of 4 hours. I now know where I'm going to railfan while I'm here in the Silver State! And it's only 130 miles or so from Ely. One question- what's the usual traffic density over the ex-SP and WP lines? And, when did the RR stop running thru downtown Elko? (Oh yes- the "stuffed & mounted" WP GP9 and bay window caboose look great!)
I can't remember the exact date but I believe it was about 1981. In case you don't get an answer from someone I will ask the retired WP Signal Eng. Who should know the date.
OK, that answers that question- now, about the traffic density.........last time I chased this line, I spotted 7 trains in 4 hours. Is this normal? I'm headed up to Wells this Saturday AM to shoot UP action, and I'm gonna try to position myself between the ex-SP and ex-WP lines.
I can't answer your train count question as it has been too long since I retired in 89 and have not been out that way since.
