Blog

Day 27: Lake Tahoe to Auburn

Woke bright and early for a big day. Huge snow storm was predicted for Donner Pass today, up to two feet of fresh snow! Starting at 10am. So 10am I was on the road and heading up to the summit. While it wasn't snowing yet it certainly wasn't far off, and by the time I got to Soda Springs it was coming down pretty thick. Almost as soon as I parked a train came through the crossing, so got a quick video of that; hand held, quality could be interesting.

Packed up my backpack with camera, video camera, food, cellphone, and so forth. Then suited up with all my cold weather gear and decided to head down my favourite snow-road to the Big Hole. Walked down to the tracks and found some shelter on the leeward side of a clump of trees. This stopped most of the snow from attacking me, but unfortunately I didn't have a very good view of the tracks. Think I caught a few trains here, and saw the flanger in operation which had been one of my goals.

...

Day 26: Wells to Lake Tahoe

Just a short post today. Woke up fairly early and was soon on the road. There were very impressive icicles on the church next to my motel:

Had a quick scout around town for trains but apart from one sitting in the loop, nothing was happening. The one in the loop looked like it wasn't going anywhere soon. I went up to a good lookout spot to see if anything was approaching, but the only thing I saw were some UP maintenance vehicles on the track; great, no trains any time soon.

By now the transmission had almost warmed up and stopped making raunching noises and bucking on every gear change, so I ventured out onto the freeway.

Two hours later I still hadn't passed any trains, but had seen some more track workers out on the rails. They were really out in force today. I did however pass a very photogenic run down old barn, so took the next off ramp and went back to photograph it.

...

Day 25: Wells Railfanning

Woke up really early, not quite sure why. Train horn? Looked outside and there was a dusting, literally just a dusting, of fresh snow. Checked the clock and it was only 7am, so got some more sleep. Woke up and thought it was 10am, rats, but then realised I was still on Mountain time, not Pacific time, which made it 9am. Confusing stuff these timezones.

Dressed up really warm; there was a cold wind blowing even down here in the township, and I was planning on spending all day out on the snow. I had on:

Underwear Socks Another pair of socks Merino long johns Polar fleece pants Ski pants Merino top with tube neck T shirt Down jacket Rain coat Neck warmer Beanie Gloves Insulated boots Sun glasses

That makes 19 items! Was I warm enough? You bet.

Headed off up the road and staked out a curve with great lighting and elevation for a nice nose shot… of course several hours later and I'd had trains come in every ...

Day 24: Evanston to Wells

Woke up way too early today to a weird sound; sounded a bit like coke cans being kicked around the yard. Dragged myself out of bed to have a look but couldn't see anything, so went back to bed. Clattering continued sporadically for the next few hours. It was only when I properly awoke later I realised it was the heaters creaking each time the thermostat clicked on. Sigh!

Got up and was on the road nice and promptly. My breakfast apple had been sitting in the car all night and was extremely cold; so much so it gave me tooth ache when I bit into it! Yup it gets pretty cold out here in Wyoming.

Drove out to a railway crossing that had looked amazing the night before with the setting sun catching the golden grass; but this morning it looked pretty ordinary. However I caught a manifest heading away, and before it'd finished crossing a nineteen loco lash up went across the other way. Nineteen locos! Obviously a repositioning move, but very impressive nonetheless.

Day 23: Helper to Evanston

Was very tired this morning, something to do with the AC6000 idling outside my window for half an hour while the mid train helpers were cut in; all just an hour after I'd fallen asleep! Poor me was in two minds, on the one hand I was very tired, on the other hand, the rumble was amazing and I felt like I should be out there videotaping it all, although it was night time so there wouldn't be a whole lot to see. But the sound! I could feel it through the bed! For a diesel-head it was pretty amazing.

Anyway woke up and packed everything away, said goodbye to Helper and was on my way. Beautiful sunny day out there, glorious blue skies and wonderful patchy snow everywhere. Stopped at the ice-fall on the way up the hill.

Now that is ice! We're talking 30-40 ft high here, as high as a two story house. Oh and the sun was wonderfully warm, but the wind was ferocious! No trains to see, but the scenery was amazing as ever.