Nostalgia & History > Burlington Northern, Inside Gateway May 76, June 78

In May 1976, en route to photograph on the Milwaukee Road in Montana, I devoted one day to working the Burlington Northern's Inside Gateway between Chemult and Madras, Oregon.

1. First action of the day was BN Alco Century 425 #4263, southbound at Chemult.

2. Another Alco, C425 #4257, was in the consist as the train approached the Southern Pacific mainline.

3. After waiting a number of hours, I caught GP35 #2539 on the point of southbound tonnage approaching Chemult.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/12 18:13 by captrr.

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4. Later in the day, north of Madras, I caught GP38-2 #2100 on the point of a southbound freight.

5. With the sun setting to the west, I shot #2100 and train south of Madras. May 1976

6. A little more than two years later, I returned to work the Inside Gateway. This time I started further south, shooting Southern Pacific's Modoc Line crossing the ex-Great Northern line to Bieber at Stronghold, California. 24 June 1978

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7. As can be seen in the previous view, stormy weather was the norm for several hours on 24 June. But as I moved towards Klamath Falls, I encountered a southbound BN freight at Stonebridge with a three-digit SD45, C&S #868, on the point.

8. I backtracked to Stronghold. The weather deteriorated. As #868 approached the SP crossing, it started to hail...and I mean really hail. I thought it would break my Vega's windshield. I grabbed this shot, and then fled for the safety of the car. I was engulfed in that torrent of rain you see to the right of #868, and elected to wait out the worst of the rain and hail before continuing to Klamath Falls.

9. By the time I arrived at Klamath Falls the weather had significantly improved, affording me the opportunity to shoot BN power assembled at their terminal. That's Century 425 #4264 closest to the camera. 24 June 78

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Nice pic's! Did you ever make it any further south than Stronghold? I'm always looking for photo's from Lookout and Bieber. Thank's for posting. Bill

Pic #1: Interesting trainorders. One main stick "branching" into 2: one up, and one down.

10. Within the hour, a northbound left Klamath Falls. I lensed it near Modoc Point, on the eastern shore of Klamath Lake. 24 June 78

11. The train left Southern Pacific tracks at Chemult.

12. Once the train gained home road rails it really opened up. A number of slow-moving log trucks and highway construction/repairs put me at a decided disadvantage. I finally managed to get ahead and lens the fast moving northbound at Sunriver, Oregon.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/12 18:26 by captrr.

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13. Final view of this train, at sunset, was on the famed Crooked River Gorge bridge. 24 June 78

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Bill, never worked BN south of Stronghold to Bieber. My railfanning trips always involved a lot of planning, bouncing traffic density, scenery, and "I gotta get some shots there" to decide my routing and trip objectives. Milwaukee Road in Montana was always at the top of my list, and points to/from Big Sky Country were selected reflecting that goal. I just couldn't justify spending a lot of time between Stronghold and Bieber given the paucity of freights and the difficulty of getting in and out of there on paved roads. Now of course, I wish I had, but then hindsight is always "right." Navy duty afforded me, at the max, 10 working days of leave while homeported in either Long Beach or San Diego, and I left a lot of good "stuff on the table" when I went east in the summer of '89, never to return to the Golden State.

captrr Wrote:
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> Bill, never worked BN south of Stronghold to
> Bieber. My railfanning trips always involved a
> lot of planning, bouncing traffic density,
> scenery, and "I gotta get some shots there" to
> decide my routing and trip objectives. Milwaukee
> Road in Montana was always at the top of my list,
> and points to/from Big Sky Country were selected
> reflecting that goal. I just couldn't justify
> spending a lot of time between Stronghold and
> Bieber given the paucity of freights and the
> difficulty of getting in and out of there on paved
> roads. Now of course, I wish I had, but then
> hindsight is always "right." Navy duty afforded
> me, at the max, 10 working days of leave while
> homeported in either Long Beach or San Diego, and
> I left a lot of good "stuff on the table" when I
> went east in the summer of '89, never to return to
> the Golden State.
Hi captrr. Going the extra almost 200 miles round trip from K Fall's to Bieber for maybe a train would eat up a lot of time and take's a lot of patience. Seem's that you did the right thing, heading back north because that last pic of the Crooked river bridge is great! Thank's for serving our country! Bill

Great bunch of shots. Nice catch on number three of a quartet of GP35's.
JB

Good job capt! Always like to see Inside Gateway photos from any era!

Tom Y

Great stuff. Thanks for taking the time.

as always Captain Rick ... GREAT STUFF !!!

Snagging orders "on the fly" has always been a favorite scene of mine. Nice job, Rick!

Lance

SDP45 in the last shot. Great chase!!

It looks like that last train had a SDP45 as the last unit in the consist. It presents a nice side profile going over the Crooked River Gorge Bridge. That definitely was a productive trip. What a great line that was at the time. Thanks for sharing.