Western Railroad Discussion > Smoke free zone? (yeahhh, sure pal!)

I met model railroader (railfan, too) Mr Joe Pelletier in Alta Vista, KS yesterday after tipping him off about the UP Katy heritage unit’s impending pass through his home town. I wasn’t expecting all the [controlled] prairie fire smoke, so I had to make the best of it. Just for effect I had thoughts of setting up the tripod and compressing as much smoke as I could into some shots with my boomer, but this westbound ballast empty sorta sneaked up on us while we were talking with a couple of Joe’s neighbors.

This is that time of the year when the farming community burns off the remains off last year’s growth in preparation for new crops. It’s been a particularly smoky year, though. I don’t recall this much concentration of smoke on such a sustained level. I get the feeling this might resemble what it was like to live in a highly polluted city (say… Pittsburgh in the ‘50s) before there was any effort to be ecologically responsible…

“April showers bring May flowers” as the old adage goes, but April showers will be most welcomed to help scrub the Kansas sky clean & bring railfan photographer smiles!

1. UP 7660 rolls through the crossovers in this medium telephoto shot [120mm].

2. The 7660 in a slight wide angle shot [42mm]. (With all the ‘on-purpose’ field burning smoke NEITHER shot is much of an improvement over the other… ;^)
(2 photos taken off of Lil Wes’ overpass in Alta Vista, KS on April 17, 2014.)

Thanks for the company!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Yeah, we can smell the smoke up here in Omaha (again).

JB

santafe199 Wrote:
--
>
> This is that time of the year when the farming
> community burns off the remains off last year’s
> growth in preparation for new crops. It’s been a
> particularly smoky year, though. I don’t recall
> this much concentration of smoke on such a
> sustained level. I get the feeling this might
> resemble what it was like to live in a highly
> polluted city (say… Pittsburgh in the ‘50s)
> before there was any effort to be ecologically
> responsible…
>
> Less wind to dissipate the smoke this year?

Cheers,
Jack

If that was in California the treehuggers would be going ballistic.

We don't have this problem here in California because back in the late 1960s the state assemblyman I was working for, a conservative Republican farmer, sat down with a Democrat and drafted a law to regulate ag burning that was passed on a bipartisan vote - at a time when the GOP controlled the legislature and a guy named Ronald Reagan was governor.
Ag burning was so bad that it was causing traffic collisions in which people lost their lives.
My boss, who led troops ashore on a couple of Pacific Island campaigns during WW II, went on to Congress. His legislation, by the way, served as a model for many other states. This was back in the days when people worked together to solve problems rather than acting like spoiled kids...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

MojaveBill Wrote:
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This was back in the
> days when people worked together to solve problems
> rather than acting like spoiled kids...

Amen!

Cheers,
Jack

They burn the beautiful Flint Hills in Kansas to keep out the unwanted species of shrubs, trees (especially those dang eastern red cedars), and help the tallgrass prairie. Down in southern Kansas in the Gyp Hills, cedar trees are taking over. I have lumber 2x12's cut from cedars at a sawmill from down there - so, some bigger trees.

If we don't burn, I guess we could go out and spray lots of nasty chemicals all over to help control these unwanted plants.

http://www.nps.gov/tapr/index.htm

Look at the main photo on the National Parks Service website. All grasses.

Mike

I say Kansas smoke is better than L.A. smog.

thtinc41ed Wrote:
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> I say Kansas smoke is better than L.A. smog.

Haven't been out here in awhile, have you?

The air quality in LA is much, much better then it was 20 years ago.

Heck they have more "Bad Air Days" in Fresno then they do in LA these days.