Western Railroad Discussion > The worst day foaming is still better than the best day working

A friendly change to the popular bumper sticker.  I was starting a new job on Monday the 20th, so on Friday the 17th I thought I would go out and shoot even if the light was garbage.  The final nudge was when I heard that a "Special Work Train" was heading south out of Eugene, so off I went. 
1. I think I have finally found a resolution to the "trees vs. no trees" problem that photobob and Don Winslow wrestle with - a clearcut at the Minnow siding!  Don't know when it happened or what the purpose was, but had trudge down quite a ways to get the slash piles out of the picture as the work train approached.  This view was previously blocked by trees.
2. Caught the train again at the Willamette River bridge at Westfir, Oregon.
3. The first part of the train looked like a basic manifest train, but then there were many empty flatcars, many DODX, tacked on to the end.  I was more interested in the apple tree with fruit still attached.  Went up to Oakridge for more action for the next set of shots.

Tom Trent
Eugene, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/20 10:32 by CBRL.

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4. To the east of the Oakridge yard I caught UP 5372 leading a northbound manifest into town to go around the work train on the siding.
5. Further south out of town I caught the work train again at Dunning Road as it was heading to meet the Amtrak at Pryor.
6. Later I caught Amtrak 14 rolling past Westfir at the North Fork Road crossing just south of the siding at Lookout.  I was standing on top of the now-closed Tunnel 23.

Three more to come.

Tom Trent
Eugene, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/20 10:38 by CBRL.

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7. I stopped at the Dougren siding on the way home and saw a high green for a southbound and caught UP 5970 with a heavy manifest racing by. 

8. As I came into town I heard the Coos Bay 1869 was heading out of the yard in Eugene and grabbed a shot at Garfield Street.

9. As the Coos Bay train passed MP 649 it passed cars of raw logs from the PNWR waiting to go out to the mills later that evening.  Caught all the local roads in one day!

Thanks for looking.

Tom Trent
Eugene, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/20 10:33 by CBRL.

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New Coos Bay scheme kind of refreshing. Perhaps some rosters for us in the future?

TJY

Nice location at Minnow, great low light photos, lots of resoution with good colors. The Coos Bay paint scheme is unique, not sue how that's going to weather.
t4p.

That shot at Minnow really threw me for a minute. I knew you were local, so the shot had to be local, but seeing Minnow "clear cut" like that really shocked me. Great shots.

Great shots!

Thanks for the comments.  Yes it was a little shocking to see Minnow clearcut like that!  Hopefully they'll clean it up a little.  I like the new CBRL paint scheme and am curious how many more units may show up in that scheme.  The AERC B40-8s appear to be gone for the present.  I used my Tamron 70-210 f/4 zoom for the CBRL and Dougren shots and the rest were with my trusty old Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 DX zoom.

Tom Trent
Eugene, OR

Perhaps the best light possible for that country, great work.

Looks like you put in a few miles with GREAT results! Clear cut happened up on KCS Rich Mountain opeing up a LOT of new nice angles.
JB

Great series!

i have NEVER had a day foaming that i have regretted, no matter how light the train traffic was.

in fact, i think i'll go trackside now and attempt to get a few trains on video before the game...........

66



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/20 08:14 by goneon66.

BTW, back to the Minnow shot. If you look at the lake in the background and see all that "bare" ground, that is not clear cut. This is Lookout Reservoir and during the summer/fall they draw this lake down exposing bare ground so there will be room to take in the winter/spring rainfall and snow run off. In fact in late summer and fall, as you get closer to Hampton, you can look down into the dry areas of the lake and see the original SP right of way at the bottom of the lake.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/20 08:28 by Railbaron.

Railbaron Wrote:
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> That shot at Minnow really threw me for a minute. I knew you were local, so the shot had to be
> local, but seeing Minnow "clear cut" like that really shocked me. Great shots.

That clearcut occurred prior to November 1st.  I hope more of it happens between the highway and the tracks!!
As usual, great shots, Tom.  You capture the mood of the weather conditions really well.

Hopmere Hank

Tom, thanks for going out and collecting that great group of photos.

Bob

Thanks again everyone for all the kind and informative comments.  Been very busy with my new job but hopefully will get a Saturday to do some more mountain foaming. 

Tom Trent
Eugene, OR