Western Railroad Discussion > Betcha ain't seen one of these lately...

My real mission was to investigate the state of the Marysville, KS UP depot. Apparently the deadline has passed for saving the building, and I got a report from "nwkrailfan" that a preliminary first step may have already taken place toward demolition of this beautiful structure. I snooped around but found nothing had really started yet. (I'll post my thoughts & a couple of images in the morning.) Once all that was done I shot a few trains. I had noticed a manifest & a grain load both sitting at the east end of the yard looking ready to roll east. So I headed for one of favorite spots for morning light; the Matador Rd. overpass just east of Upland, KS. The Manifest went by me at 0940. I knew the grain load would be along so I just waited it out. 30 minutes later a horn sequence & a headlight popping around the corner announced the arrival of my grai... oops; that's a COAL load coming this way! Ok, so I'll have 3rd train to shoot after this one. NOT SO FAST!! Because of the droning of the coal train on main #2 (on this healthy grade), I could not pick out the separate droning of the grain load on main #1 until his headlight also popped around the corner...

One of the concrete laws of railfanning is: "If you keep at it long enough, you will eventually be in the perfect spot at the right time for a great shot(s) by sheer dumb luck". It was MY turn today! I got to shoot 2 racing trains. Racing might be a huge overstatement because both trains were heavy drags crawling up a significant grade. I wracked my brain and could only think of one other time in 36 years where I lucked into shooting a "race", but that was just a mainline train overtaking another train in a slow yard track. This one will be hard to beat. You might say it was a race between the tortoise & the (er, um...) tortoise! Enjoy...

1. UP 5730 (on the left) had appeared down at the corner and I would have wait a few minutes for it reach my overpass. But UP 6767 (on the right) startled me by popping around the same corner mere seconds later. This is gonna be GOOD!

2. Once I realized it wasn't a rogue hotshot coming by surprise, I pondered exactly where to move my tripod. After a long grind the 6767 was edging ahead, making my shooting angle perfect.

3. The 5730 is still struggling as the 6767 eases past my perch.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/19 10:42 by santafe199.

---

---

---

4. So who won the race? Why, the tortoise by a "hare" of course...
(all photos taken November 19, 2012 off the Matador Rd. overpass east of Upland, KS)

Thanks for the stop-watch!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

---

Nothing like a drag race between a grain train and a coal load! Nice shots, Lance!

The worlds slowest drag race?! Awesome stuff!

Good pics. Lance. upkpfan

Nice job, Lance. The lead units are both AC4400CW's, but it's interesting to compare how UP's pattern of front-end details changed over the six years that separate their build dates (1996 for 6767, 2002 for 5730).

Kansas, The Land of Ahhhhhhhs!
Brian Stevens

Posted from iPhone

The sound of that must still be wringing in your ears...

Lance,

Great shots. I've seen a few of these in my travels and on the rails. Most memorable was two southbound coal loads out of Bill, WY one with BNSF SD70macs and the other with UP C-44's. The GE's smoked the EMD's uphill out of an even start, it was fun to watch and record. It was physical proof to me what the SFe RFE's said when the GE's are going uphill in a solid consist they are 4 to 5 mph faster with intermodal trains than EMD's.

Jim Wilson

What is the ruling grade?

jc76
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jc76 wrote,

>What is the ruling grade?<

Looks like it is 1.06. upkpfan

upkpfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> jc76
> --------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------
> jc76 wrote,
>
> >What is the ruling grade?<
>
> Looks like it is 1.06. upkpfan


My employee timetable shows only .6%

Thanks for the pictures. Looks like you had wonderful lighting

Greg,
The 1.06 grade would be just past HOME and in Lances pic., East of the bridge he is standing on and the train is starting around the curve. That should be the 1.06 spot. West of HOME is a 1.02 % grade, about a mile and a half West. I would say that is about where Lances 2 pics are taken at where the trains are side by side. Right in that area would be pretty close I would guess. This is from my condensed profile book of 1980.
Right on West side of MP 105 is 0.67 and East of that MP is 0.60%. upkpfan

Marv, I think you're looking at the Hiawatha Sub. From the 2007 Kansas Sub track profile...

---

You'd lose on the bet (had a good experience last month), but you got far, far better pictures than I.

Carl Shaver
Lombard, IL

And you know the crews were lovin' it!

wpdude Wrote:

> And you know the crews were lovin' it!

(chuckling) yeah... but I gotta say one slightly more than the other!

;^)

Milw_E70 ,
Yep, your right. I was looking at the wrong track. I knew where he took the pics, from as I have also but was looking in the wrong place in the book. Sorry about that guys. upkpfan