Western Railroad Discussion > Ignoring my friend Tom!

Being hunkered down in a railfan-man-cave scanning dungeon doesn’t mean one can’t keep abreast of ongoing affairs. I do keep the idiot-box going for background filler noise and to keep an eye on current “things”, especially from the oval swamp. In the last few days I’ve been hearing about this “Saharan dust cloud” making its way across the big pond. In addition to raising hell with asthmatic and similarly affected souls it is supposed to provide us camera-toting types with extraordinary sunset opportunities.

This was my reasoning yesterday when I interrupted a productive scanning session and ran down to the the old Rock Island GSR. But apparently I was a day or so too early. I got a sunset, but nothing out of the ordinary for Kansas. And with Uncle Pete running 3+ mile long trains nowadays I was deprived of a chance to shoot any yellow & gray action. While I was out on the GSR hoping for a train there was a monster stacker in Herington, KS struggling to get 2x2x??? fueled at the main line fuel rack. Last time I saw this happening it was a minimum of a 2 hour ordeal.

But that wasn’t the only thing going on while shooting my no-action, routine sunset shots. My cell phone lit up with an inbound call from a good friend. TO member ‘twjurgens’ was calling, and I had to make a quick decision. Do I politely answer the call, or do I just keep on shooting (heh heh heh). “You’re a great guy Tom, but take a number while I keep on shooting the final seconds of a sunset!!!” Of course, I told him as much when I finally returned his call. And he just laughed…

Here ya go, Tom! Three of the reasons my phone manners were so bad yesterday:

1. 2. & 3. Looking north from the 360th St/Ranung Rd crossing south of Jacobs, KS. This is the northbound (TT west) approach signal to the current BNSF/UP (formerly Santa Fe/Rock Island) crossing. Photo date June 26, 2020.

At the tone, please leave your………
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/20 08:37 by santafe199.

---

---

---

I like the old seachlight signal with the sunset and dying thundercloud.

Larry

The "cloud" shot are excellent.

All great shots!  Worth the wait.

Is that one of the staggered signals Santa Fe used to be known for?

Like no. 3 a lot , Lance!

Randy Lundgren

I, too, love the cloud photographs. 

The African dust has not been causing great sunsets. As of 4:50pm in Wichita, we have a milky sky overhead due to the dust.