Steam & Excursion > YMSP at Fish Camp, CA

My wife saw an advertisement for the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine RR's "Moonlight Special" Bar-B-Q train and wanted to experience it. So, yesterday we headed up to Fish Camp (CA) for a meal and a train ride. We got up there at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and unfortunately they had almost total cloud overcast plus bad smoke haze due to the two big fires in Yosemite National Park. My photos did not come out as hoped, due to the very poor lighting conditions. The photo shows 3-truck Shay #10 parked with her train outside the station. I took more than a dozen nearly identically framed photos with different camera setting because of the poor lighting conditions.....this was the best one! On the bright side, the Bar-B-Q meal was great! The train ride (7-car train, 125+ passengers) was pleasant, but with not much of a grade, the Shay didn't produce much "stack-talk". We never did see the moon, but did spot some stars a couple of times!

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Actually, I did a chase using the dirt road that loosely follows the railroad few years ago... and I'm convinced you get better results in overcast skies and neutral light, where you don't have to worry about tall trees casting shadows. The ROW doesn't favor sunlight for a good number of locations along the railroad, anyway.

The shot you posted turned out pretty nice.

Nice pic, due primarily to the diffused light and probably better than if it was clear sunlight.
Check the old steam loco builder's photos to see what I mean. You get much more detail from dark subjects like steam engines.
The real world is not lit by Walt Disney!

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

My wife and I have taken the moonlight train a number of times at Fish Camp. We love the sights and sounds of the Shay winding it's way through the trees at night. Simply a fabulous experiance.

Martin

What is the purpose of the smaller hose on the front pilot?

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> My wife and I have taken the moonlight train a
> number of times at Fish Camp. We love the sights
> and sounds of the Shay winding it's way through
> the trees at night. Simply a fabulous
> experiance.
>
> Martin

Martin
Me and my wife rode one of the bbq nights train also.It was a great night.
Luke

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/17 19:29 by LJohnson.

The YMSP is one of the very last, if not the last railroad to use straight air as well as automatic. The smaller hose is the straight air pipe.

Posted from iPhone

Note the Stack cap.
Looks like a flattened frying pan!

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA