Railfanning on 10/23/2016

Yesterday, I took a road trip to the UP Columbus Sub, about an hour away from where I reside in Lincoln. I went there mainly to hunt down 1996, as it was set to pass by in the afternoon, peak time for taking pictures of it as it was a WB. I got to a spot just West of North Bend at about 12:30 and spent most of my day there. It was dead for a bit, then I caught two Westbounds, a coal train and a grain train, both of which I took videos of but no still pictures. After another brief dead period, a light engine movement rushed by me with 3 SD70Ms:

After a brief pause, a WB autorack train that normally passes at about this time of day flew by:

About 15 minutes later a WB manifest passed by...

... With a patched SP DPU! And right when this train ended, an EB came:

Followed by yet another WB manifest:

After that manifest, there was an unusually long lull that lasted about 50 minutes. After a while, I figured that the IG4TA (which 1996 was on) had to be next, and she came with two CSX units trailing too! It is very hard to catch a train on this line without any armor yellow.

After 1996 passed, I took a quick break to use the restroom and get some food. When I came back, I saw EB headlights. I did not bother taking any still pictures of it, because the sun was getting lower and would have resulted in a ton of backlight. It turned out to be a wonderful QNPPR with a UP SD70ACe leader, CSX SD40-3, NS SD60E, and NS SD70ACU.

After a brief dead period of about 30 minutes, I decided I would leave after the next train. The next train did not disappoint, as it was a Herzog ballast train:

After this, I packed up and headed to North Bend to see if I could get any backlit grain elevator shots. I got one of the OMAX coal train there, but that didn't turn out so well.

~Matt

Amtrak's Executive Train in Texas

The consist was Amtrak 145, 822, 204, and 130.

Today, I caught Amtrak #2, the Sunset Limited, in Eastgate, TX. What was so special about this train was that the president was on it. There were five executive cars on the end, which you can see in the video I post below. On top of that, the train was led by 4 engines, including the two Phase 3 heritage units!

A bit of scenery from my "heritage unit spot"

~Matt

An Update on Life

Hello everyone! I would like to thank those of you who follow me despite the fact that I have not posted in three months, it means a lot to me. I have only railfanned twice since Christmas, and both of those times were in Rosenberg. I did not have any still pictures due to the fact that my house is being remodeled, and my camera got lost in that process. I do still have my camcorder though, so I just need to edit the videos from my most recent trip, which was last Saturday. Those should be on YouTube sometime this weekend. Here is the one still picture that I took with my camcorder last week:

I typically do not take still pictures on the camcorder due to the fact that it is a bit pixely. I couldn't waste that sun angle though.

But yeah, with school being busy (senior year, can't give up now!) and the camera thing, I really have had nothing to post.

Speaking of Senior year, several people already know where I am going to school next year. I will not announce that to the public until next month. I did not want to wait too long, but I did not want to make the announcement too early. I will give three hints as to where I will be going to school starting in August: It is not in Texas, it is in the US, and not many people want to live there (but I do). After making the announcement, I will have to decide how that affects the name of this blog. If you want another hint: It may change the meaning of "Below 40 Degree Railfan." ;)

Finally, future trips. I may railfan a bit this upcoming week as it is Spring Break. That is not for certain though, as we could have record shattering heat here in Houston (almost 90 on Monday!), and I hate railfanning in hot weather with a passion. I will be in California two weeks from now, and I will try to have a Good Friday dedicated to some railfanning, which may (will) include a trip to Fullerton. After that, I may attend the Flatonia pavilion party the following weekend, followed by Rosenberg Railfest the weekend after that. That could be three straight weekends of railfanning!

Thank you for reading, be sure to subscribe to my channel on YouTube, and have a great day!

~Matt