Western Railroad Discussion > Five orange elephants!

During my active RR years I mostly worked the road. But I did spend a considerable amount of my career on the ground as a “lead-pounding” switchman. In the course of working through a bunch of switch lists a really good switch foreman will devise a method of switching that will employ a track for cars that will ultimately be cut into, or added onto a train or another block of cars some time later in the shift. The track in question can have a variety of nicknames, all depending on the personality of said foreman. My favorite nickname came from a now-forgotten switch foreman in Sand Creek Yard (Newton), Kansas. A typical instruction: Lets’ kick those 2 cars into xxx track, and we’ll add ‘em to 10-track for our last move. Track ‘xxx’ was what he called his “for-the-time-being” track for that day. It’s just one of the dozens of charmingly colloquial mannerisms that a career train service railroader will remember with great fondness.

In my ever-developing, overall slide-scanning & digital image photo-editing procedures I have had to employ what I fondly call a “For the time being PS images” file. This is where I toss images that have gone completely through photo-editing, and for some reason never made the final leg into a posted thread. Here is one such image of I shot a couple of years ago:

1. BNSF 4068 in H2 paint leads 3 elephant-style ‘swooshes’ and another H2 westbound at Contour Rd west of Lebo, KS on July 15, 2017.

Thanks for waiting!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

(BTW: With this thread I’m now down to 59 completed images which are all just waiting around, for the time being… ;^)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 10:29 by santafe199.

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Nice pic!!

Nicce shot, Lance!  What overpass is that in the background?  Can you shoot off of it or is it too dangerous?  I think I shot off ofo of it when they had the road closed and were building a new bridge there.

Thanks.

Randy Lundgren

texchief1 Wrote: > ... What overpass is that ...

That's the "old" US hwy 50 overpass about 2 rail miles west of Lebo. It ceased being part of the official US Highway system when I-35 was finally completed in 1975(?), and US 50 piggy-backed onto it. I believe this particular bridge was in place long before 1974. That's when I first ventured down into this territory from Topeka. I think if you're recalling some new bridge being built, it has to be in some other location. Today this bridge, reduced to county road status, is usually not all that busy. But with 2 narrow lanes it's a very looooong walk up one of the approach ramps... not recommended. I've had some little bit of success just stopping on the bridge for a shot sequence. Of course, you have to time it when no other traffic is approaching. And those odds are at least reasonable...

Lance