Hi WP2006 and Chad Thomas ( and SPbed , I bet you're there )
I got to see Keddie wye , all went well. Your information was exactly right on the location and accessing good photo locations. There is a well worn track on the other side of the armco guard rail obviously from railfans. Someone has even chained and locked a fold out plastic chair to a tree overlooking the wye. We saw 2 trains late one afternoon just before sunset , both BNSF's , one in each direction . They treaded very gently over the bridge allowing plenty of photos . The next morning we got 2 more trains , another southbound BNSF and a UP eastbound with 4 SD40's that must have been at maximum speed over the bridge. We didn't get as much time as we wanted there cause we has a lot of laces to cover , , , , Portola proved a huge surprise and a massive amount of luck. We were driving into town looking for a sign to the museum and sure enough found one pointing to the left (?) obviously accross an overpass with tracks below. I took the turn and could see on the left a DD40 , , my first thought was " Hey they keep their DD nice and shiny " , , , as we went closer the DD was at the end of the yard with a UP SD & Dash 8 on a train. Look a bit closer and I swear I could see a slight exhaust haze from the DD , , , , , Huh ???? , , I've gotta get my eyes checked !!!! Luck was really with us , it was UP's remaining living DD40 #6936 and it was shunting off the main line into the yard. I got some nice video and dad got plenty of stills. We had tried to talk a friend who is a huge UP fan into coming on the trip with us and he is greener than a BN loco with envy now.
I'll write again soon guys
PaulDannenberg wrote: Hi WP2006 and Chad Thomas ( and SPbed , I bet you're there ) I got to see Keddie wye , all went well. Your information was exactly right on the location and accessing good photo locations. There is a well worn track on the other side of the armco guard rail obviously from railfans. Someone has even chained and locked a fold out plastic chair to a tree overlooking the wye. We saw 2 trains late one afternoon just before sunset , both BNSF's , one in each direction . They treaded very gently over the bridge allowing plenty of photos . The next morning we got 2 more trains , another southbound BNSF and a UP eastbound with 4 SD40's that must have been at maximum speed over the bridge. We didn't get as much time as we wanted there cause we has a lot of laces to cover , , , , Portola proved a huge surprise and a massive amount of luck. We were driving into town looking for a sign to the museum and sure enough found one pointing to the left (?) obviously accross an overpass with tracks below. I took the turn and could see on the left a DD40 , , my first thought was " Hey they keep their DD nice and shiny " , , , as we went closer the DD was at the end of the yard with a UP SD & Dash 8 on a train. Look a bit closer and I swear I could see a slight exhaust haze from the DD , , , , , Huh ???? , , I've gotta get my eyes checked !!!! Luck was really with us , it was UP's remaining living DD40 #6936 and it was shunting off the main line into the yard. I got some nice video and dad got plenty of stills. We had tried to talk a friend who is a huge UP fan into coming on the trip with us and he is greener than a BN loco with envy now. I'll write again soon guys
The 6936 is spending about three weeks there but will be gone back home soon. It was used to move the Portola equipment up to Dunsmire for their railroad days about two weeks ago and returned the museum train back to Portola. Glad you got to see it.
It was all over all of the train web.
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