Passenger Trains > Empire Builder Chases The Light

Train 28, the Empire Builder, races toward the setting sun and a station stop ahead at Pasco on Friday night.

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A beautiful image . Thanks for sharing with us. 

Looks like you caught someone peeking out the back, too. A classy scene, indeed. Nice work.

Posted from Android

Once again, superb!

-John

Nice use of the calendar and local geography, getting an eastbound Amtrak train headed toward sunset.

Great catch, had to be nice being out.

Bob

That's one sad looking "local" honestly it should be 20 cars long!

engineerinvirginia Wrote:
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> That's one sad looking "local" honestly it should
> be 20 cars long!

Why? It combines in Spokane with the Seattle segment. It would be better to have a second or third train daily train running between Portland and Spokane, either as the North Coast Hiawatha or two new Cascades trains and call it The Columbia.

engineerinvirginia Wrote:
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> That's one sad looking "local" honestly it should be 20 cars long!

It would be 7 cars long if there were a southern Montana/North Dakota train. 

yorknl Wrote:
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> Nice use of the calendar and local geography,
> getting an eastbound Amtrak train headed toward
> sunset.

Are you being a little tongue-in-cheek, here? Most times, the sun sets in the west. And most times, No 28 approaches Pasco from the south, rounding the bend of the Columbia at Wallula, so sunset at 9 pm in the middle of summer would be on the port side of the train, as we see in the photo. So the train itself is hardly "chasing" the waning light, and it shortly would turn more or less due east to cross the river to get to Pasco.

None of which subtracts from the charm of the scene, which inevitably invokes Miss Millay's evocative lines, "Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take / No matter where it's going".

Macster Wrote:
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> engineerinvirginia Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That's one sad looking "local" honestly it
> should
> > be 20 cars long!
>
> Why? It combines in Spokane with the Seattle
> segment. It would be better to have a second or
> third train daily train running between Portland
> and Spokane, either as the North Coast Hiawatha or
> two new Cascades trains and call it The Columbia.

The why is because they limit the consist and turn people away. I'm on 7, was on 8 last week, both sold out for months. Amtrak is supposed to be about transportation, not metrics and revenue.

TAW

Good luck looking out the back window , Saturday it was filthy leaving pdx

Posted from iPhone

As for more trains , would make more sense to split the train at Pasco than Spokane , much more of a population base and college towns going to
Seattle via stampede pass.

Posted from iPhone

No, not tongue-in-cheek. The track through Hover Park, where the pic was taken, runs to the NW before crossing the Columbia and heading into Pasco. Around the solstice sunset is roughly WNW and so the train isn't likely bearing all that much away from the sun. The calendar window to catch 28 in sun this far east is limited and Amtrak timekeeping isn't necessarily predictable, thus the photo is a good and moderately unique effort worthy of a compliment.



> Are you being a little tongue-in-cheek, here? Most
> times, the sun sets in the west. And most times,
> No 28 approaches Pasco from the south, rounding
> the bend of the Columbia at Wallula, so sunset at
> 9 pm in the middle of summer would be on the port
> side of the train, as we see in the photo. So the
> train itself is hardly "chasing" the waning light,
> and it shortly would turn more or less due east to
> cross the river to get to Pasco.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/22 18:07 by yorknl.

yorknl nailed it — this is the time of year to visit Hover Park when number 28 comes through.

It can be hit-and-miss, though. Even on nights when you're sure it's going to be a hit, something else happens on the railroad, and your early train is suddenly a miss.

Here are three examples:

1- The first Pepsi Can shot started out with real promise. No clouds to kill the sun at the last minute, and the train was making good time. The next thing I knew I was pushing the ISO and trying to take pictures of a fast-moving train in the dark. I got the shot, though. Just not what I was initially hoping for.

2- Next time the Pepsi Can came through it arrived a couple of minutes after what would have been great nose light. Given the previous Pepsi Can experience, I counted this one as a win. I think I caught the Pepsi Can that morning on number 27 with some success, so the evening shot was just gravy.

3- Sometimes, everything just works out, and the train rolls right into the sweet nose light. And if you miss it, well, there's always next year.

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walstib Wrote:
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> yorknl nailed it — this is the time of year to
> visit Hover Park when number 28 comes through.
>
> It can be hit-and-miss, though. Even on nights
> when you're sure it's going to be a hit, something
> else happens on the railroad, and your early train
> is suddenly a miss.
>
> Here are three examples:
>
> 1- The first Pepsi Can shot started out with real
> promise. No clouds to kill the sun at the last
> minute, and the train was making good time. The
> next thing I knew I was pushing the ISO and trying
> to take pictures of a fast-moving train in the
> dark. I got the shot, though. Just not what I was
> initially hoping for.
>
> 2- Next time the Pepsi Can came through it arrived
> a couple of minutes after what would have been
> great nose light. Given the previous Pepsi Can
> experience, I counted this one as a win. I think I
> caught the Pepsi Can that morning on number 27
> with some success, so the evening shot was just
> gravy.
>
> 3- Sometimes, everything just works out, and the
> train rolls right into the sweet nose light. And
> if you miss it, well, there's always next year.

walstib,

That photo with pure sun on #28 is so awesome!!!  It has been hard to get decent weather for sun this month with all the clouds that we have been having, so I commend your effort for trying.


SP8100

Very nice..!!

Posted from Android

Beautiful.