Western Railroad Discussion > UP Tucumcari Line at Vaughn NM, full of tumbleweeds

CREDIT TO UNION PACIFIC FOR THE PHOTO
This was posted on their facebook page earlier today. 12/15/2021, Can you say, wow? 
Right at the underpass with the BNSF Transcon at Vaughn NM. 

Marc L
 

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Holy wow! There were wind gusts of up to around 76 mph this morning. Las Vegas NM had up to 90mph gusts.

Golden State Route at this location must not be very busy unless this was a flash bang of tumble weeds.

I say Notch 8 and film it. 

This was explictly forecasted:  http://www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.com/2021/12/extreme-wind-great-plains-tornadoes.html  and scroll down a bit.

Today's meteorology? Darn good!!  😉

That's a great point.   In this day of surveillance cameras being everywhere, this sure would have been an interesting development to have seen captured to determine how fast it occurred.   I sure wouldn't have thought this could happen on a busy mainline like the UP Golden State.  

zaltwsp7 Wrote:
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> Golden State Route at this location must not be
> very busy unless this was a flash bang of tumble
> weeds.

It happens, when I lived in Southeast Colorado we had one wind event where the tumbleweeds were blown from the prairie into the parking lot of the supermarket and completely blocked the doors. 

Light a match. That'll clear it out. In all seriousness, though, that's an amazing shot.

Posted from Android

Going to have to cut off the power and ram through that mess

Forgive me for being a doubter ( and I don't have access to the UP source material), but I cannot believe this photo. If the winds were strong enough to create such a pile, why wouldn't most of the tumble weeds have  been blown through the relatively short  underpass. Also, does the UP go that long without any trains?

yooperfan Wrote:
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> Forgive me for being a doubter ( and I don't have
> access to the UP source material), but I cannot
> believe this photo. If the winds were strong
> enough to create such a pile, why wouldn't most of
> the tumble weeds have  been blown through the
> relatively short  underpass. Also, does the UP go
> that long without any trains?

well, i think those tumbleweeds were "funneled" into the small space of the tunnel became stuck.  i have seen winds plug up gate entrances with tumbleweeds many times.

i doesn't take very long...........

66

RailDawg Wrote:
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> I say Notch 8 and film it. 

i'm with you.  skin er back.........

66

the above photo was from the  UP website      ,      here is another photo ,the south side of springer, NM today anyone who has fanned the blades has gone thru there



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/21 19:22 by dan.

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Maybe 8 years ago BNSF had a cut of spine cars stored in a siding near Eckly, CO. They sat there several months and then came to decision to pull the cut. Tumble weeds had piled under the cars so that when the crew pulled the cut, the tumble weeds piled up and derailed the cars. Ft Worth wouldn't believe the story until photos were sent....

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

Our backyard in Palmdale used to get like that years ago. They would pile up to the roof line then fly over the top to the houses across the street, When things calmed down everyone on the block would throw them over the fence into the field and light them off with the fire dept standing by. This was in the 60's when it was a simpler time.

An exceptionally interesting photo, with the signal adding icing on the cake.
Thankfully, it is displaying a positive indication.
This would be a great photo for discussion in a railroad operating rules class.

Call me doubting Thomas, but, with todays photo software and experts using it, I am always suspicious of shots like this. I guess it's possible though.
JB

The photo is from an official UPRR tweet. 

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> Call me doubting Thomas, but, with todays photo
> software and experts using it, I am always
> suspicious of shots like this. I guess it's
> possible though.
> JB

In the young days of the Railway Museum, Perris Calif, a string of 3 freight cars were stored next to a row of pepper trees.

Along comes the wind and tumblewoods that found a home with the pile being 7/8 feet high.

This would have been around 1961-62.    Somewhere I have photo's of this.
Ed

yooperfan Wrote:
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> Forgive me for being a doubter ( and I don't have
> access to the UP source material), but I cannot
> believe this photo. If the winds were strong
> enough to create such a pile, why wouldn't most of
> the tumble weeds have  been blown through the
> relatively short  underpass. Also, does the UP go
> that long without any trains?

The things drift the same way snow does. You have a depression and they'll fill it.