Western Railroad Discussion > Duel at Merrick

I've been making a habit out of attending the monthly 'Roundtable Dinner' every 1st Thursday in the month in Kansas City at the Golden Ox in the west bottoms. Anyone can attend this informal gathering of KC, Topeka & other area railfans. Here's the loose itinerary: "Rule G" violations begin in the bar at 5 PM sharp, dinner at 6 & a presentation at 7, usually lasting 60-90 minutes. I've made 3 of these dinners in a row and since I was slated to give this month's presentation I kept up my routine of getting out of Manhattan early to spend the day shooting somewhere, before gravitating on into KC.

This particular Thursday I decided to rattle my frequent partner Milw E-70's cage a little and see if he was up for some shooting. Shock of shocks!: He was actually out of the sack around 9 AM and was out in the field by 10 or so. (Will wonders never cease?) As I was making my way south to the BNSF transcon arena, he texted me a heads-up for immediate traffic. It looked like I had a train close to Emporia from both directions. The EB was "close on my 6" to quote him directly. I wasted no time in getting to the Merrick crossover plant on the west side of Emporia and got set up. He was right! I could hear the horn from the WB train just entering Emporia & I could also hear the EB train on rural crossings a ways west of Merrick. I spotted the WB headlight and pointed my tripod eastward. But wait! That EB train just popped around the corner a mile west of Merrick. Oh boy, this one's gonna be CLOSE! I had to abandon the tripod to shoot more quickly in both directions hand-held. It looked like the EB (bare table) train was going to beat the WB (coal loads) to my location by a few car lengths. I went right to work shooting back & forth...

What a rush! I had been inside Emporia city limits & out of my car less than 10 minutes and already had 2 trains in the bag. Here are the visuals:

1. BNSF 6146 is pointing WB coal loads on main 1, approaching my vantage point at the Road G (Merrick County Rd) crossing @ 0946 according to my camera
(well into minute #1).

2. BNSF 4845 is crossing over from Main 3 to main 2 at Merrick, also @ 0946.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/16 19:07 by santafe199.

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3. For a fleeting second the 2 head end consists appear to locked in a duel, 2 gunslingers staring each other down just as if this were a dusty main street in any town from a classic dime-novel western!

4. & 5. The 2 consists sliced by each other at a collective 90 MPH (my estimation). It's still 0946.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/16 19:07 by santafe199.

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6. 7. & 8. With my adrenalin pumping, I slowed my shutter speed down as much as I dared & nailed several extreme wide-angle, blur-action shots. 3 of which I've posted here. The camera is now into minute #2, reading 0947 for all 3 shots.

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9. At 0948 (barely into minute #3) the duel was over with just as quickly as it started. With a goofy smile on my face (that nobody witnessed) I realized that I just had as much fun with this meet sequence as I did in 1976 when I snapped my very 1st 35mm train shot. Thank God this will NEVER get old...
(all photos taken during a 2+ minute span on January 3, 2013 in Emporia, KS)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/16 19:09 by santafe199.

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Looks like somebody left the old spring switch open onto #3 track. (It's not a spring switch anymore, but the name stuck, so it's still called that)

WOW!!!! Nunber 3 is really NICE!!

Old Bob out in Lost Wages

Lance:
I like number 9!. Any photo with a GP-60 in it has my vote! Great low light pictures!

William Jeffers, P.E.
San Dimas, CA

Great shots Lance!

GREAT set of pics!!! Thanks for sharing.