Western Railroad Discussion > Angel of Low Light

Yesterday afternoon, acting on a hot tip I snuck out the back door and headed north for Marysville. I was in pursuit of UP 1982, the Mop Heritage unit working the point of a manifest. Its train was “supposed” to depart Marysville in the morning for a run down to Topeka where it would negotiate the WYE and head down to Herington on the old Rock Island GSR. Great sunlight all day long!

But a funny thing happened. The railfan gods giveth & the railfan gods taketh away. I found the train sitting in Marysville as advertised, but it never moved a foot. All day long. Coulda shoulda woulda… All I got was some regular banana-led manifest instead.

So, with a full tank o’ gas I went exploring the old Joe Branch, which is now the westward “directional” main line between Kansas City & Marysville. That too was a dismal flop. I snagged only one train the whole time, a coal empty near Beattie, KS. My tipster sent a text late in the afternoon that the 1982 was STILL in Marysville so I headed back to the Matador Rd overpass to see if I could get lucky with a back-lit sunset shot of it leaving the area. Strike three! All I got was an Angel of Low Light, which I now pass on to LLD out there on the left coast. To see the angel you gotta think outside the box, so to speak. The 2 mainline tracks are the legs, the trees either side are like arms and the halo framing a radiant sun-face is somewhat blurred together…

1. Looking TT west (NW as the crow flies) from the Matador Rd overpass near Upland (Jct), KS at 8:25 PM on June 17, 2020. Uncle Pete was very stingy with the trains…

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/20 00:59 by santafe199.

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A wonderful image, Lance . --Kelly

Thanks Kelly! For about 3 months -basically summer time- the back-lit sunset train shots are virtuously unlimited from this old overpass. And it's less than an hour from home! :^)

Lance