Morning All,
I went out chasing along the Moffat Line yesterday morning, though I'm not entirely sure why. While listening to the radio chatter, I learned that I only had two eastbounds from Denver all the way up to Kremmling. That's not a good recipe for morning shoots. Still, the snow was nice and the light was lovely, so up Coal Creek Canyon I went.
I caught one of the eastbounds in the siding at Cliff waiting for three trains -- the BNSF manifest, the Ski Train and Amtrak #5. Since he wasn't going anywhere for awhile, I was able to play around with some different shots of him. Probably the favorite was this three image stitched panorama:
There's a bigger version of that available here
I also shot more of a head on shot:
From there, I headed up to Rollinsville to see how passable the road up to East Portal was. It wasn't bad...but parking was nigh onto impossible with only two wheel drive. Because of that, I kept driving back and forth between a wide point in the road east of Tolland where I could turn around and the parking area by the old Rollins Pass. The dispatcher put the Ski Train in the siding at Rollins for #5. I had intended to shoot both of them, but becuase I was driving back and forth, I missed my opportunity to shoot the Zephyr. I timed the Ski Train better, though, and was able to grab this shot at Tolland:
I had intended to stay up there for a bit, but you can see the cloud cover already working its way over the Continental Divide. Because of that, and because I had cantor duties at church, I headed back down into town. Not a terribly productive day, but at least it was a pretty drive up there and back!
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
Chris, I am so jealous of you. Such wonderful scenery to shoot in! I lived in Boulder for a while back in the early 80's, and really loved the terrain. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to afford to shoot much. But what I did shoot, I still enjoy seeing. I anticipate the time when I will be able to get out there again with my good camera.
I really like the stitched image; was that done in photoshop?
Chris, I especially like your ski train shot....On the ski train passenger cars I see strange looking disk brakes.....Anyone know if this is unique to this train. Perhaps it's normal on some equipment and I am not aware of it....
Quentin
Great shots, Chris- the panorama has been added to my wallpaper collection!
Quentin, I've noticed those brakes myself a few years ago, when they used to borrow the ski train to run as the Hawkeye Express for Iowa home football games.
Here's a closer shot of those brakes:
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Quentin, LA Metrolink's cars also have the disc brakes outboard of the wheels--until I saw those in 2007, I'd never seen anything like it. A lot of Amtrak cars (Amfleet for sure) have inboard disc brakes. Metra's cars still have conventional brake shoes clasping the tread.
Chris, I don't know whether to shiver or drool! Nice shots!
We had a little snow this morning--enough to turn the roads miserable in time for the drive to work--our conductor didn't make it in because he was involved in a wreck that totaled his vehicle (was in the hospital, but is out now). Right now, the snow that fell is all but gone.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Evening everybody!
Very blah, and ickey day today. Didn't see a single train. Wintery mix and 32* right now. Chris: Awesome shots man. If my sences are right that's up on the UP Moffat line on the Tunnel Sub. Right? I like the Ski train, the breaks are diffrent, but I really like the shot's of the UP AC4400CW's with a coal drag! Awesome shots Budd! Also Carl, I have noticed the wheels on the Amfleets are diffent looking. How do the breaks work on these types of cars? Are the loco's the same way?
Well back to the daily grind tommorow. Today is the end of my spring break. I am just thinking positive that there is only 50 some days left in school! Were on the home strech! Mom did order my MSTS add on last night after messing up our virus software. Thank goodness it's fixed now. I got the Cajon Pass Route High Desert Rails Edition. I should be rolling down the Palmdale Cuttoff by the end of the week!
Have a good rest of youre weekend everybody!
The road to to success is always under construction. _____________________________________________________________________________ When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.
Yes, I've been aware for quite some time many passenger cars have inboard disks....but this is the first I've eyeballed the external ones...Strange looking but easy to get to to service. Actually they look a little vulnerable to me.
Modelcar Yes, I've been aware for quite some time many passenger cars have inboard disks....but this is the first I've eyeballed the external ones...Strange looking but easy to get to to service. Actually they look a little vulnerable to me.
Yah I agree. If someone wanted to sabatoge them it would be fairly easy. God forbid that ever happen thogh.
Zardoz - Thanks for the kind words. I really am spoiled to live out here. If and when you make it out this way, let me know and we'll be sure to give your photo equipment a good workout!
The panorama was stitched in Photoshop Elements 6.0. It has an automatic panorama stitcher included with it. All I had to do was do the RAW conversion and then dump the images into PSE and let it do all the hard work! One of these days, I have a 17 image panorama of College Fjord in Alaska to stitch together by that process. I'm just worried that my aging laptop might explode on me when I dump 17 14.7MP images into a panorama!
Quentin - The Ski Train cars are the only ones that I've ever seen the outboard disc brakes on, but I don't know an awful lot about passenger equipment. I do seem to remember that the Superliner cars feature both inboard discs and conventional wheel brakes. Anybody know about that?
Brian - Thanks! One of these days I will have some images for you!
Carl - The temperatures weren't too bad up there. The wind was blowing enough to make it a little brisk up by Tolland, but I still don't think it was too bad. Thanks for the comment!
Justin - Thanks for the kind words. That is indeed the Moffat Sub. The coal drag is in the Cliff siding, which is in the small town of Pinecliff, CO. The Ski Train is passing through Tolland, just a little ways east of the Moffat Tunnel.
Evening all,
I thought it was Chris. I recentley got a DVD on the Moffat line. I just got a new DVD today from Trains on The Cascade Crossin. I have yet to watch it, it is seting in front of me now. Cool day but nice,54*. Well getting ready to go on a walk with mummy. See yall later.
Back to taking pictures in the snow at night.
OK, this is what happens if it's snowing hard and you use the flash on the camera (yes, that's me, yes, that's a real railroad lantern, and yes, we were running in that mess):
This, on the other hand, is what happens if you use the available light:
That's not me with the lantern - I was taking the picture. I had the engineer kill the ditch lights and dim the headlight, or you wouldn't have seen anything else. The location was the "North Pole" for our "Polar Express" trains last December.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Lots of track, but very few trains for me today--we went on a shopping trip into Berrien County, Michigan. Saw nothing on CSX from St. Joe to New Buffalo, nothing on Amtrak from New Buffalo to Michigan City (we did see where the new station platform is being built, south of Whittaker by the tracks), nothing on the South Shore (except for a little movement around the shops--we also saw some of the new double-deck cars back in on a shop track), and nothing on the CN at Valparaiso. Our best luck was on NS at Chesterton and Porter--a couple of manifests, a coal train, and a stack train.
A question for somebody who might know such things: why would I have caught sight of a NIPSCO (Northern Indiana Public Service Company) coal train, loaded, northbound, on UP's former C&EI line south of Yard Center? Seems like a strange route for Powder River coal, so perhaps it wasn't?
Larry,
If you were on the "3um" (PM me if you want that info) the second pic you've got above would dominate in the photo contest (This Week's Photo) that is run there. Ask CopCar...usually he kicks 'em and takes names....
Dan
Larry - That second image is absolutely stunning! Well done!
Dan - LOL...I don't know about that. I haven't been doing so hot lately!
Chris,
Isaac and Deke have been tough lately! But you're up there!Busy day on CN yesterday. I must be finally getting the hang of when to see trains...I found 6 in half an hour! That includes a monster SB train. It went through the detector at MP181.1: Total Axles=514 or 124 cars with 3 units at the head end. It seemed huge as most of the trains I've seen lately have been in the 260-280 axle range.
CopCarSSLarry - That second image is absolutely stunning! Well done!
I was looking to duplicate the front cover illustration from the book "Polar Express..."
Not train related, but I spent some time playing in PSE building some panoramas from my Alaska trip last night. These are still very early versions, but I think they're coming together nicely.
Harvard Glacier in College FjordBig Version available here8 Images from my K20D/ FA 77mm f1.8 Limited Combo
College Fjord, AKBig Version available here13 Images (so far) from my K20D/ FA 77mm f1.8 Limited Combo
I know the colors are a mess...I'm working on fixing that. I also have two more images that I want to stich to the right side of the College Fjord shot. For some reason, PSE is having issues with those two. Gonna have to play a little bit more with them.
C&C are definately welcome!
Chris - how many degrees does that second picture cover? It would be phenomenal wrapping a room, floor to ceiling.
Once I get the last two shots in there, it'll be close to 180º -- maybe a little shy of that. I suspect that's part of why I'm having problems. The perspective from the sides is very different than the view straight ahead. Hopefully I should be able to add the last two in there, though, as there's a really scenic mountain just to my right.
Wow...thanks for sharing!
blhanel Great shots, Chris- the panorama has been added to my wallpaper collection! Quentin, I've noticed those brakes myself a few years ago, when they used to borrow the ski train to run as the Hawkeye Express for Iowa home football games. Here's a closer shot of those brakes:
Al - in - Stockton
passengerfanQuentin, I've noticed those brakes myself a few years ago, when they used to borrow the ski train to run as the Hawkeye Express for Iowa home football games
Brian....That's a good view of them. Still think they stick out and in a position to catch some damage...or vandalism. Strange that the cars were rough riding above a certain speed....That air suspension must not have been very successful.
Chris....Chris....wow!
Not sure what could be wrong with the color, but will take your word for it, if you say it needs fixing.
The "glacier" behind my tower at work is the result of snow being dumped into the ditch there. It looks mostly black.
Now to the term "ice blue": It has to be a real phenomenon, caused by more than a casual reflection of the sky. What causes it?
Carl - Here is a good article on the subject from The Luminous Landscape.
The mind pays funny tricks sometimes , don't know what made me think about the ski train car manufacturer again but it just popped into my mind the manufacturer was Hawker Siddeley and the cars were built in 1968 the year of my youngest daughter birth.
Thanks, Chris! That's interesting--and it makes sense.
We're on strep alert here--granddaughter has it; nobody knew it when we were visiting earlier today. Cross your fingers, so we don't miss out on our trip to Muscatine and Galesburg next "weekend".
Afternoon!!
Still snowy and cold here in Rock Springs, hope this ends soon.....
Just posted it in Ed's April fool thread, but this is too good to not post here.
Gonna nerd out just a little, Today is a very special day....
It's 2003^2 (squared) day! Get a calculator and either do 2003^2 or 2003x2003 and you will see why its special.
Chris, Are you hand stitching your photos or using the stitch tool that comes with Photoshop?
RJ
"Something hidden, Go and find it. Go and look behind the ranges, Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go." The Explorers - Rudyard Kipling
http://sweetwater-photography.com/
I was watching the Rochelle webcam just now, and spotted an EB stack train apparently leaving Global 3 on Track 2- shortest stack train I've ever seen, one engine and maybe seven or eight well cars.
Brian, that's probably all that's left of a train after the cars for other destinations have been pulled off. Given a locomotive number, I might have been able to identify the train and the destination (but it isn't easy pulling that off the webcam!).
Was surprised at work today by a pop quiz on our yard's DTO Bulletin. Did all right, though, in spite of having no time whatsoever to brush up. Considering that I never use some of that stuff, I even feel good about the questions I missed.
Furloughs have now hit the ranks of the CROs--one is gone, and four more are within 20 of the bottom of the list. I'm a little less than 500 from the bottom now...
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