The West Side of the Mountain

NJ Transit on Metro-North; Otisville Tunnel, Otisville, N.Y.; April 12, 2014

In the early spring I had a free afternoon and needed someplace close to home to seek a photographic target. Less than an hour to the northeast is Otisville Tunnel located on the former Erie Railroad in New York. Today the line is primarily used by Metro-North commuter trains coming from Port Jervis (the line turns into a New Jersey Transit line below Suffern, N.Y., so power from both railroads is common); there is limited freight service, mostly a tri-weekly nocturnal through freight for the New York, Susquehanna & Western. Since Otisville Tunnel is kind of out of the way of everything else (you really have to want to go there to get there) it was a good thing to knock off on an otherwise quiet Saturday.

Two trains meet at Otisville on the east side of the tunnel at about 3:00 in the afternoon, so that would be a good time to shoot; the afternoon sun would also be favorable for the shot. First up was an eastbound train with a New Jersey Transit locomotive pushing the train from Port Jervis (above). The train proceeded through the tunnel, made its station stop in Otisville and then headed onto double track. Once clear, the westbound train made its station stop and then headed into the tunnel.

Metro-North; Otisville Tunnel, Otisville, N.Y.; April 12, 2014

After going through the long tunnel, the train popped out into sunlight. revealing it was being powered by one of Metro-North's niftily-painted F40s.

Metro-North; Otisville Tunnel, Otisville, N.Y.; April 12, 2014

From here I drove down the mountain on I-84 into Port Jervis. This is the western end of commuter service on this line. The former Erie roundhouse still stood here well into the 1980s, and the turntable is still there. New York & Greenwood Lake has a small display at the turntable, including an Alco RS3 and an E8 passenger diesel that came from the Erie.

New York & Greenwood Lake; Port Jervis, N.Y.; April 12, 2014

Over at the Metro-North yard, we find the train we just shot with F40 No. 4909 sitting alongside sister No. 4910. The yard will have trains sitting in it for the rest of the weekend, but will be empty come Monday morning after all the trains take New York City-bound travelers to Hoboken.

Metro-North; Port Jervis, N.Y.; April 12, 2014

More photos from the day can be seen here.

Random Ramblings -- Flat Tires

Amtrak; Afton Canyon, California; September 1992

Railroad photography often involves using roads that are less than optimum to access good locations. Usually on long trips, I'll rent an SUV to help getting into some places, but even then you often don't know if you'll wind up with an SUV with tires suited for off-roading or soccer mom tires (and telling the rental car person you need good tires to get into remote locations is not a good idea). So, yeah, I've had my share of flat tires -- all with rental cars -- when out shooting. And a high percentage of these have come along the former Los Angeles & Salt Lake, now a part of Union Pacific.

We'll start with the shot above. We had driven into Afton Canyon, sort of near Barstow, Calif., in September 1992. The line was not terribly busy, but we knew Amtrak's now-defunct Desert Wind would make an appearance at some point. We had driven to just about the farthest point you can get when a tire gave out (and we really didn't have an SUV -- it was a mini-van). This meant a lot of rocky/dirt road driving on the doughnut to get out. We may have seen a freight or two (Afton Canyon is much busier now, but I haven't been back) and the Amtrak train. We did make it back to Barstow to get the tire fixed, but as it turns out a punctured tire would be the least of the worries for that mini-van before we turned in back in.

Fast forward 14 years and now we're on the LA&SL near Caliente, Nev., on February 13, 2006. We drove down the access road beyond town and climbed a hill for the shot below. Once up there, we noticed a tire looking mighty low. Well, first things first -- it wasn't going to help anything to miss the shot, so we waited for the train to make an appearance. Once again, it was onto a doughnut for an interesting ride over a road full of hazards, but we made it back to a repair shop in Caliente. While the tire was fixed, we had lunch within sight of the tracks but no trains came by. Upon returning to the shop, we retrieved the SUV, pulled out and headed to the station in town where we were rewarded almost immediately by a train. Turns out we didn't miss a thing.

Union Pacific; Caliente, Nev.; February 13, 2006

A Rainy Day In Georgia

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 16, 2014

In our last post we went from Florida sunshine into the rain at Georgia, finishing up at the Georgia Central's yard in Macon. We wanted to chase the railroad's fleet of old General Electric U23B locomotives on Monday's train, and Macon seemed like a good place to start. After a few night shots on Sunday night, we retreated to the motel and returned on Monday morning to threatening skies.

Friendly employees at the office filled us in on the day's activities. The train would first work a few industries at the southeast end of the yard to start the day. We soon shot the quartet of "U-Boats" as they made their way through the rain to a scrap dealer.

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 17, 2014

Once done there, it was off to the Norfolk Southern yard in town to pick up any cars that came in for the Georgia Central over the weekend. The big GE locomotives are likely on borrowed time, as the Georgia Central is owned by short line conglomerate Genesee & Wyoming Industries, which has a history of shuffling locomotives between its operations and divesting itself of older power.

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 17, 2014

Interchange work took most of the morning, and the rain only got worse. By early afternoon the road freight was ready to depart. The road freight would be heading east towards Dudley, and soon the chase was on over rain-soaked roadways.

Georgia Central; Jeffersonville, Ga.; March 17, 2014

The signature building in the town of Jeffersonville is the Twiggs County court house, built in 1903. We got the train passing there in heavy rain.

Georgia Central; Jeffersonville, Ga.; March 17, 2014

From here it was off to Snow's Pond just east of Jeffersonville. The rain had pretty much stopped as we got the shot near the spillway.

Georgia Central; Snow's Pond, Jeffersonville, Ga.; March 17, 2014

Small towns are located on the line east of Jeffersonville with some nice Southern charm. Allentown even has a classic Coca-Cola sign painted on a brick building.

Georgia Central; Allentown, Ga.; March 17, 2014

The train vanished into a paper mill west of Dudley. By the time the train got back on the road, darkness had settled in.

Georgia Central; Dudley, Ga.; March 17, 2014

The train tied up for the night shortly thereafter, so we headed to the railroad's main shop complex east of Lyons for a few quick photos. The rain started again shortly thereafter.

Georgia Central; Lyons, Ga.; March 17, 2014

The next day we were along the eastern end of the railroad in Savannah, and wrapped up our rainy visit watching switching operations at International Paper. It was a great two days of listening to the sounds of burbling hard-working GE U-Boats, even if the weather was challenging. More photos from the trip can be found here.

Georgia Central; Savannah, Ga.; March 18, 2014

Florida Sun, Georgia Rain

Norfolk Southern; Valdosta, Ga.; March 16, 2014

As we work to get caught up on a heap of recent travels, this post takes us back to March and a trip from Florida back to New Jersey. Along with brother Bruce, I flew down to Orlando to pick up a car to drive home. Our goal was short lines along the way, but with the first two days of the trip occurring on a weekend, short line activity was minimal. We wound up with a lot of Amtrak action, but did catch some freight stuff here and there. The weather in Florida was sunny, but as we moved north we were overcome by heavy rain (such as above on Norfolk Southern in Valdosta, Ga.). Here is some of the freight action we caught in between Amtrak encounters.

Saturday, March 14, found not much moving on short lines. The Florida Central has several lines in the Orlando/Ocala area, and we found this lonely CF7 not far off of Amtrak's route through Lake Wales.

Florida Central; Lake Wales, Fla.; March 14, 2014

We found another lonely Florida Central unit waiting out the weekend at Eagle Lake, not far from Winter Haven.

Florida Central; Eagle Lake, Fla.; March 14, 2014

The next day the sun was still shining and once again we were busy shooting Amtrak for the most part. However, right around the time Auto Train was to head north from Sanford, a CSX freight made an appearance. Off to the right is the new shop complex for SunRail, which had still not started commuter service to Orlando at the time of this visit.

CSX Transportation; Sanford, Fla.; March 15, 2014

A quick look at ATCS Monitor showed that Florida East Coast train No. 101 was still working its way southward from Jacksonville, so we zipped over to Titusville to intercept it.

Florida East Coast; Titusville, Fla.; March 15, 2014

From there it was back over to the Sanford area to get a night shot I've always wanted. The goal was a southbound train crossing the St. John's River at Lake Morgan. At 10:26 that night, the goal was accomplished.

CSX Transportation; St. John's River, Sanford, Fla.; March 15, 2014

We didn't get as far north as we would have liked that night, but that put us in St. Augustine around daybreak, right around the time the Florida East Coast northbound rush gets in. Being it was a Monday morning it wasn't much of a rush (intermodal trains don't load in Miami on Sunday night) but we got to the one place on the north end where FEC northbound trains are properly lit and were rewarded with one of the cool FEC heritage units on the point.

Florida East Coast; St. Augustine, Fla.; March 16, 2014

From here we headed to Baldwin, Fla.; where CSX has a diamond complex that includes interchange tracks in all four quadrants. We were rewarded with a southbound train here.

CSX Transportation; Baldwin, Fla.; March 16, 2014

Continuing along CSX westward, our next stop was at Lake City, Fla. By now our sunny skies were showing signs of going away. We caught an eastbound CSX train here.

CSX Transportation; Lake City, Fla.; March 16, 2014

From here we turned north into Georgia and stopped at the Valdosta Railway outside of its namesake town in Clyattville. As can be seen from the logo, the Valdosta Railway is under the Genesee & Wyoming Industries umbrella.

Valdosta Railway; Clyattville, Ga.; March 16, 2014

In Valdosta, the skies really opened up as we shot a Norfolk Southern freight (top of the post). We heard horns for a CSX freight in town and took shelter under an overpass as we shot it.

CSX Transportation; Valdosta, Ga.; March 16, 2014

Hoping for sun and moving trains, we packed up and headed to Albany, hoping to see something interesting on the Georgia & Florida. Alas, we got neither sun nor moving trains. In fact, the rain continued to pour down in buckets.

Georgia & Florida; Albany, Ga.; March 16, 2014

The rain finally let up as night began to settle in. We stopped at Fort Valley ("Georgia's Peach City," according to the water tower) and got a few dusk shots of the Georgia Southern in town. The railroad is a subsidiary of Pioneer Railcorp.

Georgia Southern; Fort Valley, Ga.; March 16, 2014

Our final stop would be at the Georgia Central in Macon, which operates an impressive fleet of U23B's. But that's another story for the not too distant future.

Georgia Central; Macon, Ga.; March 16, 2014

Random Ramblings - When Runbys Were Runbys

Union Pacific 8444; Narrows, Colo.; July 16, 1982

A staple of the railroad excursion is the photo runby, where passengers are unloaded from the train (often at a scenic location), the train is backed up and then makes a furious run forwards past the passengers as cameras click away. No Class I railroad was better at the photo runby as Union Pacific. Operating in the wide open spaces of Colorado and Wyoming, there was plenty of room for 200 or more people to unload and get photos of the train with no other photographers in the shot. UP's trips over Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyo., were legen -- wait for it -- dary!

The 1982 convention of the National Railway Historical Society was held in Denver, Colo., and one trip operated during the event was a steam excursion from the Mile High City to Sterling. The trip was powered by UP 4-8-4 No. 8444 (originally numbered 844 and since returned to that number). The steam crew really knew how to put on the show; being an oil-burner, it was easy to get a black plume of smoke out of the stack for the benefit of the cameras. But perhaps no runby was quite as spectacular as the one at Narrows (above). This remains the largest plume of smoke I have ever seen come out of a locomotive during a photo runby. You can probably go back to Narrows now and still smell the oil in the air. There are still steam-powered rail excursions and there are still photo runbys, but nothing quite like this.

Niles Canyon Railroading

Niles Canyon Railway; Fremont, Calif.; March 9, 2014

So far we have had a quartet of posts from the California trip in March. We visited the bridges of downtown Los Angeles, spent an evening watching trains at Commerce, visited Merle Haggard's boyhood home of a converted refrigerator car, and watched dusk turn to night on The Embarcadero. In this, our final installment on the trip, we visit Niles Canyon, located just east of Fremont.

On the day after Winterail, the Niles Canyon Railway hosted its annual photographers' trip. The stars of the show were Clover Valley Lumber 2-6-6-2T No. 4 and Western Pacific F7 No. 918-D (above). The steam locomotive (which powered a freight train) was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in March 1924. The F-unit was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in January 1950. While both locomotives are now working in Niles Canyon, they spent some (if not most) of their working lives further north in California in the Feather River Canyon.

The first set of photo runbys were held at Niles Junction right on the edge of Fremont. No. 4 made for a fine sight as it pulled its freight train.

Niles Canyon Railway; Fremont, Calif.; March 9, 2014

Moving further east into the canyon, No. 4 put out some smoke for the assembled photographers. Not to be outdone, No. 918-D also put a wisp of diesel exhaust into the air.

Niles Canyon Railway; Fremont, Calif.; March 9, 2014

Niles Canyon Railway; March 9, 2014

One more set of runbys was held as the two trains made their way back to the starting point of the trip -- the station in Sunol. The trackage used by the trains is former Southern Pacific. The former Western Pacific (now used by Union Pacific) also shares the canyon (we'll get to that in a minute). No. 918's orange nose along with the green foliage gave a very Feather-River-Canyon-ish look to the scene.

Niles Canyon Railway; Fremont, Calif.; March 9, 2014

Niles Canyon Railway; Fremont, Calif.; March 9, 2014

Back at Sunol, conductor Mike Roque posed for photos with the two trains. Mike coordinated the runbys under sometimes tough conditions (the riders ranged from casual photographers who wandered everywhere to serious photographers who wanted people-free shots). Mike somehow herded the cats to give everyone who wanted a quality photo the results they were seeking.

Mike Roque; Niles Canyon Railway; Sunol, Calif.; March 9, 2014

At the Niles Canyon Railway shop at Brightside (just west of Sunol) a quick peek inside revealed the restoration work on Southern Pacific No. 9010. This unit is a unique diesel-hydraulic machine imported from Germany. Only SP and the Denver & Rio Grande Western purchased them, and No. 9010 is the sole survivor. It is being returned to operating condition by the NCRy forces.

Niles Canyon Railway; Brightside, Calif.; March 9, 2014

Word had come down that Union Pacific was sending a freight over the former Western Pacific through Niles Canyon. With the activities at the Niles Canyon Railway complete, I headed into Fremont to the extreme west end of Niles Canyon and shot the train there.

Union Pacific; Fremont, Calif.; March 9, 2014

There was one more shot to get in the area, as Amtrak California sends several trains through each day. I headed to the bank of Alameda Creek and got a train approaching the site of where Niles Tower once stood. The rear of the Amtrak train is actually only a couple hundred yards away from where the top photo in this blog entry was taken.

Amtrak; Fremont, Calif.; March 9, 2014

Once I was done here I headed into San Francisco for the previously-posted evening on The Embarcadero. You can see all the photos from this day here.

An Evening On The Embarcadero

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

Probably my favorite street in the United States -- at least for photography -- is The Embarcadero in San Francisco. MUNI's historic F-Line operates over much of The Embarcadero from the Ferry Building at Market Street down to Fisherman's Wharf. On March 9, 2014, inspired by the MUNI photography of Christian Goepel, I spent an evening watching the changing light as darkness settled in along the bay. First up was MUNI PCC No. 1052, painted in the colors of the Los Angeles Railway (all the MUNI historic streetcars are painted in various schemes of streetcar routes from across the North America). It's headlight reflected off the roadway as darkness moved in (above).

Up next was car No. 1062 representing Louisville, Kentucky, making its stop at Pier 39.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

Car No. 1052 made its two left turns at Fisherman's Wharf and headed back east one block over from The Embarcadero.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

It was just about fully dark by the time car No. 1078 (painted for San Diego) appeared. The lights of the Bay Bridge appear in the background.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

Finishing off the dusk-to-dark parade was car No. 1075, wearing colors from Cleveland.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

As I went to change locations I encountered the San Diego car (1078) returning from Fisherman's Wharf so I decided to try a pan shot as it went by.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

From here I went up to the Ferry Building near the intersection of The Embarcadero and Market Street. This is one of the best intersections for shooting transit in the country, as you also have the famous cable cars just a block away. The first car I caught at the Ferry Building was No. 1072, painted for Mexico City!

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

Turning around, car No. 1053 was making its return from Fisherman's Wharf. It is painted for the street railways of Brooklyn, New York.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

We finish the night with car No. 1010, painted for the hometown San Francisco Municipal Railway. It is also the only native San Francisco car photographed on this evening -- all the rest came to San Francisco from Philadelphia or Newark. No. 1010 made a fitting end to an interesting evening.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

All the historic MUNI streetcars are equipped with GPS, so you can see which cars are where at any given time by looking at the map here.

And you can find more photos from this evening (as well as stuff from Niles Canyon that I shot earlier in the day) in the gallery here.