Trackside with Erik and Mike, Vol. 76

[Bergie]

Hello! 

I just posted the latest installment of Trackside with Erik and Mike in our new section within the Railroad Reference area of TrainsMag.com.  Read Trackside with Erik and Mike Volume 76.

Voting for Trackside with Erik and Mike now occures at the top of the Trackside with Erik and Mike section. Click here to vote.

Please add your comments regarding this week's photos here.

Thanks!  Erik

[JoeKoh]

matt liked the bridges in the bnsf photo.but we both liked all the up engines pulling the train.

stay safe

joe

[CShaveRR]

Oh, no!  What are the complainers going to say?  A "Where-is-it?" thread (of sorts) coming from Bergie!

Edit:  I'm sure I haven't been there, but I'm singin' the Blues over the UP shot.  Nonetheless...

Had to pick the UP shot.  Better-looking track (I wish the river in the BNSF shot flowed a little faster so the taggers couldn't get to the piers on that bridge!), better-looking power, and more of it.  I could feel that train!

The "blind" voting is a good idea, at least sometimes.

[CNW 6000]

Add another vote for the UP shot.  A caption could read "UP Thunder" perhaps.  Neat!

[IRONROOSTER]

I voted for the UP shot.  The grafitti and the billboard detracted from what otherwise would have been a great BNSF shot.  The UP shot didn't have the distractions and was a really nice shot looking down the rails in the front of the train.

Enjoy

Paul 

[WSOR 4025]

Mine is a fourth vote for the UP shot. Even with the warbonnet and the bridge in the BNSF shot, the BNSF shot had its downsides:

• Graffitti
• The big , in my opinion ugly billboard
  
•  The telephone poles
• The highway

The UP shot really had the feel of heavy-duty railroading.

[samfp1943]

MIke or Eric?

Eric or Mike?

Eeney,meeney,miney,mo......

                        Both good shots, but which to pick?

                                                          Eeney,meeney,miney,mo....

                                                                                      Eric wins! 

[Anonymous]

How did you know which one was Erik's?

[blhanel]

UP Mega-Power wins my vote.

As Tim "The Toolman" Taylor would say, "Argh, argh, argh"! 

[DennisHeld]

Like everyone else, I voted the UP shot. The BNSF shot had too much sky and that billboard. I didn't mind the graffeti. But it was distracting. The UP was a nice shot of power with a clean background. My only problem with it is the train could have gone another 10-20 feet before the shot.

[edblysard]

Went with Uncle Pete also...

Only thing to knock is the debris on the left of the photo, but then I am used to "track junk" so...

The BN bridge shot just didn't light any fire...too much background and not enough train.

My eye kept getting drawn to the billboard for the water park instead of the train.

 

 

[CShaveRR]

Don't you work in a water park, Ed?

[UnionPacificVic]

Nice shot of the Blue Mountains, Mike.  I know exactly where that spot is! (or if it's not the Blue's, there's a spot just like it in the Blue's.)

[Railfan Alex]

How did you know which one was Erik's?

Because Mike spilled the beans by posting his photo on his website!

Sorry Mike, but Erik got the vote!

[jimbo]

So I'm looking at photo #2 and all I see is the river, the bridge and that huge "WATERPARK" SIGN and I'm thinking "where is the train?"

Then I look at photo #1 and I think "my gracious look at all that power!!!"

No contest.  Photo #1 is by far the winner.

Jim H

Gaithersburg, MD (not too far from the CSX line to Brunswick)

[Noah Hofrichter]

The BNSF shot (which I'd guess is Mike's photo) is interesting to me because I'm pretty sure I know exactly where it is. It's the CP's bridge over a river in Milwaukee, WI, just North of Miller Park (the place where the Brewer's baseball team plays). Mike has shared photos in this collumn of trains on it before, but not from this angle. The bridge looks the same, though the river is swollen up a lot compared to normal, no doubt because of the large amount of rain we've had around here in Wisconsin lately.

The second thing that makes the photo interesting to me is that there's a BNSF train running through it. Like I said, it's CP track, but with the washouts on the BNSF and CP near La Crosse, WI and Winona, MN the BNSF detoured on the CP for a few days from La Crosse to Chicago. So from that standpoint it's a relatively unique photo. BNSF in Milwaukee isn't as common, and usually only as run-through power.

Noah

 

[PGW1047]

I voted, in the minority so far, for the BNSF picture.  it has lots of interesting elements besides the locomotives:  the tall billboard, the interstate highway interchange, the graffiti on the bridge.  These combine to make the photo edgy and a bit gritty, but interesting.

[jrhambone]

How can anyone vote against a War Bonnet paint job?

[Rex Beistle]

The destructive work of disrespectful and uncaring vandals, combined with the intrusive nature of the monster sign in the background take so much away that what is left of the BNSF picture is of no consequence.

From Colorado

[asnjoe24]

Nice move to revert back to blind voting. I myself have always made my votes by judging the picture rather than who took it, but blind voting does an extra element of suspense, I think.

The rural feel of the UP photo appeals to me, with some degree of side perspective added with the slight curve in the track, allowing one to see the paint scheme of the lead SD70M. The lighting is very nice, making look like an overcast early morning. A fantastic shot.

But admittedly, the BNSF photo appealed to me a little bit more, mainly because of the red and silver BNSF center engine (haven't seen one of those in my area in a while) and the spine intermodal consist. The slight fading of the engine also reminds me of most of the engines I see in my area, which are usually dirty and/or heavily faded. The similarity to my area just caught me with this picture, and so the BNSF photo won my vote this week.

- Bryan

[Anonymous]

8 ENGINES!!! Holy moley Batman!! what in the world were they pulling? outstanding find!!  very clear.

[Indiana Short-line Fan]

OK - Sorry, but this was hands-down easy.  Photo one is a clear cut winner with its seven UP units pulling hard and in command of the grade.  The photo draws your eyes straight into the heart of the matter, a hard working crew doing their job!  Beautiful!

Photo two is nice - however it is too busy.  The large advertisement billboard in the center of the photo and the graffiti on the bridge piers detract from the BNSF Hot-Shot hustling it's cargo to its destination.

Great work gentlemen and congratulations to the photographer of number one, in my opinion at least, a clear-cut winner.  I like this format of voting as well, keep it up!

Dave in Greenwood, IN

[edblysard]

Yeah, with all the rain, seems the swamp is rising...

Hope it holds off till tomorrow afternoon, I want to watch the lunar eclipse tomorrow morning, and if it gets any higher, the gators will get out again.....

Don't you work in a water park, Ed?

[dreams]

I loved #1, all that power!!  I think I would have liked the camera about 10 feet or more to the left to see the trailing power and cars better.  I liked #2 very much.  I'll have to try to find that spot.  However, I am somewhat colorblind and the front end power blended too much into the background and the pix seemed a little fuzzy.  Still enjoyed it, tho. - Chuck 

[kruser]

I like the BNSF picture for all the reasons most everyone else doesn't. The busy, distracting elements are what tells the story. The UP photo has all the elements of a typical top rail photo: beautiful scenery, perfectly maintained track, well positioned, powerful locomotives, etc. It's a nice shot but it tells little of what railroading is today. For most of us, we are not out in pristine mountain settings very often. The railroading most people experience day to day, if they notice it at all, is almost lost in the gritty urban cacophony of billboards, interstates, dirty rivers, weeds, graffiti, etc. The flattening effect of the 15mm lens increases this "lost" effect very well. Good photo journalism should show the warts as well as the polish if it is to tell the whole story.

Karl Ruser

Minnesota 

[Modelcar]

....Both photos are nice and clear.  I must vote for photo no. 1

No. 1 is all railroad at rugged work....Believe it's 8 engines up front.

Photo no. 2 is a nice sharp photo too, but too much distraction of non railroad stuff.

[Anonymous]

Wow both photos were great but I got to say the UP was just to much.  Did count that right, 7 UP Loco's?

[StephenDx]

I like the BNSF shot as it shows more of the environment of where the train is working. I'm not a fan of graffiti but this shot shows that the paint was applied when the channel was dry. It also shows that there has been an attempt to remove/cover over previous efforts of graffiti artists.

The UP shot is a great country shot, but the head-on nature means that there is not a lot of train showing. 

[Rocket Man]

I'll vote for Photo #1 hands down. #2 was too busy and frankly unappealing. As far as guessing where the photos were taken. I'll take a wild guess and say photo #1 was Professor Bergstrom, east of Rollinsville on the Moffat Route, with a Canon. Thanks for doing the "blind" contest again!

[BillKi]

Great pictures but UP has it this time. A much sharper shot but what sold it for me was that the UP photo doesn't suffer from all the distractions of colour as in the BNSF. That's one decent number of engines. I can't wait to know what was behind them that required that many. Great stuff fellas.