Steam & Excursion > Mallets in Niles Canyon

I flew out to California on Friday to take part in Pete Lerro's Niles Canyon charter yesterday. My luck actually seeing Skookum run has been lousy for previous trips, so when this trip got announced last fall it checked all the boxes - two Mallets on the same trip, a new place to photograph (never made it to Niles before this), and it had to be warmer than home in February.  I wish I could have taken part in the other charters coming up next week, but alas, it's a busy season at work and there's no rest for the weary.  I figured I'd share a few from an absolutely fantastic day yesterday as I sit here waiting for my flight home.

#1 - Skookum and a short train of flats eastbound at the Farwell Bridge.
#2 - Clover Valley Lumber #4 approaching Niles westbound
#3 - Nearing the end of the day, #4 makes a charge through the semaphores outside the Sunol station.  #4 usually runs with a very clean stack, a testament to her design and talented crew, and apparently the overfiring to get heavy smoke this makes a horrendous vibration that's unbearable in the cab.  Or so some of the NCRy volunteers conveyed to us.  So those wanting to see a lot of smoke out of #4 had to settle for light at best, but for this shot we got the crew to create a plume that would even make LoggerHogger happy.

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4 just ran a red board!

#4 - Clover Valley Lumber #4 again eastbound just outside the Sunol station while we wait on the sun to get up a little further and the fog to lift.
#5 - So that both steam engines could handle nothing but freight cars, the railroad provided their restored SP articulated coach and SP SW900 #1195.  Niles Canyon Daylight?  Regardless, I found the passenger consist almost as photogenic as the steamers, but then again I love diesels.
#6 - The modern bridge and wires belie the era of the photo, but when was the last time you saw a pair of Mallets pulling side by side?

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Very nice..!!

Looks like great fun.

#7 - Another view of our coaches out on the line.
#8 - Skookum's last hurrah of the day - a double-header out of Sunol.  After this, the crew would take her back to Brightside to be put away before they went dead.
#9 - A little night atmospherics at Sunol.

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#10 - Heading back to the yard after a long day.
#11 - As an old telephone/telegraph enthusiast as well, I couldn't resist.
#12 - I am not a video guy.  I don't carry video gear, I don't shoot video.  But I since I got shots I was happy with on the first doubleheaded run-by, I decided to pull out the phone and try very hard to take some stable video of the second run.  Honestly I thought it came out decent given the tools to work with.

Seriously, though - thanks to everyone at the NCRy and in Pete's crew that made this a success.  It was a great day out and well worth the fast trip out and back.
 

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Very nice pix.  Thanks for posting, I was wondering what I was missing in my own backyard.  Coulda shudda been there but other family things interfered.  You can't beat winter sun and green hills in Niles Canyon.

JBWX

Love the image with the semaphores !  Thanks for sharing.  --Kelly

It certainly was a worthwhile expedition

Jonathan Fischer
West Seattle, WA

These trips with Skookum and Clover Valley 4 have to be the most appealing steam trips of the last couple of years.  Great photos, thanks for sharing.

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> 4 just ran a red board!
No,he was in the circut!

Excellent work in 2020!

wp1801 Wrote:
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> Frisco1522 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 4 just ran a red board!

> No,he was in the circuit!

Hopefully the block system is not in service since an opposing movement has a clear block!

Jim700 Wrote:
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> wp1801 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Frisco1522 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > 4 just ran a red board!
>
> > No,he was in the circuit!
>
> Hopefully the block system is not in service since
> an opposing movement has a clear block!

They are not in service, they are strictly for display value. 
Howard

Great set of photo's. Thanks for sharing.

Nice shots! Number 10 is fantastic!

Excellent set of vignettes. Not to take attention away from the steam action, but 1195 and coaches look just like a NWP stand-in while the RDC was OOS in the mid-60s. Great captures all around.

Jonathan

This fascination with smoke is going to get us in trouble in Washington.  Half the nation hates coal burning and someone is going to take some photos of these fan runs and use them in making a new Federal Law.  I can not understand Wacky Rodger and his recent flying up in the smoke as it looks much worst flying in it than from the ground.  One of his videos, which are from coal burning engines, may end up in Washington as the cause for a new Law.  Will someone give Wacky the message to not post those smoke eating adventures with his drone?  That is not what the C&TS or any of us steam fans need.  We may find it hard to defend the rare times and places where we can make smoke.  It can not continue and we all can see that it is already costing the Durango & Silverton RR a lot of money for new diesels.  A self ban on smoke is better than a Federal ban on all coal or oil burning locomotives.

PlyWoody Wrote:
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> This fascination with smoke is going to get us in
> trouble in Washington.  Half the nation hates
> coal burning and someone is going to take some
> photos of these fan runs and use them in making a
> new Federal Law.

In today's politcal environment?  Not lilkely.