Western Railroad Discussion > Raton and Glorieta Sub Detectors?

Good day all,

I am preparing for my first and likely only opportunity to photograph the last of the semaphores.

I have an Altamont Pass Southwest Region Time Table from 2004 that lists  the detectors on these subdivisions.

Two questions:

1) Are the detectors still active?

2) Are they in (substantially) the same locations?

I've done quite a bit of research via posts here on T.O., but I'm as nervous as I am excited given train speeds and the fact that I may not have another shot at this.  I look at the detectors as being added help for the day.

 Any information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 Press 25 / Kurt Stetzer 

 

Not really helpful. Just wait west of Springer with food, full tank of gas and a brick for the gas pedal.If the car is fast enough you may get three or four shots. Then head to Chapell and wait. Then you can reverse the procedure for #4. Think you can hear the detector west of Chapelle. But it's easier to watch the blades drop. Then you know he's here.

Thanks.  

That was the perhaps conservative plan that had evolved as I researched, plotted and planned.

Better to be content with 4-6 shots for the day than try to be greedy (adventurous?) (brave?) and miss a shot as a result.

20 years ago I might have taken a different approach!

Again, thanks for the response and advice.

The detectors listed are still current.

Thanks for your response and the confirmation.

The really hard thing if taking video is trying to capture the first semaphore drop without leaving the video running for long periods of time while you wait for the train to enter the prior block.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Appreciate that tip too!  

I will be shooting video as well, and was planning on letting it run (I have extra batteries!) and editing later.  I’d rather edit later than try to guess timing and regret it later.  The extra batteries are cheaper than the costs of going back...

I drove from LA junta to belen a few days ago there were a few semaphore seen between springer and Las Vegas the rest were color lights

Posted from Android

Todd makes an interesting and excellent point. I had a similar experience waiting to film the Chief passing the Delhi wigwag, which is "just up the road" in Colorado.  The Amtrak train tracker is useful if you have a cell phone signal, which may (or may not) be the case along I-25 in New Mexico, but there was no cell signal in Delhi.  Not wanting to miss the start of the "wagging", I just kept the camera running until the train arrived.  Having a friend along who better understood the behavior of the barely-visible absolute permissive block signals in the distance at Delhi helped a bit too.