Western Railroad Discussion > Random Nampa (Idaho)

A day after chasing Idaho Northern & Pacific's Payette River Flyer and Thunder Mountain Line excursion trains, I checked out the action on Union Pacific's Huntington Subdivision from Nampa Yard and west. This was new territory for me, so before heading to dinner the night before, I studied maps, drove around, and found the yard, which was going to be my starting point. I didn't pack the Altamont Press Pacific Northwest Timetable in my luggage, so I was sort of foaming blind. I set my Uniden scanner to scan all known UP frequencies I programmed, then headed to the yard after breakfast on Monday and just listened.

First thing I heard was a K5LLA from UP 8919 West, which was a Hinkle bound manifest. The train had just arrived into Nampa and was setting out cars. After that, I saw a pair of SD60Ms switching cars at the west end of the yard. They called themselves "844" or "A44" not sure which, but UP Dispatcher 3 called them the "44 local" later.

I drove around both sides of the yard to check out angles, and just as I was about to settle down, UP 2498 (the 44 local) toned up DS 3, and told him he was ready to go and had work to do at Carnation, Caldwell, Parma, and at Ontario. I quickly looked at the map and determined that he was departing west, so I decided to chase this guy since UP 8919 wasn't going anywhere.

First clip is at Carnation, which is located between Nampa and Caldwell. The crew had just finished doing a set out, and is departing for Caldwell.

Second clip is at Caldwell, where they did another set out and a one car pick up. They are going back to their train in the clip.

I drove ahead on Hwy 20 and found the town of Notus, so I chose here to get a clip of the entire train minus the cars that were already set out, third clip. Note the handful of graffiti-free 64' reefers as well as the Cryotrans reefers - their names are Russell, Johnstown, and Praha for those keeping track.

I got a quick pacing clip while racing ahead of the train to Parma, fourth clip, with a toot-toot at the end.

- Shot of the set out at Carnation.
- Switching at Caldwell.
- Video as described above.

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The 44 local stopped way short of downtown Parma, turned off the ditchlights, and just waited on the main. I changed direction and headed east back to the train when the crew toned up DS 3. He told the crew to wait for an eastbound short on time, which was going to take the siding. So I changed direction again to meet this eastbound, which I found out later to be a Pocatello bound manifest, first clip. Entire train is shown.

Rather than watch the 44 local do work at Parma, I drove ahead and saw the town of Nyssa on the map, so I briefly crossed the border to Oregon, to see if I could find any bridges nearby. Instead, I found a neat-looking depot. Unfortunately, another eastbound showed up (UP 5924 East, North Platte bound manifest), which blocked an angle of the Nyssa Depot with the 44 local. I drove north (railroad west) to the next crossing to record video of the local (clip not posted) then drove towards Ontario, OR.

More on the Nyssa Depot by TO member fbe:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2801417

I was behind the local to Ontario, so rather than try to record more video, I went for lunch instead. There was another local (UP 2410) working nearby based on radio chatter, but I had to head back to Boise to make sure I didn't miss my flight home, so I didn't chase it.

I swung by Nampa Yard one more time, and found an SD40-2 building a work train, second clip.

- Nyssa Depot. Art Deco style? I got there just as UP 5924 came to a stop and blocked the siding where 44 local was going to run.
- SD40-2 at Nampa Yard building a work train.
- Video as described above.

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- CSX SD40-3 at Nampa Yard.
- More CSX power.
- SD40-2 and scarlet and grey C44AC, about to lead a soda ash train?

That's all for now.

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nice pix and vids ... with 3 big road units up front and 2 DPUs on a relatively short train of 70 cars, in the first vid ... is there a heavy grade along that line ...

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
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> nice pix and vids ... with 3 big road units up
> front and 2 DPUs on a relatively short train of 70
> cars, in the first vid ... is there a heavy grade
> along that line ...

The Blue Mountains are about 160 miles NW of Nampa, roughly between Pendleton and La Grande in Oregon. That territory is covered by the next subdivision west of Huntington Sub, the La Grande Sub.

I didn't plan on going there during this trip, figuring I didn't have enough time. It might be better to reach that from Portland or Spokane (via Pasco) in terms of railfanning opportunities, which would include the Columbia River Gorge, Marshall Canyon, Providence Hill, etc.

In your video of the first UP manifest train, what was the placard number on those PROX tank cars near the train's head end?

rbx551985 Wrote:
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> In your video of the first UP manifest train, what
> was the placard number on those PROX tank cars
> near the train's head end?

1262 (Isooctane/Octanes).