Western Railroad Discussion > Faithful railfan partners

It’s good to have railfan partners who are not afraid of weather elements! Especially nearly freezing cold & sloppy muddy conditions…

1. “mg8711” is making an adjustment to his camera. (He’s actually shivering while he poses for me. But the first sentence sounds better … ;^)

2. “ATSF199” (aka “Willie III”) is waiting to go chase another train. Once in a while I put Willie III through the paces on some chase, and he always comes through.
(But I think he also likes to collect as much dust, dirt & mud spray as he can… :^/)
Two photos taken next to the BNSF mainline just west of Ridgeton, KS on January 1, 2016.

Thanks for always being there, guys!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/16 14:44 by santafe199.

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Wash your damn car, you'd think it was Winter or something. So, the Sun finally came out up here, had to got to
town so I grabbed my camera and was dismayed to find that evidently both the BNSF and the UP have abandoned
their lines.

Out

Remember to keep your taillights ( and headlights ) somewhat clean. Rear window, too, espec. if Willie III has a wiper back there !
Othewise, you can promote Lucas to "engine wiper !"

You should at least clean off that back up cam.

Safety First.
DAF

callum_out Wrote: > ...Wash your damn car, you'd think...

(chuckling) I do, but somehow it doesn't "take". After only a few months I'm finding out this Escape has a great combination of gas economy & railfan zip. I really like it. All except for the fact it was aerodynamically designed to collect a maximum amount of road dust as it makes forward motion. After ONE railfan outing I opened the back hatch and found dust almost as thick as a penny collected in the crack just out side of the rubber seals. And I can drive the 8 miles into town on a rainy day, with a completely clean back window, and not be able to see out of it by the time I get back home. Somebody at Ford (or wherever) should be awarded the Nobel Prize in automotive design for a breakthrough of THIS magnitude...

Lance/199 (hand me that Armor All, would ya?)

Nuthin nastier than when snow melts on a dirt road.

monaddave Wrote: > ...at least clean off that back up cam

Good advice! That way I can see the train I just missed...

;^)

keep the dust ... what would Willie III be without it ??? ...

Out_Of_Service Wrote: > ...what would Willie III be without it...
You just might have a point. BTW, make some room in your PM mailbox! (It says: I'M FULL!") I've been trying to send you a PM you'll enjoy for a while now...

:^P

 

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> callum_out Wrote: > ...Wash your damn car, you'd
> think...
>
> (chuckling) I do, but somehow it doesn't "take".
> After only a few months I'm finding out this
> Escape has a great combination of gas economy &
> railfan zip. I really like it. All except for the
> fact it was aerodynamically designed to collect a
> maximum amount of road dust as it makes forward
> motion. After ONE railfan outing I opened the back
> hatch and found dust almost as thick as a penny
> collected in the crack just out side of the rubber
> seals. And I can drive the 8 miles into town on a
> rainy day, with a completely clean back window,
> and not be able to see out of it by the time I get
> back home. Somebody at Ford (or wherever) should
> be awarded the Nobel Prize in automotive design
> for a breakthrough of THIS magnitude...
>
> Lance/199 (hand me that Armor All, would ya?)

I think there is an after market air deflector that mounts above the rear window that helps keep the window clean.  I have mostly seen them on Suburbans.

My, my, my -- your car is rather muddy!

But -- please!!  -- wash off your headlights and all your
lights-- you and the other drivers on the road need all
of them to shine brightly!  And wash the back window,
while you are at it -- ya sometimes really need to see
through it!

Greaet personalized plate!!

Yah rear deflector, my Subaru has one, drops the velocity and causes all the rain to fall back in on the
rear window! More excellent engineering!

Out

I should probably point out for those still "tuned in" to this thread that "santa fe 199" lives out where 
the roads aren't yet paved so he doesn't have a real good shot at keeping "Willie III" clean.

Margaret_SP_fan Wrote: > ... And wash the back window, while you are at it...

I'm sure that is sage advice, But unfortunately they don't construct car washes or even gas stations (read: convenience stores) every 30 miles, give or take, when you're out chasing. Most of what you see on the back window came in only THREE MILES of country roads. Ridgeton, KS has no carwash. It also has no paved roads. Greater downtown Ridgeton does however have a population in the several several hundreds of RR ties, tie plates, anchors & spikes...

;^)

Could be worse, could be like Orleans which has traded dirt for weeds!

Out

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Like the hat......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/16 16:40 by electromac.

When I was looking at country property I told the realtor the prime directive was that the property has to be on a paved road.  I'll drive on a dirt road from time to time, but I'm not going to do it everyday and never have a clean car.

You could probably increase your gas mileage by 2 or 3 MPG if you didn't have to haul all of that dirt.

Oh heck, just leave it.  If you ever go to Wal*Mart it makes it easier to find in the parking lot.  Just ask anyone, "Did you see that dirty car everyone is talking about?"  They'll tell you where it is.

Oh and did I say, "Nice photo?"  If not, "Nice photo."

John

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Margaret_SP_fan Wrote: > ... And wash the back
> window, while you are at it...
>
> I'm sure that is sage advice, But unfortunately
> they don't construct car washes or even gas
> stations (read: convenience stores) every 30
> miles, give or take, when you're out chasing. Most
> of what you see on the back window came in only
> THREE MILES of country roads. Ridgeton, KS has no
> carwash. It also has no paved roads. Greater
> downtown Ridgeton does however have a population
> in the several several hundreds of RR ties, tie
> plates, anchors & spikes...
>
> ;^)

How much gas does it require to haul a bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels with you? :-p

Bill G.

I've heard that the streamlined steam locomotives of the 30s and 40s had a similar problem with smoke flowing along those streamlines into the cab. Prompted all sorts of smoke deflectors, of varying degrees of ineffectiveness.

Winston Hill