Canadian Railroads > A Bad Shortcut and Some Dumb Luck

Day three of the big summer photo trip:

1. The morning started slowly in Chetwynd, the first bit of action being the arrival of Train 473, 2956 north, from Prince George. This train is currently moving a lot of frac sand, and sand trucks are now ubiquitous up here.

2. My careful plans for where to photograph the morning departure of the eastward train to Dawson Creek went out the window when the train didn't depart Chetwynd until around 1:30pm. The first workable shot, then, was to get the train crossing the Peace River.

3. Getting to the other big bridge on the Dawson Sub., across the Kiskatinaw River, is a bit more of a challenge. Based on satellite photos, I decided to try a new way in this year, and indeed the roads were easy peasy. But who was it who said, "The map is not the territory?" The walk of a mile or so to the bridge was a nightmare, especially in the humid heat of an August afternoon. But after much bush-whacking, scrambling, stumbling, and swearing, I made it to the tracks, then down the slope, along the muddy bank, past some enormous bear paw prints, and to a perch where I huddled in the partial shade and waited. In retrospect--but only in retrospect--it was worth it.

Loleta Fernbridge



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/16 10:20 by loleta.

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Very nice...well worth the effort.  The bears are friendly, right ? 

4, 5. Having escaped from the Kiskatinaw River shot, I caught up to the train outside of Dawson Creek. After switching around in the yard, the Dawson backed up to the Louisiana Pacific mill north of town. Here's where the dumb luck comes in: the light as sunset approached was very nice.

- L.F.

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6. I mean, very nice.
7. As the sun went down, the crew was still nowhere near finished in town. But I couldn't stick around because, unfortunately, I had a bit of driving to do: to see the weekly departure of train 478, I needed to be in Fort Nelson the next morning, 300 miles north on the Alaska Highway. Sigh.

- L.F.

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Super images. The rainbow sky in number six is out-of-this-world beautiful.
Bob

Yes, very, very nice!  Really great shots.

Outstanding images, and brings back memories for me, although some of the local industries have changed. Yes the bears are friendly and have a good diet of meandering photographers.  Image 3 is a "Howe timber truss bridge"  or a through truss bridge. I'm surprised it has not been replaced, my first trip across it was in 1973!!. About a mile east of this bridge there was a mud cut, a derailment occurred and we nicknamed the spot "Campbells Pass" ie Hollywood Campbell was the hogger.   Doug

Beautiful set of images,

Rich

Fantastic job with the rainbow! I've kept a special eye out ever since I first picked up a camera (in the mid-70s) for an opportunity to photograph a complete rainbow in a RR setting like you did here. Kudos!!!

Lance/199

Fantastic shots! I really like the bridge photos. Several IOTD shots.

Nice work LF...nice work.

611

Posted from iPhone

Very nice rainbow shot.

hoggerdoug Wrote:
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> Outstanding images, and brings back memories for
> me, although some of the local industries have
> changed. Yes the bears are friendly and have a
> good diet of meandering photographers.  Image 3
> is a "Howe timber truss bridge"  or a through
> truss bridge. I'm surprised it has not been
> replaced, my first trip across it was in 1973!!.
> About a mile east of this bridge there was a mud
> cut, a derailment occurred and we nicknamed the
> spot "Campbells Pass" ie Hollywood Campbell was
> the hogger.   Doug

Was that Rikk Campbell?

All fantastic shots! Thanks for posting!

*throws in the towell*

Very nice!

WOW!! A very nice collection of images! Congratulations on the IOTD!!!!!!

Old Bob out in Lost Wages

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats on IOTD, that sure is a show stopper...

But what I reallly can appreciate, other than the dumb luck, was the story behind getting the 3rd shot in your series which makes the photo that much more interesting.  I've always enjoyed your photography and am glad to again have a chance to view it, thanks for sharing for all to see.

Ted S-P

VERY NICE....!!

You surely nailed it with this series.
John