Western Railroad Discussion > Catching one that got away!

How many times has this happened to you? You're staked out at a location with great light and good compositon. You know, or at least have a very good idea a train is in your immediate future. All ya gotta do is wait. And be patient. And keep waiting. And try not to get antsy. And get antsy, wondering if the train has somehow already slipped past you.

Then you let that doubt & uncertainty get to you. With a few other locations still left to explore you make the decision to up & move. And sure enough, Murphy's railfan law #1 takes effect: "A known train will not show up at a great photo location until it is abandoned."

My partner, 'mg8711' & I did just exactly that. We had a great shot staked out at the Emporia St crossing in Mulvane, KS. But we [pick me] weren't patient and decided to move on. Right on cue that train made it's appearance. As we made a quick pit stop for a cold beverage, the train raced through town. Its horn blowing for the crossing we just vacated sounded just like Vincent Price's evil laugh at the end of Michael Jackson's tune "Thriller".

I cursed my own impatience, and I don't mean under my breath, either! (That's OK, my partner is used to it by now... ;^) So I gritted my teeth and told him: "We're gonna catch that #@% train one way or another! A short dash down KS hwy 31, then a 'determined trek' west over I-35 put us ahead of that rascal at Lebo. I would have run all the way to the west side Emporia if needed, but I think we were aided by a slow order between Melvern & Lebo. We caught that slippery booger just west of Lebo...

1. 2. & 3. The escaped train that sneaked right by under our noses us back at Melvern has been apprehended (in pixel form x 3) at Lebo, KS. Taken from Emmer Road crossing just west of town on August 23, 2014

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199
(posted from Addison, TX)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/15 04:35 by santafe199.

---

---

---

That's a nice set of shots! I'm familiar with the 'something good is very likely to arrive just as you have left' experience and have ended up with a 'let's just give it another 15 minutes' approach...which can end up being several multiples of 15 minutes!
In the UK we now have access to a website called 'realtimetrains' which as the name suggests gives realtime progress of all timetabled trains including freight, so the guesswork is now largely gone as you can track your train pretty accurately. Not quite fool-proof as errors sometimes creep in but good 99% of the time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/15 02:45 by exhaustED.

Been there done that. "If you move they will come." Great shots Lance.

Ronda Thomas

That law is so true, and the worse case scenario is when the train has a unique locomotive on it and you either forget your camera or it decides to crap out on you!

Posted from Android

Deciding to run to have lunch, as fast as possible, is always the cue for the train to come through! Then you're either stuck in line in the drive-up, or if you took a leak, too, you see it pass by outside the windows down the street. Been there... === === = === JLH

As I've been telling a few conductors I work with, someone needs to buy some land and build a gas station/convenience store right next to the tracks at select locations like Saffordville; they would make a killing off of railroaders (and railfans).

That might be a good investment for a highly paid ( highly paid, not overpaid !! ) locomotive engineer !  LOL

highgreengraphics Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Deciding to run to have lunch, as fast as
> possible, is always the cue for the train to come
> through! Then you're either stuck in line in the
> drive-up, or if you took a leak, too, you see it
> pass by outside the windows down the street. Been
> there... === === = === JLH

+1......!!

Nice pics!!