Western Railroad Discussion > Morning light at Florence

Nothing special, just another eastbound reroute from the traditional mainline route through the Flint Hills. This manifest has turned north (TT east) taking the old passenger main from Mulvane, KS up through Wichita and into Newton, turning back to the east to parallel US hwy 50 for a trek across the Kansas breadbasket. It will rejoin the transcon at Ellinor, some 34 miles further east.

Good morning from eastern Marion County, Kansas…

1. BNSF 7611 has charge of just another manifest rolling east on BNSF’s La Junta Sub. This telephoto shot boring in on the train shows both crew members with sun visors down, trying their best to see the track ahead. (…been there, done that!)

2. & 3. A little less on the tele as the train approaches my ‘farmer crossing’ vantage point.

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Looking the other way:

4. The poor crew will be battling that bright sun for many more miles. That would be the Mid-KS Coop elevator scraping the Florence sky way back there on the distant horizon…
(4 photos taken west of Florence, KS on July 2, 2014)

Thanks for the coffee!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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I always think it's worth while to get up early for the low light shots . . . nice work . . . the 'pumpkin' paint scheme seems to look better with the low sun angle!

Craig
http://mcmrailvideos.com/

Here I thought it was an antique from Florence, MT from your time in MT. GP9s up the Bitterroot.

Nice sunrise captures, anyway.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

fbe Wrote:> Here I thought it was an antique from Florence, MT

Ouch! I sure wish I'd gone down and shot that branch more than the couple times I did. Is there anything running down to Darby at all, now-a-days?

Sorry, Lance, the Bitterroot and Polson branches have both been shut down due to minor washouts and lack of traffic. Rails remain but there is little hope of revival. There is still one or two trains per week between Sappington and Harrison. That is possible due to the ballast quarry at Spire Rock west of Whitehall.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

fbe Wrote:
> ...Bitterroot and Polson branches have both been shut down...

That's sad news... I did get to work both branches a few times while I was in Missoula. I'll have go dig out the MT Centennial psgr slides from '89 down the Bitterroot.
(just another iron in the fire.. ;^)

Lance