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

Awesome Day of Railfanning

I'm back to posting! Yesterday, I had probably one of the best railfanning days I have ever had. Of the ten trains I caught, only THREE had no rare power, and only two had nothing significant on it. What I am posting here are some of the highlights from yesterday.

I chased a train from the 59 freeway to Richmond. Unlike my grey ghost chase in April, I actually arrived in Richmond with a few minutes to spare. Unfavorable cloud conditions made this bridge shot gloomy, but better than nothing.

After getting the bridge shot, I drove down to my typical spot in Rosenberg. There was a ton of traffic there, and I got there right as a UP train with a patched CNW unit passed by. I was standing by my car when it passed, so I couldn't get a great shot, but once again, better than nothing:

The next train was a BNSF Intermodal led by all common power, but with Ex-Amtrak reefers at the end!

A few minutes after this train passed, we were treated to a BNSF grain train on the Glidden Sub led by two Ferromex units, the leader being a Diexaños GEVO.

A bunch of horses suddenly started walking on the road in between trains.

After the horse parade, a UP manifest with a CSX Tier 4 GEVO trailing came by. This is my first time catching a Tier 4 locomotive.

This train had nothing significant, but I figured I may as well post it because this train came by during the one bout of sun that there was all day.

After that, a KCS manifest came by moments later with a BNSF Tier 4 GEVO trailing:

After about 30 minutes, I caught my very first BNSF AC44C4M, leading a manifest train:

After the AC44C4M, my friend had to leave. I decided to head to my car and began to debate whether or not I should go home. While I was debating, I heard the defect detector at 34.5 go off, so I decided that I may as well capture this train. I was surprised to see this headlight configuration off in the distance:

Well, it turned out to be the UP ASPLDR, led by CSX SD40-2 8042 and CSX SD50-2 8550! It was a pleasant surprise! I did capture the photo of it...

... But I forgot to hit record!!! Well, the best I could do was chase it down to East Bernard and video it there. Chasing it was not hard, there was a brake problem with one of the cars, so the conductor had to walk the train. I got to East Bernard with lots of time to spare, and managed to get this video of it:

Thanks for reading, and be sure to check my YouTube channel later on for videos of all of these trains and more!