Western Railroad Discussion > Toto Tuesday: Swamp Angel Magic

Let me borrow and paraphrase a scientific concept the well known physicist Albert Einstein once struggled with. Between the years 1905 & 1917 he turned the scientific world, physics in particular, upside down with his breakthrough theories on Relativity. During this legendary and quite remarkable achievement he was forced to come to mental grips with a staggering concept his own long & difficult years of research gave him no choice but to accept as fact. Part of Einstein's dilemma is known as the "Cosmological Constant", and cannot possibly be explained here.

But I can explain why I'm comparing Einsteinian physics with our beloved hobby. I've noticed many times throughout my railfanning years there seems to be a sort of 'universal railfan constant' within the train watching/shooting facet of this hobby. It seems that most every railfan who has a regular homebase area to patrol will develop a certain favorite spot that he/she can always rely on to get regularly acceptable, if not great results.

Lately a couple of us in the Manhattan area have come to rely on just such a special place called Swamp Angel a few miles east of downtown. The name is borne out of local Native American lore, and was once an actual location in Union Pacific's employee timetables covering the Topeka ~ Denver main line. The distinctive CK Processing elevator still conducts grain loading and other agricultural business here, but rail service is no longer provided. The main line switches & service track arrangement was removed years ago.

But along with a handy back-to-back intermediate ABS signal the old hopper car loading pipe & the elevator itself can still provide some interesting background scenery. And with modern train consists often providing DP units on the rear end a given train can be photographed in either direction virtually any time of the day. Evening time back-lit sun glint shots become especially attractive. My young friend & frequent shooting partner 'mg8711' can easily attest to this idea! Not long ago he scored one of his growing tally of IOTD images (his very 1st??) right here with a beautifully back-lit sunset glint shot...

1. & 2. UP 8095 is coming out of mild mannered summer evening color and is passing by the CK Processing grain elevator.

3. DP unit UP 8346 is getting one last and very brief moment in the sun while rolling away from my telephoto observation point at Swamp Angel Rd crossing.
(3 photos taken July 29, 2017 at Swamp Angel east of Manhattan, KS)

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199
Posted from McD's in suburban Metamora, IL.
(en route home from Summerail '17 ... ;^)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/17 09:35 by santafe199.

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Gosh , I didn't know Einstein was a " train guy " .

That's a very interesting story and idea,
Lance. Well-written, as always. Thanks!

For those who might be curious about Einstein's
"Cosmological Constant", here is a link to NASA's
explanation of this concept:

https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_accel.html

That kinda reminds me of "Skinner's Variable Constant" --
that number which has to be added to, or subtracted from,
or multiplied by, or divided by, the number you have to
get the result you want. <G> (You can blame my fathner
for telling me about this! <G> )