Western Railroad Discussion > On 12-12-12 ya take what they give ya...

On the only 3 dozen day this century, seemed like a good day to see what was moving in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. BNSF obliged with a DENLAU Denver-Laurel with a Warbonnet on the point, but it came way early before the sun could poke through the morning clouds, oh well, it pointed me north toward Cheyenne.

Photo 1 - It's still pretty dark as the DENLAU cruises north just north of Marion, CO, an old sugar beet dump siding location just north of Loveland, CO as Longs Peak looks on barely reached by sunlight.

Photo 2 - Whistling up Mason St. in Fort Collins, CO, right past the front door of the relatively new County Courthouse, and still no sun throwing shadows across the street, though a bit brighter.

Photo 3 - Rolling right along at track speed on a bridge over a dry wash south of Owl Canyon Siding, north of Wellington, CO, and incrementally a bit more brighter but still no direct sun even though it has cleared off to the west.

There's mooore...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/12 21:51 by highgreengraphics.

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Photo 4 - The DENLAU could have been longer, as this view suggests at the reverse curve leading into Speer, WY, and a perky little caboose sure would have looked nice here at the rear!

Photo 5 - Same location, different lens, ducking under UP's Denver Main at Speer Jct., WY with UP's unused, but still standing, Tracks 3 and 4 water tank in the background. Above the power can be seen the grade of the original Colorado Central.

Photo 6 - UP was incredibly slow while I was there, with nothing going on notable when the 12:12 time on 12-12-12 happened, but I was waiting by the C&S bridge when it did happen, as shown here from my car with the digital clock reading 12:12, and in keeping with the theme I was playing a Track 12 on a CD also.

There's mooore...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/12 22:29 by highgreengraphics.

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Great to see how rebuilt Mason Street turned out, hopefully will keep autos and trains separated better.

Photo 7 - I knew a TACOMA Tacoma-Omaha stacker with ho-hum power was going to leave the ex-C&S yard after meeting the DENLAU, and I had some time after lunch, so I took a walk to experiment with a different angle of the C&S bridge I had not shot before. This is behind the "Clear Creek" park, where a UP last-series caboose is parked. UP obliged with one westbound, and without more height anywhere, the trucks get obscured by weeds, but still a different angle. Yes, I lined myself up with the end of the offending billboard so it could be more easily Photoshopped out of view, still seems odd to me to be able to design a photo composition with Photoshop as part of the design...

Photo 8 - Some time after, the TACOMA finally left, here climbing away from the ex-C&S yard with the train visible around the curve in the background beneath the bridge. One car or truck or a UP train would have ruined this composition.

Photo 9 - I followed the TACOMA and left UP because it was so slow, and because I heard mention of an opposing Boeing Train of some sort that would meet the TACOMA at Owl Canyon. It turned out to be just northbound Boeing Skyboxes and no fuselages, but a notable was the CSX SD40-3 in second place, wish it was on the point but it was not to be. Here it is at the switch of the former sugar-beet dump location Dixon, CO, an intact spur still used for MofW, truck unloading and car storage. NH 2006 did a better job of photographing the interesting-looking CSX rebuild than I did, a couple posts down.

One mooore...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/12 22:27 by highgreengraphics.

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Photo 10 - After meeting the Boeing Northbound at Owl Canyon Siding, the southbound TACOMA has crossed Owl Canyon Road and is gaining speed toward Wellington, from the top of a cut that I have never walked to before, from Dixon.

Happy 3 dozen railfanning! === === = === JLH

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You had a very good 12-12-12. Do you photoshop your pictures? What kind of equipment do you use? They look nice.

Traingeek087

Nikon D-7000's, Nikkor DX lenses, I steer away from Full-frame to avoid the HUGE file sizes. The D-7000 has 2 card slots that shoot JPEG and RAW. I use an ancient Photoshop Elements 3 until I replace my computer in order to utilize the new Photoshop version I purchased. I do have an upgrade photo editing screen with flat-plane switching that seems to be calibrated pretty good. Photo 1 was basically a blown effort, because the clouds did not lift and it was still so dark. I used ISO 1600 and the high-ISO noise reduction, but still to me a bit noisy. On the bright side, the snow on Long's Peak did not get blown out by overexposure like I thought it would. I was wishing I had brought my Cokin graduated ND filter which I did not, but it worked pretty good anyway. Personally, I have had better train daze, but so-so to record today's 3 dozen day... === === = === JLH



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/12 22:54 by highgreengraphics.

Nice work, JLH.

John.

Something about image # 3 is really spot on. Well done and thanks for sharing.

Great shots as usual. I like #3 & #4 the best. Did they raise the speed limit at all through Fort Collins since the reconstruction? Cant imagine they'd raise it a whole lot.

I am having a tougher time chasing trains through town, so I know the speed limit has been raised, but I do not know what the official speed limit is. It's not much, like maybe from 10 mph to 15 mph on Mason St., but it makes a difference when trying to chase something. === === = === JLH

Nice shots! Your last one is the best.

Wow-Highgreen, really nice shots.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO

Glad you got that J train! I left a message on your voice mail...talk about a futile effort...

They are all really fantastic shots, but my favorite is #2--the street-running photo. I love watching and hearing huge, powerful freight trains going down the middle of a street. Seems so out of place, but very cool at the same time.

I recognize the dash and buttons in your 12:12 photo---Jeep?

Thanks! Not a wild Jeep, but a very tame, gas-sipping Saturn Aura Hybrid. For the wilder stuff, we use our Chevy Astro AWD, but it's a fuel hog. === === = === JLH