Western Railroad Discussion > Loneliness of the long-distance Hotshot!

I’ve always been fascinated with the film title mentioned below. It’s just one of those weird little memory scraps that stick around forever. The film was released when I was only 7 years old, so I must have seen at least part of it in later years. Other than the title, the film itself must not have made much on an impression on me. Here’s a snippet from Wiki: “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a 1962 British coming-of-age film. The screenplay was written by Alan Sillitoe from his 1959 short story of the same title. The film was directed by Tony Richardson, one of the new young directors...”

Yesterday while chasing KCS color down on the GSR this ancient film title popped right up! I had very marginal, back-lit luck in getting the KCS stuff. This while watching Uncle Pete moving like someone wading in high water wearing cement galoshes. It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen Herington Yard just a single percentage point above complete gridlock. And you can bet with PSR & monster trains it won’t be the last...

Later in the afternoon, 5:43 to be exact, I shot a westbound stacker up near Dwight, KS. And “Wam ~ Pow ~ Zowie, Batman!!!” That sucker was haulin’ buns. It must have been pushing 70 per at my 1600 Rd crossing vantage point. I wanted more! But I figured if I was going to shoot this speedster again I would have to run to the other side of its crew change at Herington. Unless...

Sure enough, this rockin’ ~ rollin’ hotshot took a left turn into the siding at White City, aka the Kansas version of the Bermuda Triangle (just ask any UP crew). By the time I caught up with the head end its headlight had been doused. Not a good sign. Rather than another routine shot (yawn) at the J Rd crossing I swung around and took a very LONELY looking distant shot from the S 2400 Ave crossing...

1. UP 5501 sits glued to the rails with a stacker at White City, KS. It’s 6:02 PM.

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Now I was pretty sure I’d never see this train on the west side of Herington, so I moseyed back to town to see if the stalemate was improving any. It was, sorta. A 2½ mile long, 2x1 eastbound junker I first spotted around 2 PM was thru its yard dance and was waiting near the US hwy 77 overpass for a chance to escape further eastward. It was just after 7 PM, a mere 5+ hours to move the length of the yard.

2. UP 5501 has moved up a notch, giving the eastbound a free escape route. This view is looking east from the US77 overpass at Herington @ 7:12 PM. This hot stacker moved bravely forward 8+ miles in 1 hour & 10 minutes.

After that eastbound cleared I waited on the overpass for a while. I thought the 5501 might have a shot at getting into the yard and run around another monster manifest that had arrived earlier in the day. But that wasn’t going to happen. With maybe 20 minutes of golden hour sunshine left I pulled up stakes and head north for home...
(2 photos taken May 10, 2022)

Thanks for the tip!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

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Great shots!

RC Lundgren

Thank you, Randy