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Flagstaff to Tucson

Yes I'm still alive :-) Had a lot of distance to cover on the 7th, but first had to do some stuff in Downtown Flagstaff. Went to the Downtown Diner for breakfast and naturally had chocolate chip pancakes (or hot cakes as they say). They were really nice, and very chocolately in the middle which was great, but filled me up and then some so didn't finish. Was amazed at how busy the diner was, considering it was about 11am on a perfectly ordinary Wednesday. Afterwards strolled down to the station and got a shot…

See, I said it was nice! On the way back I noticed Gene's Western Wear was open, so had to go have a look. The real deal folks… they have 3 isles of cowboy boots, an entire section on western saddles and paraphernalia, cowboy hats all over the place, and so on. You can even get your checked shirts there.

Then it was time to hop on I17 and head down for Phoenix. Roads a...

Flagstaff Railfanning

At last, a day of railfanning! Plan was to explore the BNSF Seligman Sub from Flagstaff down to Winslow as access here is much better than on the western side of the hill. So we set off towards Winslow, Arizona where we stood on a street corner, as per the Eagles song.

Oh and the building front is just painted on :-)

Had a bit of a look around Winslow; seems a lot like any South-Western town. The souvenirs on sale here were very uninspiring. Interestingly the scenery in the hour drive from Flagstaff to Winslow changed from rich Ponderosa Pine forest to never ending desert. For example here is the scenery on a short detour I took to try and find Canyon Diablo, but had to turn back because the roads were too bad.

Back towards Flagstaff and caught my first train, an interesting mix of paint schemes running the local shunt:

Santa Fe Warbonnet / Santa Fe blue...

Verde Canyon Railroad

Plan for the 5th was to go on the Verde (verr-dee) Canyon Railroad. So we woke up early and headed off for Sedona, the half way point. On the way we, quite unexpectedly, passed through the Oak Creek Canyon which was quite spectacular. Gigantic towering walls of red rock were all around us as we slowly zig zagged down the canyon. No photos as the only places to pull over were US Forestry Service picnic areas which were all fee areas :-(

We soon arrived in Sedona which is very touristy. After visiting such places as Tuba City and Helper which are definitely not on the average tourist's path, it was quite a shock to arrive in touristville. For example: the busses in Sedona are decorated like trams, with half-arch windows and clerestory roofs (fake naturally). Seriously; clerestory roofs on a bus?!?!??!!! At least here in Flagstaff the (somewhat stumpy) busses are normal looking!

Brought a tee shirt from Jake's Canyon House and made a phone call to clarify why the Verde...

Kingman to Flagstaff

October the 4th, 2009 was to be a big day of railfanning. But Mother Nature had other ideas. Day dawned with a howling wind, gusting very much like a full on nor'wester does back home. And we all know how much fun they can be. Drove out to the Kingman Canyon, just outside of Kingman and a famous location for railfanning. Here the BNSF transcon splits into two and so there are two very different main lines through the small but pretty canyon here, plus a massive Santa Fe bridge. So with high hopes I set out, but as soon as I got out of the car I realised it wasn't going to be so easy. The wind was tunnelling down the canyon and it was getting hard to stand. The wind also muffled any train noises so it was impossible to tell if one was near or not. The sun was also on the uphill side which meant for the shots I wanted I'd have to clamber up through rattle snake country; not something I was prepared to do just yet.

Sun on wrong side, hence washed out l...

Flagstaff to Kingman

Plan for the 3rd was to head to Kingman, see a zoo on the way, stay the night, see some trains in the famous Kingman Canyon, then head back. So we headed off on the 3rd. Encountered a wildfire along the way at Williams; turns out a controlled burn off had got a little out of control, hundred or so homes evacuated, etc. Oops!

Smoke on the highway

After Williams we turned off the Interstate and onto the old Route 66. Yes that Route 66. The Mother Road and all that. Stopped in at Seligman and had a look around; wow, what a weird town! I'd head the Snow-Cap store there was a must visit, so stopped in for a malt. Quite a shop! We went in and found ourselves in a tiny little hallway where we could place our order, but what really struck me were the thousands of things stuck to every available surface.

  Outside the Snow-Cap store / Inside, little business cards and stickers everywhere.

I ordered...