Western Railroad Discussion > The Mojave in First and Last Light

One of the joys of an overnight trip is the potential to get some spectacular dawn and dusk shots without driving too far from a hotel in the area in which myself and my father are in. Recently, as discussed in my previous thread (http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3502158), my father and I took a three-day trip out to the Needles and Seligman Subdivisions in and around Needles, California, in the Colorado River Valley. Many times over the entire trip, we got both first and last light shots featuring some interesting trains. The first shot is at Sunset on our first day on the subdivision, at a location between Needles and Goffs known as Homer. The Westbound manifest train's power was lead by a relatively new ES44C4 that warranted a short chase to Goffs, but the sun set before it arrived. The next shot is just East of the bridge at Topock, Arizona, with an Eastbound stack train passing through around a half-hour before dawn. If you look closely, the silhouettes of many bats can be seen as they hunt for insects in the morning sky above the tracks. The area has a large population of California Leaf Nosed and Mexican Free-Tailed bats, as the Arizona side of the river is a wildlife preserve. The next clip is at the bridge itself, with another Eastbound crossing just as the first light of the morning hits the cab windows. The next shot is at Lavic, 12 hours and around 400 miles of driving later, (after the events of the last post) and is located at the second of two "dips" in the tracks that pass through on their way up the hill to Pisgah, only a mile or so to the west. The next shot is again at Topock, with another Eastbound crossing the span just before sunrise. The last shot is of the Cadiz Turn making fast work of Ash Hill as it passes through the reverse curves at Trojan, and after the local passed, the trip came to a close. The full video is on YouTube under the title "HD: Cajon, Needles, and Seligman Subdivision Railfanning in August 2014".

Cheers,

Zach
www.z-trains.com
Railfanjunction on YouTube



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/14 22:19 by z-trains.

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Definitely one of the best quality videos I've seen. I like your location selections. Thanks for sharing Zach.

Kent in CArmel Valley

You extra effort was well woth it! Very nice.

Regards, Jim Evans

I continue to be amazed at the quality of photography and videography being posted here!

Great stuff! wag216

Thats one on e interesting shot of the bats and the train.

GREAT video!!! Thanks for sharing.