Western Railroad Discussion > Got the scanner...more weather...mostly snow

On halloween BNSF 4852 leads a stack train westbound through the crossovers at Maine....I havent been there for over three years now, but I guess the signal bridge has long been replaced. By the way, this was the only glimpse of sunlight I got all day long. As for the scanner, Fedex dropped it off about an hour ago. I bought the Minolta Scan Dual IV- I think that is its correct name, got it for $245. Anyways, I scanned 8 slides and it seems to do a great job. Still playing around with it a little but I thought I would share a few before I get on the road towards the Needles and Seligman sub. Raylewis

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Here is a shot of the flanger led by UP 600 near the west signal at Soda Springs. Thank god it wasnt plowing anymore snow than that...cause I caught the brunt of it. Raylewis

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Just a shot of the sign at Maine, AZ.....before it magically disappeared. No trains, so the sign had to be the railroad subject. Raylewis

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Here is the spreader working at Norden during the winter of 2001. They spent about three hours working back and forth between the switch in the big hole, and the Norden crossovers so I got plenty of spreader action that day. Any opinions on the photos? They looked fine when I view them, but after I posted them they all look a little distorted(blurry). I am on a labtop, so maybe thats it.

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Here is the flanger working through Soda Springs. Parking can be your worst enemy during these heavy snowstorms, which often leads you to hang around between Norden and Soda Springs.

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Nice shots Ray--good to see you back in the CONUS~~~Ed

Curious what are the UP 600 locos? GPs?

See a little pixelization, 1st and 3rd seem to have taken the worst of it, but I still like all the images. Love the shot of the UP 600!

Hey Ray,

Good to see you back stateside also! I hate to pass along bad news, but I did a Rte. 66/BNSF roadtrip in August with my daughter, and the Maine bridges are indeed gone ... as well as the Maine signpost, like you mentioned. It's really changed the atmosphere of that spot. The nice surprise was finding all the black bridges still working between Flagstaff and just east of Canyon Diablo. BNSF has already taken down the bridges farther east to Winslow, though. We focused a lot on doing last photos of those great bridges. The Darling signpost was still around and looked wonderful (though it's now missing a little patch of paint, which is resting here in my home office).

Enjoyed your shots above. Nice work especially on the December photo in the UP calendar!

Elrond

Yeah I had figured the bridges had all been removed. I havent been up there for about three or four years, I drove through there on my way to and from Texas, but I spent most of the daylight hours on the Needles and Gallup sub. As for the scanner, I guess Ill just have to work with a bit and see what looks best for web posting....and of course now I may look at getting back into that whole website thing again. Thanks for the compliment for the Dec photo....and maybe well see you around....Donner sometime in the next few weeks. Dont forget, I have to go back to Korea, only half way done....yeah! As for the UP 600, it is a GP38-2.

Ray,

Compression of jpgs is increased by the server for easier web viewing, so images that look great at home won't look quite so good here.

-Dave

Being from the east I have a question.What are those thing on top of the UP;SP; and Spreader that look a bit like pickup for overhead power?Thanks in advance.

Al Barnes

Those are icicle breakers, made to break off ice that has formed on tunnel portals, snowsheds,signal bridges to prevent them from getting very big, in which case they can become a great hazard.

Thanks Ray, I always enjoy seeing your photos and their subjects.

Thanks, Joel

...still up and operating. Easy access, as you probably know.

If you're heading toward Flag, be aware that it has been raining all day here in AZ, so you may see some snow in and around Flag.

Len Kratz

Hi Ray that Maine shot looks good to me and some what like we wore thaere Richard scott marsh

Ray, you was robbed!
Best weather pic I've seen so far (10/28/04)