Steam & Excursion > Last shots of CFD train

Well, accounts seem to indicate that the Cheyenne Frontier Days run led by 844 was a success, they pulled off a quick finish to 844's rebuild no doubt! Here are my last shots from yesterday's northbound, and eastbound trip:

​Photo 1 - The motive power pulls the northbound Special over the sparse South Platte River between Evans and LaSalle, CO.

Photo 2 - Platform-observation "Cheyenne" brings up the rear of the Special rolling through Evans, CO as 844 out of sight around the bend is whistling mightily for the various road crossings. Only a positioning move to get 844 back to Cheyenne and the cars on their first leg of returning home, the rear porch has lost its special drumhead.

Photo 3 - I am at Dover, CO again, only a set-out track, between Nunn and Carr, CO as the Special blazes by at full track speed knocking off the miles to Cheyenne in quick order. When many people are out, I like the solitude of this location as opposed to the throng usually accumulated at the Nunn highway overpass, nobody else was even in sight here. Anybody noticed the usual Wyoming State flag to go with the Colorado State flag on the front was the Stars and Stripes this year?

There's mooore...



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/16 17:56 by highgreengraphics.

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Photo 4 - The Terry Ranch Road already well-covered here on TO, so I won't duplicate, but here is the photo afterward guaranteed not to work as it is totally backwards to the sun setting in the west, as the Special rolls under the C&S Bridge, and 844 arriving at home in Cheyenne after a job well done. Trying the backwards shot anyway (yeah, digital), it turned out better than it should have...

​Photo 5 - After removing 844 and the canteen to return to the berth in the Steam Shop, and the two support cars switched out, 1989 quickly departs Cheyenne for distant Council Bluffs where the passenger cars of the Special and all of UP's Executive Fleet are serviced and stored under a long modern steel building at the site of the old C&NW yard and roundhouse, here rolling over the top of the grade at Center Archer, the crossovers of which are near the rear of the train. Lots of underutilized oil fracking equipment is stored in the lot in the background which is not too scenic...

Photo 6 - The last of the run that seemed to cause so much concern, controversy and conjecture becomes set in history as it disappears into the late-afternoon gathering twilight in eastern Wyoming, leaving Archer and more idle fracking equipment behind. Goodbye, Cheyenne, for now!

Happy 3 days of railfanning! === === = === JLH 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/16 17:51 by highgreengraphics.

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Again, great photos. Here is 8444 back in 1964 and 1970. Living Legend!

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Interesting how the elephant ears at least on this side (elephant ear?) has the same exact creases as it did in the oldest photo, visible in the reflections. === === = === JLH

#1 and #5 are really nice. Great job!!

Congratulations on Image of the Day. I like how you caught the rods aligned with the railing in your first photo. Did you fire off a series of photos hoping to catch that?  Nice series.
John

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/16 03:39 by jmbreitigan.

highgreengraphics Wrote:
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> Interesting how the elephant ears at least on this
> side (elephant ear?) has the same exact creases as
> it did in the oldest photo, visible in the
> reflections. === === = === JLH
​That is because of the welds to the braces which causes puckering in the sheet metal.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

It just seemed interesting that the elephant ear on this side was never damaged, modified or changed out. I believe on the opposite side the lower portion gained some wrinkles from damage (that were hammered out) somewhere in time. Regarding "rods down", some camera, some luck, some me as my Nikon D7000's both have a fairly slow burst mode, as they are filling 2 memory cards at once for JPEG and RAW, and it pauses after 5 exposures until the autofocus resets, but does the same in manual. Drives me a little nuts, but I watch the first rod position and fire to try to get the first one right, then let the next 4 fire in whatever position the rods are in, then pick out the view where the rods are in the desired position. I always strive for rods down, as I grew up with 8444 and learned from the old-time photographers who would show up to photograph it on occasion, and back then you could count on a Memorial Day weekend trip by either the Rocky Club or NRHS, and another on Labor Day weekend by either the Rocky Club or NRHS, both to Laramie and return to Cheyenne, and the Stock Show train in January round trip to Denver and back to Cheyenne. Also, an interesting E-unit-drawn train was the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle "Treagle" train from Cheyenne to the University of Wyoming homecoming football game in Laramie and return. Lots of stuff ran then that does not now, but I think the Frontier Days Special is a more recent development. === === = === JLH

Great photos,

In the second image is the car behind the RIo Grande Heritage unit a
combination aircondioner car and and power car??

Thanks much

leonz Wrote:
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> Great photos,
>
> In the second image is the car behind the RIo
> Grande Heritage unit a
> combination aircondioner car and and power car??
>
> Thanks much

Not really a combination. It is a full 480volt, three phase AC Head End Power car, which provides all the electrical power for the entire train. Each car has its own 480 volt driven electric heating and air conditioning unit.

highgreengraphicsssss/JLH ---
Those are wonderful photos!!  I really, really like the
one on the bridge.  Excellent series of shots!  And
thank you for doing your best to get her with her
rods down -- she really looks good that way.  And
thanks for the explanation.  Don't have a camea now
and never used digital when I was shooting, so I had
no idea how those things work. 

Spikes ---
Thanks for the 2 old pics of the 8444.  They were taken
before I became a railfan, and thus well before I fell in love
with the awesome and majestic 844/8444.  As I have said
before, there is no such thing as too many photos of the
844/8444!

Great shots - love the 844 and all those domes.

Who gets to ride this train?