Western Railroad Discussion > It's not always sunny on the railroad...but sometimes that's good

After work in Spokane yesterday I could see the storm clouds rolling in from the southwest. Decided to hoof out onto the bridge at Yardley and take advantage of the threatening skies as a great photo backdrop!

1) An eastbound South Seattle-Chicago Z is racing out of the clouds for points east as ominous clouds build south of Spokane.

2) A sheet of rain is clearly behind the dark front, as the Hillyard switcher starts to pull out of Yardley with GP50 3155 leading.

3) By the time the Hillyard job has reached Napa Street, the skies have opened and rain is coming down in buckets! I'm sure the crew is content to "slow roll" up the hill in hopes that the rain will clear by the time they have to hit the ground and start with their local tasks.

There were several underpasses that flooded with the rate of rain that came down. The locals said it had been dry and warm (even a few brush fires) the last couple weeks so this was probably a well needed rain!

Kyle Rasmussen
Centerville, UT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/19 14:40 by kyrasmus.

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Awesome photos Kyle! Thanks for sharing.
That was an impressive rainstorm we had.
-Andy

Great series of photos... That's a nice shelf cloud in #2! Thanks for sharing.

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

mojaveflyer Wrote:
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> Great series of photos... That's a nice shelf
> cloud in #2! Thanks for sharing.

yup-reminded me of Kansas or Eastern Colorado this time of year.
BB

Good stuff! Image #1 is killer with the angular appearance of the clouds directly contrasting with the angle of the train. It makes for a great composition, even if accidental...

Posted from Android

Wow ... love the stormy skies!

Hey rails,

What's it like to run through a downpour? Beyond the wet rail, does all that water running off the consist slow down the train? What about the cooler air going into the prime movers, an uptick in horesepower?

Just wonderin'

* JB *

Really great storm cloud pictures with the trains. Spokane really got dumped on with 2.59 inches of rain in a short period of time with that severe thunderstorm. We lucked out in Ritzville with only .50 of rain.

Larry

Great shots!

Dramatic images!