Western Railroad Discussion > Mid America Circle Trip-Day 3 continued!

Having bagged an EB empty near Ulm WY on the Big Horn Sub after a lot of dirt road driving and NO trains, we wondered if the dam had broke---it had! Just a few mins after letting go of the coal empty, an EB manifest showed up and we got him just west of West Ulm with four units. Looking closer at the pics, he appears to have a Sheridan helper pair (not Helper Link equipment) on the head end. We resumed the westward trek after the manifest, gaining black trop just east of East Dutch and YES another headlight; we wheeled around and got him at the crossing east of Dutch. A EB loaded coal with a GE-SD70 up front, a single SD70 DPU and pair of manned SD60Ms pushing on the DPU. The moon fell into the going away shot of the helpers-it would be bigger every evening as the week went on...

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After our third train in about an hour, we arrived at the wye at Dutch. Having studied Paul Birkholz's webpage and story "Dutch Light", I was very interested to see the spot in person. We were hardly past the wye when horns were heard and a FOURTH train was showing up. This was an EB empty lined up the Dutch Sub, and with two Warbonnets up front! Kathy managed to work some of the wildlife (antelopes grazing in the field and geese winging by looking for a place to spend the night) in a shot of the train curving downgrade away from the wye at Dutch. Checking the DeLormes Gazeteer for Wyoming, we found we could follow the branch on the sunny side using Prairie Dog Road. As we turned onto this road, a pair of light helpers, matching SD60Ms were spotted and a quick shot was made just east of Wakely siding. We then followed the Dutch empties until dark. Now, we were a day behind on our planned week long loop but it seemed like more of the Big Horn Sub in the morning with the sun rising on the Big Horn Mountains was a better choice than driving late into the evening into MT. Besides this would mean missing the planned Big Horn Battlefield visit; we canceled our motel in Forsyth and found one in Sheridan!
More later...George & Kathy

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Dutch has changed quite a bit in the last year or so due to the coal bed methane development - new roads in the hills, equipment & tanks, and power lines. The new power line next to the railroad really killed the photographic potential at the curve between Dutch and Arno. The shot below isn't nearly as good now.

It is always interesting to see how someone else photographs your local area. Looking forward to the photos from the rest of your trip.

Paul Birkholz
Sheridan, WY

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We were headed back out of Sheridan before daylight to look for a spot to shoot the sunrise with some signal boxes or signals around Dutch. Starting up the hill toward Dutch, we came up beside an eastbound coal empty and managed to just get ahead enough to pull over for a shot of him taking the high green at the west leg of the wye at Dutch. The sky had a little color and we were well started on a good day long before sun up! Now, trying to get organized for the day, we discovered we had lost the scanner antenna (and the spare was resting in Maine). The search for the antenna was interupted by horn blasts on the Dutch Sub and the prompt arrival of a loaded coal train bound for Sheridan with helpers in place on the rear. With the ISO cranked on the D70 and D70s, we managed these coming and going shots. A purist from the film days might stone us rebels but getting these shots to capture (and share) the memories beats the times I've only watched with the ASA 64 loaded Nikon safe in the back seat---"too dark to shoot"...
More of Day 4 later!!!
Geo & Kathy

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I absolutely love that first shot!!! Thanks for sharing it.

V

SLOCONDR