Western Railroad Discussion > Want a Oddity?

I guess I've waited long enough, now I'll jump into the fray.

Ever seen a airplane crossing?

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Two Red Barns.

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Railroad motif gone wrong???

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Interesting pics...in the first shot, am I mistaken or is that a B707? If so, that really dates that shot. Nice composition!

Kent

9-11 again!! Now they're gonna attack UP's lisence fee!!!!!!

cool......


Robby F. (Mr. MRL)

A little more detail on the pics.

Photo 1. A crossing near the Fairchild AFB in Spokane. Espanola on BNSF's ex-GN Columbia River Sub

Photo 2. A westbound train on BNSF's Funnel near Lake Cocoalla, ID.

Photo 3. Part of a bizarre shopping center in Yakima, WA. at the former railyard there.

Ted Curphey
funnelfan@icehouse.net

Below is another pic of the Yakima display.

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The plane is one of the Boeing Mid-air Refueling Tanker.

I'm saving some of my other stuff for next week.

Ted Curphey
funnelfan@icehouse.net

That is a KC-135 (as mentioned the military tanker version of the Being 707). That is also of the late versions with the larger, quieter and more powerful/fuel efficient engines. Getting hard to find an oldie "smoker" KC-135 in with the original 707 look.

Awesome catch - I gotta get down to some more train/airport locations to up the odds of getting low flying planes buzzing approaching trains...



-Ryan aka "espeeboy"
on the ex-SP/WP Oakland sub MP11.2

Hey Ted,

Nice job, mind if I try one?

Virgin Atlantic from Manchester, England to Las Vegas, NV

Brett Wirick
Railroad Crossings
http://www.trainweb.org/brettrw/index.html

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Technically, the KC-135 is the military equivelant to the Boeing 717 (the original one). Originally Boeing intended to use the same airframe for commercial use, but a battle with Douglas ended those plans. Douglas offered a DC-8 with a wider fuselage to attempt to draw customers from Boeing. Boeing responded by enlarging the 707 fuselage so that it was larger than the DC-8, even though it required new tooling and meant that the production line for the KC-135 could not be used for 707 manufacturing. Ironically, Boeing reused the 717 designation on the DC-9 product line that it inherited from McDonnell Douglas.

On the matter of aircraft crossings, there are a few real ones. The March issue of Airways describes the aircraft crossing at Gibralter's North Front Airport. Euro Route E5 crosses runway 09/27 and is equipped with traffic barriers, warning lights and a siren. Aircraft must cross the road taxying to or from the runway and when taking off or landing. On a similar note, Miami International used to have a similar crossing at Western Avenue before the airport underwent renovations years ago.

The Swiss Air Force (and maybe the Swedish) design their highways for use as auxiliary airstrips. Signs, signals, etc are designed with this in mind. They routinely practice this. They also bore caves into the Alps for emergency airplane shelters.