Western Railroad Discussion > Searchlights and a Wig-Wag...What Year Is It?!

With a rare free night off from work, I ventured southwest from Scott City, KS my temporary home terminal towards Lamar, Colorado. Well, I ended up stopping a bit short of Lamar at Granada and awaited Amtrak #3, from there the chase was on! The day ended up coming full circle when my last photo of the day was taken back at the cantilever at Granada.

1) Amtrak 72 leads A 31 15 A underneath the old Santa Fe cantilever at the east end of Granada, Colorado as the sun starts to peak over the horizon.
2) Thanks to jointed rail and slower speeds by Amtrak, I was able to get back in front of them and frame them coming by the searchlights at east Lamar.
3) What I expected to be my final shot of Amtrak was just west of Lamar near the old town of Prowers. Here 72 splits the classic searchlight arrangement along with the ATS inductor.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/17 11:49 by nwkrailfan.

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4) After arriving in La Junta and a quick pit stop for gas, I realized that Amtrak #3 was still in the depot at La Junta. A quick 30 mile run down to Delhi allowed me to cross the wig-wag off my list. Here 72 highballs through Delhi past the wig-wag.
5) Leaving Delhi, I headed back north towards Rocky Ford and was able to catch the C CAMSLP0 17A rolling along between Fowler and Manzanola behind two EMD's.
6) After the afternoon lull, I found myself at Las Animas Jct. waiting for a southbound grain load to leave La Junta. Shortly before the train showed up I ran into SD45X. Here BNSF 4112 with the G YUMLDH9 14 rolls through the curve at Las Animas Jct.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/17 11:45 by nwkrailfan.

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7) After nabbing the 4112 at Las Animas Jct. I started winding by way back towards Scott City. While crossing the tracks in Lamar I noticed a dimmed headlight on the mainline. Here, the BNSF 6049 holds the mainline with the V KCKDEN1 16A as a eastbound manifest train is rolling up behind me.
8) The rear end of the H KCKDEN1 14L rolls into the pass at Lamar as the conductor on the 6049 realigns the mainline switch, hoping to arrive at La Junta before 2030 and Amtrak time.
9) Back at the cantilever that started the day, the BNSF 5464 rolls under the signal and proceeds eastward into the night.

Thanks for looking!
nwkrailfan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/17 11:48 by nwkrailfan.

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NICE series of shots!

Larry

You need more nights off from work !

Even better than I imagined from your text. I am blown away! WOW x 10!!!

BEAUTIFUL!

Ted S-P

Nice photos! Thanks for posting. I love seeing those cantilever searchlights (along with the other searchlights) every time I travel on Hwy 50 out to Colorado.

Todd Skaggs
Dodge City, KS



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/17 13:01 by ts2100.

IOTD for the first photo

Cheers,
Jack

OutStanding

Posted from iPhone

That'll do!!

Your photos are beautiful!  What's not to love?  Searchlights!!    
Traditional cantilevers!!  Even a wig-wag!!   And a nice pole line,too -- 
which looks great, with the perspective it gives!!  (I know -- almost all of 
those things are going, going, gone..... :(  )
 

Awesome shots!

Great pics!

Nice!

Fantastic photos. Love those night shots but that first image of the sunrise behind the cantilever is superb. Thanks for sharing, sould be seeing one of these on the homepage tomorrow morning.

Ryan

zfan Wrote:
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> Great pics!

AGREED....!!  I REALLY like the first couple of pics!!

Nice sun placement in Pic 1.  Did you go out today specifically because you knew the sun would be setting in line with the overpass?  

Ted in OR

Really great series of photos.

Ronda Thomas

gobbl3gook Wrote:
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> Nice sun placement in Pic 1.  Did you go out
> today specifically because you knew the sun would
> be setting in line with the overpass?  
>
> Ted in OR

Ted, honestly the sun being where it was, was pretty well blind luck. Had it not had a 25 MPH slow order a few miles behind it, the train would have best sunrise to this spot.

A huge thank you to everyone for the kind comments!

nwkrailfan

Posted from Android