Western Railroad Discussion > No Time to be Gloomy

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. BNSF had a partial shutdown on Thursday, but trains were running hot and heavy on Friday. Unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating, and got worse as the day progressed. Even with the gloomy weather, I was still able to have a little success railfanning.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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A highlight of the day was catching the unit Petcoke train. I've been trying to get some good photos of this unit train for years, but it has remained elusive. No sooner than a friend and myself stepped out of the local hobby shop, Sunset Junction, I saw the train heading into downtown. I quickly made my way toward Marshall Canyon, catching it first at the wooden bridge over the ex-SP&S high line. A neighbor came over and related a story where he tried to notify the railroad about a tree across the tracks, but it was too late. A train came along about 50mph and turned the downed tree into a bunch of pieces. Some of the debris can be seen around the train.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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And finally a manifest train leaves town as the rains hit

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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Looks like you did pretty well, Ted.

Barry

Great looking pics! They all look good to me!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/12 05:36 by j-miller.

Very nice Ted. Congrats on IOTD! It's a winner for sure.

Very well done Ted.
John

Congrats on your Image of the Day, Ted.

Your work is amongst the best seen here on TO. It's always a treat to see you post a new set of photos.

Sincerely,
Tim Costello

BNSF no longer does holiday shut downs. The last couple years they have just tried to run what they can. The road slows down because there ar a ton of sick road employees. This year they pulled a new trick to run the road trains out of Spokane. They anunuled a bunch of yard jobs and called the switchmans extra board to go out of town. The switchman are supposed to get double time and a half for working the holiday in the yard or just a basic day for being available. If you lay off you forfeit that. However if they call you for a road job you don't get it either so in a since they took the holiday pay from the switch man and sent them out of town. Good job BNSF, crew moral is down even more.
Kevin

Before I sound to grumpy I do like your pics Ted, hopefully I can meet you in Cheny some day interchanging a grain train, and keep a SD40 Or that GP35 on the point for me.
Kevin

Great images despite the less than ideal weather . . . .

Craig

Nice color and light on shot #6.

Posted from Android

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

Your work doesn't look the LEAST bit "gloomy" ta me Ted !!

qman

Pacific_Division Wrote:
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> Good job BNSF, crew moral is
> down even more.
> Kevin

You know everytime you think things can't get any worse, Ft. Worth finds a way to prove us wrong...

I like your long tele urban shots through downtown SPO, always love those shots!

Ted S-P

Really like the 3rd shot.

3rd one is definitely a winner for me as well.

NIIIICE set of pics!!!!! Thanks for sharing.

Nice photos! Spokane is a most interesting looking city. How many Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains roll through town daily?

SantaFeRuss

Thanks for all the wonderful comments. I think Spokane rates right up there with a Kansas City and Cincinnati as a great place for urban railfanning. No so much for variety of train action, but because of the wonderful brick architecture, high bridges, and great elevated photo locations. BNSF runs 60 trains a day or so through town, with most being heavy grain and coal trains. UP runs around 10 trains a day through two and often feature a mix of UP and CP power, although most of the UP power is SD9043MACs and the CP likes AC4400's and Gevos.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR