Rio Grande Heritage Unit

After a doctors appointment in Greely, Colorado I headed over to the tracks to see what was going on. Just as I arrived I heard a north bound freight approaching. I stopped by the Greely Freight Station Museum and was surprised to see one of UP's Heritage units. I chased the train north out of town and got ahead of as it was slugging up a grade. I managed to gain a couple minutes on it and crossed over to the right side of the tracks. As the end drew near I was even more surprised to see a caboose on the end of a 90+ car train.

Ft. Collins Diamond

In the city of Fort Collins the BNSF runs through the center of town. Literally the tracks run up the middle of the street!


Just north of the street trackage is this diamond where the BNSF and the UP meet at grade.

While shooting the diamond a BNSF local snuck up on me! After they cleared the crossing I realised there was a UP light power move waiting to the east to cross.

Chasing UP 844 II !

This series of photos were taken in Nunn,

Colorado. The 844 made several trips on

this weekend from Denver, Co. to the annual

Frontier Days celebration in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Chasing UP 844 !

It has been almost a year since my last

update. Since my last post my family

and I relocated back to New York State.

I was finally able to get the print film I

shot out west developed! This is what I

got, some how I though the results would

have been more spectacular...

Union Pacific 844, day one.

This morning at 7 am I found myself back in Nunn, Colorado. This time it was a planned event. I knew for a fact that UP would be running the 844 north from Denver, Co. to Chyenne, Wyo. I managed to get 10 or 12 shots with my 35mm print camera but no digital shots. This afternoon was the return trip south, so back to Nunn I went!

Now before my friends in the know get excited, I did get real pictures of the event. My digital camera is a bit of a first generation dinosaur. After shooting from the south side of Nunn we paced the train south for about 8 miles. These are the results, enjoy, if you can... Mike

GWR in Ft. Collins

The GWR operates as a shortline customer in and around Ft. Collins, Colorado. They have a yard on the north side of Ft. Collins that is very easy to shoot as it is boardered on one side by a public road. I shot these 2 locomotives getting ready to switch the yard late Wednesday afternoon. The orange Geep is a chopnosed former Santa Fe GP-9.

Union Pacific stuff

South of Nunn is the town of Eaton, Colorado. I got ahead of a northbund mixed freight as it left Greeley and picked a decent spot just north of Eaton. The last pic is of the yard tower at Cheyenne, Wyoming. The neat thing is that the tower sprouts up between the Route 85 overpass bridges!

Modern Railroad Action in Colorado

West of Carr, Colorado, where we live, is the UP's line from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Denver. Rte. 85 parallels the single track line within 50 to 100 yards all the way south past Greeley. We caught a maintenance crew dropping ballast along the line just south of Eaton, Co. The next day we caught a south bound empty coal drag in the hole at Nunn, Co. The same day of the maint train we saw a southbound Amtrak with a pair of Genesis engines, a baggage car and 7 Super-Liner cars. The BNSF train is northbound on the former Colorado and Southern Railroad in the town of Wellington. The pic should have been better but it surprised me, I had to shoot thru my dirty windshield!

Fort Collins Trolley

In the city park in Ft. Collins is a neat little operation. In the early 1900's the Colorado & Southern Railroad started a small electric street car system in the town of Fort Collins. Like most street car systems it was abandoned in the mid 1950's. A group of forward thinking individuals endevoured to rebuild the Ft. Collins street car system. Today for $1 for adults and $.50 for kids you can ride on car 21 on approximatley 2 miles of the system. Car 21 is an origional Ft. Collins car as is the newly re-acquired car 25. As we boarded the car the first thing I noticed was how the wood work and everything else in the car looked like it was brand new! The car leaves City Park and heads east for about a mile and a half on a median strip in the middle of the road. The car reverses at the end of track and heads back to the park. The car barn is west of the switch that leads to the park. An interesting feature on the line can be found about 50 yards from the car barn. The car line crosses a creek on an I beam bridge of a type I have never seen before. The rail rides across the creek on the top of a pair of I beams with no deck! NEAT!

Nebrasssssska.

Travelling route 80 through Nebraska is about the most tedious thing you could possibly imagine doing. EVER! Endless prarie is dotted with numerous huge grain elevators. We had to make a fuel stop so I jumped off at the town of Chappell, Nebraska. I picked Chappell because I wanted to get a close-up shot of the American flag on the elevator next to the UP line that runs east west across the state. After getting fuel in the Penske truck I decided to explore the railsiding in the area during a torential thunder storm. On the west side of the elevator complex was a Hi-rail truck with 3 powered drive axles coupled to about 10 or 12 ballast hoppers. Just on the other side of the tracks was a GP-9 (?) lettered for the FEC, Farmer's Elevator Co-operative. I know in the shot I got it looks like a model but it's the real Magilla!

Go westtyoung man!!!

As some of you may already know, the Smith Family has relocated to the GREAT state of Colorado. I will re-cap our journey soon but here are a few pics to get started...

-I shot the first pic in Iowa, I saw this hot lookin' rig coming up behind us so I shot it in the mirror of our rental truck.

-The second shot was at our second fuel stop in Nebraska. Kayla caught me checking the oil...

-Kayla took the last picture about halfway across Nebraska, ugh Nebraska, I was whistling the tune, East Bound and Down from Smokey and the Bandit!

GMA train video

Oh, here's a cellphone video of the train we shot too.

Good Morning America Whistlestop Tour

Thanks to the good folks at Railroad.net I found out that the Good Morning America Train would be coming through Rochester this evening!
Power was provided by two specially decorated Amtrak Genesis engines.
The third "unit" in the consist was a strange beast indeed! An F-40 ph "Cabbage" had been given a set of balls! No, really, balls, over the baggage/ engine room area the roof line was lowered and a pair of domes, probably for live feed during broadcasts, had been added to the roof!
A matched set of 6 Superliner cars decorated in a real nice red, white and blue reflective scheme made up the majority of the consist.
On the tail-end a pair of BEAUTIFUL, restored Pennsylvania private cars were bringing up the markers. I ran across Main street to try and get a going away shot but after almost getting whacked by an RTS bus I found my batteries had died... what a PUTZ! I forgot to pick up new ones on my way out to shoot today. Oh well, I got some shots.

Steam on the Arcade and Attica, part II

With #18 sounding for the grade, we departed Arcade station on time. After clearing the road #18 enters a "canyon" between two brick buildings with the exhaust barking nicely. The line curves through the parking lot and across the famous plate girder birdge. The trip to Curriers is about 45 minutes there are a few grade crossings along the way to give the crew a chance to perfect there skill on the 2-8-0's deep throated whistle. At Curriers, #18 makes a run around move to facilitate the return to Arcade. The crew makes a photo stop along side the freight station for a few minutes then we re-board for the return trip to Arcade. The 1920 Alco couples on to the last car of the train, a 1940's vintage composite gondola with benches, and were on our way. After working Diesel Days at the RGVRRM all those years you think I would have remembered the "hazzards" of riding in the open, but I didn't. We stood in the gondola about 20 feet from the smoke box door of #18 and we recieved our "Free Souveniers". As she accelerated with her train we were rewarded withh a shower of soot!!! Yay!!! We didn't mind, I'd take coal soot over diesel soot any day! Once we got back to Arcade we stopped at a few stores and I was able to shoot the second train of the day as it crossed the bridge behind the parking lot. This was a great trip behind one of the VERY few steam locomotives operating in New York state. You should try it!