Bummer for a RailFan

[Anonymous]

Three stories - all about photography, one just a few weeks ago and the other two, 15 or so years ago.

Related to 'macguy's story about these new digital cameras a few weeks ago I was in Missasagua, Ontario Canada (about 15 miles west of Toronto), freezing my butt off and waiting to take some pictures of Canadian Pacific, when I hear a train approaching. Being not familiar with the area I really wan't paying attention to the scanner and I had no signal to help me out, only a grade crossing a littl ways away. I jumped out of my car, turned the camera on, ran out to the tracks and saw in the distance a 3 engine train just about to hit the curve (would have a been a great picture) with a StL&H on the lead, a white SOO in the middle, and a CP on the back.

Usually, after I have taken the last picture, I always review it via the LCD viewer to see if it is a 'keeper' or not, but I usually like to shoot via the view finder. Putting the camera to my eye, showed nothing (the LCD was on). I switched to non-LCD mode and put the camera to my eye - I saw the last picture I took - UGH!! Ofcouse, by the time I got it together, the train had flatened out on the curve and my picture of CP mixed consist was 'NOT' a keeper. I learned my lesson to always leave the camera 'ready-for-action'.

The second story was one day during the beginning of Desert Storm and I was taking pictures in Altamont Pass (close to Livermore, CA or about 60 miles from San Francisco). I had a Nikon FM camera with a 70mm-210mm zoom on it when I heard a UP coming. I was positioned on the top of this small rise where a siding begins. Around the corner comes a 4 engine consist (rare for UP) - click goes the camera, or really a half-click (that feeling that you are out of film). I thought I had a 36 shot roll in when I really had a 24. All the engines had flags flyings on them as behind the consist was flatcar, after flatcar of tanks and other military equipment. Great memories, but no pictures.

Last story was shooting a picture of SP4449 during the California Rail-Fair of 1991 (90 or 91 - I can't remember). The engine was traveling between Oakland and San Jose and I was standing close to a flower field, on the edge of the Railroad bed, along with a few other railfans, around the border of Hayward and Union City. I had an Old English Sheepdog that had been born deaf and had been trained by hand signals. He was very good and obediant and he had been 'commanded' to lay-and-stay and he was a constant companion with me when I went train watching. Along comes 4449 about a mile away and my camera is clicking and clicking and I am getting great pictures but as the engines gets closer the ground starts to shake. I had never been the close to the rails when a steam engine went by under steam. I didn't want to, but I had to look down to make sure my sheepdog was still laying down as the ground was really shaking now, and since I looked down - I blew the last shot. I wiggled the camera, and had moved the camera a little off-center, and it was ugly. The dog never moved - great train dog, but have never had a chance to be that close to thundering live steam again.

[bnsfkline]

No Bummers for me, I have 3 cameras Ready to go, used to shoot alot of video. My closest thing to a bummer is not getting UP3300 on Video, but I am rather happy that I got in film.

[Anonymous]

My railfan bummer is similar to jhhtrainsplanes:

I live only about a half-mile from the KCS's tracks. It is all field between us, but a deep dive in the land to a small creek means it's too steep to farm, so it isn't cleared. All I can do is listen to the train blast off long-long-short-long horn blasts. So, in winter, I just walk across the fields to see a train, which usually comes in the morning and afternoon.

[AltonFan]

Some years ago, the Canadian Pacific installed new fences near the former Milwaukee Road Bensenville diesel house. Where the old fences where simple chain-link fences that allowed passers-by on Green Street to get a good up-close look at the engines and the facility without tresspassing. The new fences had plastic or metal strips woven into the chain-link fencing that completely blocked visibility. Later on, they tore down the whole locomotive facility, and built a new one within the yard, well away from railfans' eyes.

[Bummer, heavy sigh.]

[Anonymous]

I thought about making a new thread and calling it, "I was an idiot today" but decided nobody would post there but me. [;)] [B)] [}:)]

Today I went to the UP Open House. I finished shooting one role of film and even took pics and finished another roll of film while there. On the way home I noticed a train. It was behind me so I couldn't get its loco number. I drove ahead and found a place where I could sit and watch the train. I parked near a curve and had wanted to take a pic from that location so I got out the camera and waited for the train. When the train came around the corner I was ready and just as it got to a good spot I clicked the button. Nothing happened. So I tried one more time. I had finished the roll but didn't want to change the rolls in the bright sunlight and was waiting till I got home to change it. Now the engines were past me and I didn't even get their numbers. So I had to drive somewhere else to get at least one engine number. Not only is that a bummer to happen it sure makes you feel stupid. [B)] [:0] [:(]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

I thought about making a new thread and calling it, "I was an idiot today" but decided nobody would post there but me. [;)] [B)] [}:)]

Today I went to the UP Open House. I finished shooting one role of film and even took pics and finished another roll of film while there. On the way home I noticed a train. It was behind me so I couldn't get its loco number. I drove ahead and found a place where I could sit and watch the train. I parked near a curve and had wanted to take a pic from that location so I got out the camera and waited for the train. When the train came around the corner I was ready and just as it got to a good spot I clicked the button. Nothing happened. So I tried one more time. I had finished the roll but didn't want to change the rolls in the bright sunlight and was waiting till I got home to change it. Now the engines were past me and I didn't even get their numbers. So I had to drive somewhere else to get at least one engine number. Not only is that a bummer to happen it sure makes you feel stupid. [B)] [:0] [:(]

That reminded me of a Far Side cartoon.

The lady is standing in the cartoon with her arm around an ailen, then the husband is standing there with his camera wide open exposing the film, then the husband is standing there saying, "Yeah, that camera's loaded."

[:D][:)][:D]

That Gary Larson was hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Going for a walk and not taking your camera and seeing the SW-12OO,s of NB Southern Railway heading west with 6 piggy backs.the former conrail
units are beautiful to hear but to photograph them so..bring camera always and
extra film.

Look Listen and Live

David Brown

[espeefoamer]

After Railfair 91 in Sacramento,was riding a UP trip to Portola.This was a doubleheader with 844 & 3985. Westbound the diesel was removed at Oroville,running steam only to Sacramento.We waited at the loading area near the South Sac'to. yard.We waited for over an hour. The train was late. It was raining.When the train arrived,there was a GE dash 8 attached.One man remarked,"This is NOT a load of happy campers."[:(!]

[espeefoamer]

The absorbsion of the mighty Southern Pacific into the Big Yellow Sponge.[:0][:(!][:0][:(!][:(!][:0][:(!]

[Anonymous]

The number of the train I tried to get a photo of was UP 4582 and the second unit was a GATX in BN green/black but I couldn't get that number. [:(] [:(!] [V]

[Anonymous]

I was on the way to work today and stopped in KFC for some lunch to take to work. When I came out I heard a train honking for a crossing. I knew I had to hurry to catch it and get the number and railroad for the "Recently I Saw" thread. Naturally I hit EVERY red light between me and it and was even going out of the way to try to get the numbers and such. I could see the smoke rising as I was trying to catch it. I had one last opportunity to catch it. The road bends and the view is blocked by trees before the last crossing so I needed to make this last stoplight with a green to have ANY chance at all. Guess what? NO SUCH LUCK ! [:(!] [:(!] [:(!] The stoplight was red. Above the trees I again see the smoke rising but can't see the train. How does that line go, "Can't see the forest for the trees." Well I couldn't see the train because of the trees, AND catching every light red. Just my luck. [:(!] [:(!] [:(!] Getting through one red light without having to stop would have made all the difference but Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. [:(] [V] [:(] [V] [:(] I get red for EVERY light. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. [8] [B)] [8]

[refarkas]

Another railfan and I were in a small town in Ontario waiting for a steam excursion pulled by CN 6218. I set my movie camera up to pan a field to get a movie of the steamer as it approached. After waiting around twenty minutes, 6218 came.
Just as I started the movie, a man popped up from his hiding place in the bushes and jogged into town beside the locomotive. I guess he was a true "train chaser."
My friend did know of another spot outside of town where I got a super shot, but I'll remember this for a long time.

[athelney]

Back in the UK at the end of steam in 1968 , at Carnforth in the NW corner , spending a morning on a footbridge photographing the last steam hauled freights . To find when I rewound the film it had not taken on the spool - hence I had a blank film - now had to return home with no steam!!

[espeefoamer]

I have no recollectionof steam.[:(]I saw steam as a baby and a very young child,but it was gone before I was old enough to remember anything.[:(]

[miniwyo]

I think I will learn from everyon's mistakes and always keep my camera with me in my truck when i finally get my camera (im buying a really good expensive one because i want to venture into photography as somthing to fall back on inf my Tech THeatre thing doesn't work out)

[Anonymous]

Yesterday while on the way to work I had "another" bummer experience. Many times I can see a train on the way to work or on the way home from work. I heard the horn honking yesterday and tried to get close enough in time to get the engine numbers. But between traffic and the train going a little faster than usual I just couldn't get there in time to see the power. [:(] But I can tell you it was a mixed manifest freight.

[spankybird]

Yesterday we waited for the CN 2618 as it was going thru Ohio. When it did go by us, as you can see, it was being pulled by a SOO Diesel, and the Steamer was in neutral. No big smoke from the stack, No barking of the cylinders.

Although it was great to see her.




tom

[Anonymous]

Tom, that is a bummer. [V]

Sorry about that. [:(]

I can email you some good pics of the 3985 if you would like to see them. [:)]

Just let me know, as I am only too happy to share them. [;)]

[Anonymous]

Friday morning I had to go to Jury Duty orientation. On the way there I crossed over the UP yard. The Main Street Bridge is within a stone's throw of the wye. Setting on one leg of the why was a UP train waiting for a green light. I quickly wrote down the engine number and put it in the storage box between the two seats of my truck. The only engine pulling this train was a single EMD unit. Funny, you never see a single GE pulling a train as it always takes at least 2 of them. Other single engined trains I have seen lately were powered by EMD also. After Jury Duty I had another appointment. It was a hectic day. Somewhere along the way I managed to lose the slip of paper with the engine number. [:(] I wrote the number down to post it in the "Recently I Saw" thread. Guess that is one post I won't be making. [:(] [V] [:(]

[Anonymous]

Can't have your cake and eat it at the same time[:(].
[bow]BNSF RAILROAD[bow]

[Anonymous]

Hay dbid1218.
That statement that you made is so DAMN true!
Your post on 03-02-04.
[bow]BNSF RAILROAD[bow]

[Anonymous]

I missed NS train 213 by an hour yesterday and 214 by an hour today, 213 had BNSF SD40-2, ATSF C44-9W, and PRR (CR) C40-8W while 214 had the same power, this time PRR C40-8W, ATSF C44-9W, BNSF SD40-2.

[JPowell]

Not having a camera when you get your 1st ride on a GP9 Diesel Engine! That's a deffinate bummer for me :-((( !!!!!!!!!

[fuzzybroken]

Speaking of CP 2816... I waited for HOURS at Waterford Avenue in Milwaukee, and my girlfriend who was s'posed to come along was MIA... Waterford provided a couple halfway-decent shots, nothing to be excited about. I went down by the depot in Milwaukee, got several decent overhead shots from the 6th street bridge. Next I hurried to Duplainville, where there was a decent-sized group of people gathered -- but Amtrak #8 (Empire Builder) spoiled that one, and there was a collective AAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!! as the 8 passed between the group and 2816.

Well, on to Oconomowoc. I figured that the depot would be a good photo prop, but a street runs in front of both tracks and depot. As 2816 approaches, so does a good-sized truck with a cherry-picker on top. He wasn't turning, so he could have gone thru, but instead he blocked several people's shots... [:(!]

Finally, I decided heck with, might as well head to Portage -- where my camera decided to go to Manual Focus only mode. [banghead] This was solved by turning it off, then back on again. (whew!) I got some great pics in Portage, finally learned to use the auto-bracket, and then wanted one more good shot, but then everybody in the crowd wanted their picture taken with the steam engine, or people would just walk right in front of me with their cameras... [banghead]

Of course, as a bonus to my patience, I got pictures of several SOO/CP engines, as well as a 3-unit set of BNSF SD75Ms!!!

The one thing that I forgot on this trip (and any other of my railfan trips) is a map or atlas of some kind. I know where the railroads go in my head, but I don't know all the roads to get there... Well, there's always hope for tomorrow... MILW 261's in town!!!

Cheers,
-Mark
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken

[Anonymous]

I was going to see the challanger one day on its UP tour, so I went to the UP Skokie Valley Mainline in Waukegan. It was supposed to run on this line. Me and my family waited and waited, and it never came. I was pretty angry. It was supposed to come through at that time, but I guessed it already passed. Bummer!

[fuzzybroken]

Well, once again... I forgot a map while chasing MILW 261 into Chicagoland, got lost, and the train disappeared from sight. [:(]

Note to self: remember the map next time!!! [banghead]

-Mark
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken

[Anonymous]

You want to hear a real bummer. A couple of months ago a Challenger, that's right, a steam engine challenger, was just twenty miles away from my home and easily viewable, for ten days, and I didn't even know it was there until the day after it left! Oh, by the way, IT WAS RUNNING UNDER IT'S OWN POWER AND WAS FULLY OPERATIONAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![banghead][banghead][banghead][banghead][banghead][banghead][banghead][banghead]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AntonioFP45

Hey guys, [:)][:D][8D]

Regarding Jhh's story. I'm curious! [;)]

Does anyone know what type of horn the UP typically uses. I know it's not the popular K5La. I've seen pictures of 3 chimers on a lot of the units. I wonder if Jhh heard a K5H or K5LA, both which according to many railfans (yes, me too) have very melodic sounds. CSX and NS use these horns on a lot of their road locomotives and of course, these units have been running on UP's tracks quite a bit in the past 2 years.

Good websites to hear and learn the differences between locomotive horns. On your search engine (I use MSN) type "Five Chime Horn Consultants" and also "Chris' Train Horns". Jhhtrainsplanes if you go to these sights, you might be able to hear what you heard recently.[tup][^]

Hope you enjoy it! Peace out!

UP uses a varity of air horns, but most typically today is the Nathan/Airchime K3LA.

[Anonymous]

Some of the UP Flag units have a nice sounding horn. [:)]

I have been too busy with work to take time out to chase or watch any trains. [V]

So I guess that is my most recent Bummer experience. [:(]

[JoeKoh]

Csx had to go around a train whose crew died because of the hours of service law.Had fun watching who goes first at the crossovers.
stay safe
Joe