It's been awhile since I popped in here. Wow! Lots of photos! Well done all around everyone! I sure wish I could have seen 4449.
Meanwhile, in my 844 thread, I mentioned a whirlwind adventure that happened to include some train action. I've finally got those shots ready to post, so buckle up! Here goes!
A fellow Pentaxian friend of mine rented a car for travel with his wife to and from Albuquerqe. He had an extra day on it, and no mileage charges, so we decided to head out on an adventure. We didn't have any specific plans when we started, other than we were going to go south and get a REALLY early start (I met him in the Tech Center at 4:00 AM).
We stopped in Walsenburg and shot the Purina Mill and the old power plant there. I won't post that stuff here, but I'll link to my gallery at the end of the post that has all the shots from the outing. While in Walsenburg, I consulted my phone and found out that we could make it to Alamosa before the San Luis and Rio Grande train left. Off we headed over La Veta Pass!
We got to town with about 15 minutes to spare. Former LS&I #18 was on the point. I was excited, because this was the first chance I got to see her since the SLRG acquired her and her sister from the Grand Canyon Railroad.
Here she is as the passengers start boarding:
And here's a nice little head on shot (though I wish the truck hadn't been there and that I had missed the other photog):
I really like this detail shot of #18:
Here she is leaving town for La Veta Pass. What is up with that bi-level dome though?!?!?! Blech!
After the train left, I got a couple of shots of the other LS&I loco -- #20, IIRC. She's a bit incomplete, LOL:
Meanwhile, I checked my phone again, and discovered that we could make it down to Antonito in time to catch one of the C&TS trains departing. Of course that's what we did!
Here's a look at the fireman checking out his train:
And here's #484 leaving town:
After that, we headed down to Cumbres Pass. We stopped by an old church along the way. When we made it over Cumbres Pass, we noticed a train headed up the mountain as we rounded Windy Point.
We turned around and high tailed it for the summit of the Pass. We caught #487 working up that tough 4% grade. I forgot how loud a narrow gauge Mike can be!:
The crew stopped to water #487:
We then headed down the road to get a couple of shots of the train as it passed Tanglefoot Curve:
I had hoped to swap the tele for a wide angle and catch the train passing some of the wildflowers on the hillside I was on. Alas, I was a little slow swapping lenses. The train passed me. I had a go at running past it. I actually was making up ground! Unfortunately, this was at 10,000 feet, though, and I simply didn't have the stamina to maintain a sprint for long enough to get the shot. Doh!
After that, we headed to Chama to eat some lunch. We thought about poking around the Chama yard (there was another steam loco steaming in the yard, which was my fifth steam locomotive of the weekend!). We ended up deciding to head down to shoot the Rio Grande river down by Taos, though. After Taos (which, unbelievably seemed to have even more hippies than Boulder!), we started working our way north again. This shot isn't rail related, but I like it, and is taken on North La Veta Pass, which is close to where the tracks transverse La Veta Pass, so I thought I'd share it:
Let's just say I'm a sucker for storm light. That's Rough Mountain and Mt. Mestas. Beyond that, we headed back to Walsenburg, and jumped on I-25 to head home. I ended up back at home a little before 8:00 PM racking up almost 700 miles and lots of photos. A busy day, but a fun one!
The rest of the images can be seen here if you're interested.
Alright, I've babbled enough. I better go set about getting some work done!