Western Railroad Discussion > A Foggy Start To Monday On The BNSF Northern Transcon--Wig-Wag

It was pea soup fog this morning along with a cloudy day in Ritzville, WA on the BNSF Lakeside Sub. The high-low was 50-39. Rain on the way for tonight. Before the 910am train could not see a thing, only hear the train. Traffic was normal for a Monday with several lulls. Here are some of the trains from today.

11/18/2019

1. First attempt a taking pictures as fog lightened up just a bit. WB 910am intermodal train with BNSF 5385 on the very point with DPU in the fog.
2. DPU BNSF 5034 on same train.
3. WB 1038am grain train with BNSF 4979-6513 on the pull with DPU's. Fog lifted about 945am.

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4. DPU's BNSF 7557-4068 on same grain train.
5. EB 1058am empty coal train with BNSF 9039, CREX 1210 and green and cream 9720 on the point with DPU.
6. Another shot of BNSF Grinstein 9720 on same train.

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7. DPU BNSF 8830 on same coal train.
8. WB 1157am manifest train with BNSF 7070-6601 on the pull with no DPU and a friendly toot-toot from the hogger.
9. EB 1258pm grain train with BNSF 6154-282 on the point with DPU.

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10. Another shot of BNSF 282 on same train. Nice looking power.
11.DPU BNSF 4080 on same train.
12. Some of the backyard birds waiting for lunch at 1pm. This goes on everyday, lol. I go thru lots of birdseed!

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13. WB 212pm grain train with BNSF 4297-658 on the point with DPU.
14. DPU BNSF Grinstein 9822 on same train.
15. Grab shot of EB 252pm manifest train with BNSF 4155 and CREX 1432 on the pull with no DPU.

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Excellent series Larry! You gotta love them birds!!!!

Since I was short on trains today, thought I'd put up another wig-wag picture. At four years old, those wig-wags were the most exciting thing to see from the car, because that meant possible trains. Seemed all the crossings in the early 1950's had various styles of wig-wags in California.

16. This SP wig-wag was in Ligurta, AZ west of Wellton. AZ. It protected a dirt road to the dump and electrical works. It was a blind crossing to EB trains. This signal lasted until 1991. Picture was taken in Oct. 1979 with me in the background at a young 32, lol. Picture taken by Jack Smith
17. Another shot of same wig-wag 10 years later in Oct. 1989. The signal case said Magnetic Signal Co., Minneapolis, Minn. instead of Los Angeles, Calif. Picture by Gena Holle.

That's it for today. Hope everyone has a great evening and tomorrow. Thank you so much for looking!

Larry
Ritzville, WA

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Whoa... you ain't just a-woofin'! That first shot is downright spooky!

Lance

Nice Series Larry!

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

My wife and I waited for a SP train at Ligurta in 1988. (Didn't see a wigwag) It was 117 degrees. Over the radio we heard SP dispatch ask a nearby track inspector what the rail-head temperature was. He said 149 degrees, to which dispatch told him to let him know if it reaches 150 and he'll issue a slow order. Man, it was hot there.

As a sidenote about a mile away that same year a w/b intermodal came around a curve and hit a sunkink at 45mph. SP lost two locomotives and a lot of freight. The locomotives were still there during our first visit there.  - Tony

TonyJ Wrote:
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> My wife and I waited for a SP train at Ligurta in
> 1988. (Didn't see a wigwag) It was 117 degrees.
> Over the radio we heard SP dispatch ask a nearby
> track inspector what the rail-head temperature
> was. He said 149 degrees, to which dispatch told
> him to let him know if it reaches 150 and he'll
> issue a slow order. Man, it was hot there.
>
> As a sidenote about a mile away that same year a
> w/b intermodal came around a curve and hit a
> sunkink at 45mph. SP lost two locomotives and a
> lot of freight. The locomotives were still there
> during our first visit there.  - Tony

It sure does get hot in that area. The wigwag is located about a mile or two EB from the little town and cafe of Ligurta and overpass on old US80. We saw a derailment west of Ligurta in the valley in 1997. All of us from San Diego chased trains in this area for 30 plus years and stayed in the trackside motel in Tacna, AZ. from October till April. Then it was too HOT! Thanks for your interesting story Tony.

Larry

 

Larry, your birds look to be very well fed and healthy!!!  What happened to the litter of kittens living under the stack of used railroad ties?

lynnpowell Wrote:
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> Larry, your birds look to be very well fed and
> healthy!!!  What happened to the litter of
> kittens living under the stack of used railroad
> ties?

They are still there, getting bigger.

Larry

Glad to see the wig wag shots!

Nice shots today Larry.  Thanks for putting out the bird seed, and, the fog shots do look really neat.
Brian Stevens

Thanks everyone!

Larry

Who says they are just dumb birds!
CM80.46