Western Railroad Discussion > Fluggenphoamen, The Game!

I’m borrowing an aerial railfanning term here from SR Bush, aka Boilingman. There was a time that TO seemed to be proliferated with “Where is it?” types of posts. Perhaps they’re not vogue anymore, as I don’t seem to see them as much as I used to. (Perhaps they never were?) I thought it would be fun, however, to throw out some aerial views of what should be famous enough western railroad locations to see if folks could “name that location.” For context, I took these on a flight from SFO to ORD last September on what was one of the most continuously clear days during a flight that I’ve experienced in quite some time. There were no clouds until I was past Rockford, IL, and almost to Chicago. (Obviously my kids weren’t with me as I got the window seat this time, which I tend to greatly enjoy for taking perspective on the world from 35,000 feet.)
 
So, here are the “where is it?” photos…
 
Photos 1 and 2 of Location 1: These photos are a bit of a challenge given I was a little further south of what I wanted to shoot versus over it, making them somewhat less distinct. That said, it will probably be easy for a number of folks based on distinct geographical features.
Photo 3 of Location 2: There is a “double track” mainline at this location, with a twist of sorts.
 
Continued…

---

---

---

Photo 4 of Location 3: This is again a “double track” mainline east of the above Location 2.
Photos 5 and 6 of Location 4: This location should be a gimme.
 
Continued…



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/25 08:01 by broken_link.

---

---

---

Photo 7 of Location 5: This one might be a little more challenging without being able to zoom in on the full resolution image. The rail line enters the frame just above the lower right corner and continues up through the scene until exiting the top of the frame about 25% of the way over from the upper right corner.
 
Bonus Round!
 
Photo 8 of Location 6: This image from my return flight isn’t a rail related location, but it’s such an iconic feature that I thought I’d include it as a bonus round. It should be easy.
 
Good luck!
 
Cheers,
Sean

---

---

SFO to ORD SHOULD at least be pretty much all UP, which SHOULD help. I am used to flying out of LAX which makes a Chicago trip at least half BNSF.
JB

It is UP centric, though not historically. There is a BNSF line in here as well. I won't say the predecessor roads just yet, as I think these are all doable. I was pretty sure I knew what I was looking at with location 5, though I wasn't 100% certain about that location until I confirmed it with a Google Maps review after landing.

3rdswitch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SFO to ORD SHOULD at least be pretty much all UP,
> which SHOULD help. I am used to flying out of LAX
> which makes a Chicago trip at least half BNSF.
> JB

Photo 3 looks like you are in Nevada, over the Humboldt River and both UP mains east of Palisade Canyon, with Carlin in the upper right corner.

Photo 4 is looking down on the Carlin tunnels a few miles east of Carlin, Nevada.

Beautiful, clear day for your flight.  I always book a window seat.  Thanks...that was fun!

Jeff Pell
Lodi CA

Jeff, you're spot on with Locations 2 and 3, the east entrance to Palisade Canyon near Carlin and the Carlin Tunnels, respectively. The twist in my description being that the "double track" here is the paired former SP and WP mainlines across Northern Nevada. Well done.

herderover Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Photo 3 looks like you are in Nevada, over the
> Humboldt River and both UP mains east of Palisade
> Canyon, with Carlin in the upper right corner.
>
> Photo 4 is looking down on the Carlin tunnels a
> few miles east of Carlin, Nevada.
>
> Beautiful, clear day for your flight.  I always
> book a window seat.  Thanks...that was fun!
>
> Jeff Pell
> Lodi CA

broken_link Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Photo 8 of Location 6: This image from my return
> flight isn’t a rail related location, but it’s
> such an iconic feature that I thought I’d
> include it as a bonus round. It should be easy.

I see Half-Dome in Yosemite National Park (but not Sam or any railroad). That was the one thing I didn't climb there when I visited years ago...

JG
 

Last photo is Yosemite.

1 and 2 are pretty clearly Donner, Donner Lake is especially evident in #2 with 80 climbing towards the pass above it. 

3 and 4 are already covered, in 4 that's the current Nevada National Guard base, formerly the University of Nevada-Reno Fire Science Academy just left of center.

5 and 6 are going out into western edge of Great Salt Lake.

7 I am guessing somewhere in Wyoming but I cannot pin it down.

8 Yosemite Valley/Half Dome.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

 

I was a state off.  Location 5 is Marsland, Nebraska.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

You're correct that 1 and 2 are Donner. In the first image the conjoined lakes left of center are Serene Lakes, where my cabin is. The large meadow in the center is Van Norden Meadow in Summit Valley. The Norden sheds are in the trees along the right side of the meadow, and you can follow the line to where it heads under Mt Judah via Tunnel 41. In the 2nd image you're looking at the east side of Donner Pass and the town of Truckee. I figured Donner Lake would be the geographical aid to make this one a little easier. In addition to the lake, I-80, CA-89, and CA-267 are visible, along with Northstar, the Truckee airport, Truckee River, Prosser Creek and Stampede Reservoirs, etc. The rail line isn't distinct in this image at all, though you can find bits and pieces of it if you know where to look. (E.g. climbing the west side of Coldstream Canyon towards Andover, etc.)

You're also correct about 5 and 6 being the western section of the Lucin Cutoff causeway across the Great Salt Lake. In photo 6, the jog where the earth fill deviates from the original wooden trestle section is clearly visible.

Noting your correction on 7 in your follow up post, you are also correct about that image. Crawford hill is at the top of the image. If you look closely, you can see the reverse horseshoes where the line climbs towards Belmont. Marsland, NE, is at the top of the horseshoe at the bottom of the image, where the line crosses the Niobrara River.

As previously noted, Half Dome is the star of the last image.

Thanks all for playing!

Cheers,
Sean

JDLX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1 and 2 are pretty clearly Donner, Donner Lake is
> especially evident in #2 with 80 climbing towards
> the pass above it. 
>
> 3 and 4 are already covered, in 4 that's the
> current Nevada National Guard base, formerly the
> University of Nevada-Reno Fire Science Academy
> just left of center.
>
> 5 and 6 are going out into western edge of Great
> Salt Lake.
>
> 7 I am guessing somewhere in Wyoming but I cannot
> pin it down.
>
> 8 Yosemite Valley/Half Dome.
>
> Jeff Moore
> Elko, NV
>
>  

Sean, I'm going to guess that #7 is BNSF former BN Crawford Hill line near Alliance NE.

In photo #2, is that your "hometown" ski/snowboard play area?

Bryan

Bryan, that's correct. Photo 1 is Serene Lakes and Donner Summit, and Photo 2 is Truckee. The Crawford Hill photo was a quick grab after realizing I missed the lines around Orin and Shawnee.

Ticeska Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sean, I'm going to guess that #7 is BNSF former BN
> Crawford Hill line near Alliance NE.
>
> In photo #2, is that your "hometown" ski/snowboard
> play area?
>
> Bryan

Beautiful shots.

I’d post my own shot, which I took from seat 4D on a flight from Detroit to Los Angeles, except it doesn't have a train track in it. It’s merely the entire Grand Canyon from 34,000 feet.

Posted from iPhone