Western Railroad Discussion > Donner Fun

Last week, I contacted my friend Larry to see if he wanted to chase trains on Donner. I also invited jmf1910, who hasn't had his fix of Donner for a while. Larry had errands to run, so he only joined us for part of the day, but all of us caught some interesting trains during the day.

Trains in this video clip, in order of appearance:

- Amtrak #6 with Big Game Unit AMTK 189 leading, at Rocklin.
- ZG2OA at Rocklin, which was waiting for Amtrak #6 to crossover from 1 to 2.
- AMPNSR at Newcastle, meeting the DPU of a monster 4x2x1 MRORV.
- MRVNP at Casa Loma Rd. crossing, with shiny SD70ACe UP 8948 leading.

Other trains seen and/or heard, but not shown were AGBMI and KOADU. AGBMI, MRVNP, and KOADU converged at Colfax. Larry and we (jmf1910 and I) parted ways at Colfax, as we HAD TO chase the UP 8948. So we ditched the KOADU, which had problems on its way to Colfax - the crew asked DS 74 for permission to bring one of the units online, which was granted.

Pic #1: Amtrak #5 about to pass the MRORV at Newcastle.
Pic #2: Amtrak #5 at Newcastle.

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Larry, John (jmf1910) and I caught the AGBMI at Alta, then the AMPNSR at Gold Run, and were on our way to Colfax when the MRVNP snuck by us before we got there. We knew about the UP 8948 leader because we saw the power while eating breakfast at Pacific St. Cafe, and predicted it would go on the next eastbound out of Roseville, which was the MRVNP.

After catching the MRVNP at the Casa Loma Rd. crossing, we headed all the way to East Troy where the sun angle was going to make the nose dark, but otherwise tolerable. Here, I decided to record the whole train, since many TO members like that sort of thing, especially for a manifest train. No time lapse was necessary to fit the entire 3x3x0 train within 5 minutes. Boxcar railroading lives!

- MRORV's ("Roper") 4 leaders at Newcastle. Note how the locomotives get progressively dirty.
- Bright new and orange BNSF autorack at Alta, on the AGBMI.
- Video as described above.

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Great video especially at Troy. Like being there in person. Would the 3 DPs likely come off at Sparks or run thru?

Posted from Android

We had advanced warning that a westbound BNSF trackage rights manifest (QPVS8J) was going to be in Sparks in the early evening, hopefully with some light left. I kept joking with John that it's going to get there early, and whaddayaknow, it DID arrive early and was already on its way out of Sparks in the 3 pm hour! We monitored its progress on our scanners while at Troy, and heard DS 74 gave it a go through The Big Hole (Tunnel 41), so we knew when we nabbed the MRVNP at Troy that the BNSF will be meeting it somewhere west of Tunnel 41. When we overheard the BNSF get color out of the Big Hole, that confirmed our prediction so we headed out of Troy toward Soda Springs for an easy intercept, first clip.

John and I discussed our next intercept. Troy? Not enough time. Shed 10? Sun too low, too much shadow. John had scouted Tunnel 36 months ago, and he knew light was going to be great when we got there, so that's where we went, second clip.

Earlier, while looking for a place to intercept MRVNP near Casa Loma, John had looked at a location railroad east from the crossing, with an S curve. Due to shadows from trees, we didn't use the location, but the sun was low enough for the BNSF, so we tried that location in semi-neutral light, third clip.

Sun had just set at Colfax by the time the BNSF got there. We used the overhead view from Hwy 174 overpass to nab the train. Due to longer exposure, the video lacks some sharpness, but all the color is there without any digital saturation, fourth and final clip. Good thing I decided to record the entire train here, because we nabbed a meet with an eastbound coal train empties - there was a discussion earlier that the coal trains have stopped running to Stockton and Richmond, so we might have caught the penultimate eastbound over Donner.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/15 22:59 by cchan006.

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stash Wrote:
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> Great video especially at Troy. Like being there
> in person. Would the 3 DPs likely come off at
> Sparks or run thru?
>
> Posted from Android

I'm guessing the UP 8025 stayed on the train and it continued on as a 3x1x0. I chased a couple of 3x3x0 QRVNPP few months ago, one led by UP 1989 which I hope to post a video of it soon. Both the Q trains ended up as 3x1x0 east of Sparks, so that's where my guess comes from.

Great shots! They make me want to make a Donner trip here soon even more now. I've been planning one for months but have yet to make it this year...........

GOOD stuff....!! Thanks.....

cchan006,

I've been waiting to see your video of the BNSF runthrough train that I caught at Wunotoo and Verdi, NV earlier. Your video didn't disappoint. Cool to see it later on, down the road. Thanks for another set of great vidoes.

Mark
Reno, NV

Hey!  Great video , love the way you cut frome one train to another

I completmented you on the last video but you did great on the first two as well. Thanks , really enjoyed .

Yep....great videos...executed very well.  I enjoyed watching them...please post more....and....more.