Steam & Excursion > small supplement

"SP" (old SP+RioGrande) Shiipper Special "Spirit of the West" has been well covered by
beautiful photos of Choochoocharlie in more than one thread. This is a small supplement.

1. 4449 splits semaphores in Cottage Grove (of Emperor of the North and Stand by Me fame)
OR on December 16 (I think), 1988.

2. It snew (I always wanted to say that) a little in Roseburg and 4449 departed before it melted
December 17 (?), 1988.

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3. This is an example of not a very artistic picture. This is the wye at Tolo, OR where 4449 was
turned. She is slowly backing into the right leg as many railfans (whose shadows are visible)
watched. In the upper left hand one can see semaphores and the way the train came and
about to go. I think it was December 18, 1988.

4. In the light of Christmas decorations 4449 quietly breathes at Eugene, OR.

5. The wigwag shot you saw before at Myrtle Creek was on this trip. You can see a part of
the symbolic multiple header inclding a Rio Grande diesel and an SP diesel.

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You must have been standing right next to me at Cottage Grove as I thought that was my photo at first coming thru the semaphores. I have almost the exact same shot and have video at that grade crossing just south of the OP&E yard. That photo is one of the shots on my 4449 DVD cover. You must have also been about the only other person to get photos the night of the 17th of the late arrival at the Eugene station on the return trip. I tried a shot with flash, but I preferred the available light shots. Thankfully Chris chose one of those to use in the 4449 calendar. The Cottage Grove shot was taken on the 15th, Roseburg photo the morning of the 16th, and the Tolo Y photo the morning of the 17th.

Hope you don't mind that I added 3 more photos from that trip. The first photo was taken on the 14th as Amtrak #11, with lead unit #282, was stopped at the station. The second photo is the train arriving in the Roseburg yard on the 15th. The last photo was taken on the return trip in Cow Creek Canyon on the 17th about to enter tunnel #2............. C.C.Chas.

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Thank you for straightening out my sloppy date recording system. Only
last Christmas brought a DVD player into our home and now I will get it. The
thing started with my search for a Cow Creek shot, it was worth a trip through
memory lane though I did not find the shot in the boxes. Thank you again.

No problem. I liked your photos too. I use a voice recorder. (standard portable cassette recorder with shoulder strap and neck mounted microphone in the '70s and then went to a microcassette recorder in my shirt pocket for hands free info while I shot the photos years later.) Then later transcribe all the info onto sheets of paper at first and later into those small note pads. I am very thankful that I did that now. Date, time, location, train direction, unit numbers and any other info heard on the scanner or actions at the time the photos were taken was recorded. Not to mention info on lens used on the camera, F/stop, shutter speed and film being used........... C.C.Chas.