FL9

It seemed like only a short time after we left Green River, Wyoming that we were on the approach to Granger where we would be leaving the double track Evanston Sub main line and heading northwest up the 214-mile Pocatello Sub to our destination for the night.  As we came into Granger I could see the headlights of an eastbound train we were meeting in the Forward-looking mirror at the rear of the business car Shoshone.

A few minutes later we curved off the UP’s “transcon” onto the Pocatello Subdivsion, and I changed the radio from 2727 to 2020 as per the signs and timetable.

Very quickly we were back up to the 70 mph track speed as we started up the Pocatello Sub.

After this photo I left the Shoshone at the rear of the train and made my way back forward to the dome in the Walter Dean.  As I got there we started up a winding grade towards Kemmerer, Wyoming.

When we got to Kemmerer an eastbound train with a large block of refrigerator cars was in the siding for us.

West of Kemmerer at the 7331-foot siding at Fossil we went through the siding in an overtaking meet with a westbound stack train.

After the overtaking meet we headed downgrade to a valley between the mountain ranges and continued to speed on west over the flat lands.

At Montpelier, Idaho we met an eastbound train.

West of Montpelier the sun started to sink the last few inches to the horizon in front of us.

I waited for the opportunity of one last setting sun shot with the train, and around one curve in particular came the last and best shot of the day.

I put the camera away after that photograph and headed to the City of San Francisco for dinner.  Afterwards I watched signals flash by in the dark as we headed on towards our first stop in Pocatello.  About forty miles outside of town I gave up and went to my room to catch some sleep before our first exhibition day of the trip.

Returning now to the UP’s Pacific Northwest Special, I left off as our train was approaching Laramie, Wyoming and I took a break from photography for an excellent lunch in the dining car “City of Denver.”  After a leisurely food experience with great views, I made my way back up to the dome of the “Walter Dean” lounge car.  Before long in the mid-afternoon we were stopping in Rawlins, Wyoming at the main line fuel racks.

After a 30-minute stop we left town on Track One, the north track.  In the first few miles out of town we met three eastbound trains on Track two, the south track.

The country side grew even more sparse and inhospitable as our speed gradually increased to the 79 mph limit for passenger trains.

As the sun moved to the west in front of our train I took leave from the dome of the Walter Dean and walked back to the rear observation area of the business car Shoshone on the rear end.

As we passed the nine-mile long Chevron Industrial Spur about twenty miles east of Green River, a train could be seen leaving Track Two and heading up the branch line.

The surrounding hills grew taller as we approached Green River, and then we stopped just outside of town while an eastbound train completed a crew change at the depot.  Soon we started moving again and met the eastbound train before making our own stop at the depot.  In a few minutes we were moving again and crossed the town’s name sake, the Green River as we met the head end of another eastbound train and then its DPU.

We met two more eastbound trains dropping down the grade as we climbed up the shelf on the south side of the Green River leaving town on the UP Evanston Sub.

Next time I will cover the rest of our trip to Pocatello, Idaho to finish out July 5th of 2012.

On Monday September 3rd, the final day of the Labor Day three-day weekend, I managed to catch a few trains close to home on the UP Baird Sub.  Shortly after arriving home from lunch in the early afternoon I heard the westbound LASER leaving Fort Worth with the NS 2669, an SD70M-2, leading the hot Atlanta to Los Angeles intermodal train.  I had enough time to easily drive to the east end of Aledo where I got this shot as the fairly new unit raced into town.

The radio had also alerted me to the fact the UP 5690 East was in the siding at Iona where it had met the westbound intermodal, but I had decided to pass on that train in order to get ot Aledo ahead of the LASER.  Now I heard the eastbound would be waiting on a westbound hi-railer doing track inspection, so I had time to get to the east end of Iona for this view after the hi-rail had passed by on the main line.

Late in the day I decided to get out again to see what I could catch in the low light around sunset.  I went to a spot about 1/2-mile west of downtown Aledo in the middle of the eastbound grade into town and waited patiently while listening to the radio.  Before long I heard the dispatcher talking to two eastbound trains west of Weatherford, the UP 7421 East and the UP 7478 East.  The sun had dropped quite low on the western horizon when the UP 7478 East came into view first.

Despite my best efforts I still got some glare reflection from the low sun, but not so bad that I kept it to share here.  This probably resulted from the fact I forgot to remove the UV haze filter off of the front of my telephoto lens, which can cause unwanted headlight reflections and other problems in low light situations.

The dispatcher told the UP 7478 East they would be meeting a westbound at Iona, so things were looking up.  I did not know if the westbound would wait at Iona for both eastbounds; but that question was answered a few minutes later when I heard the westbound blowing for the two grade crossings in Aledo.  I was ready when the UP 4774 West swung into the downhill  curve a minute later and just before sunset.

I swung around and caught the rear end of the merchandise train heading into the sunset.

The UP 4774 West met the UP 7421 East at Earls, so it was not long before the final train showed up at my location so I could get this rail-reflected view as the UP 7421 East headed up the grade.

Only one number board was lit up as I took my final shot in the receding light.

Three trains for a little under two hour effort was not bad, so I ended the long weekend with a few lessons re-learned about shooting in low light.

After a website crash and a detour to view a few UP Heritage Units, we will rejoin the Pacific Northwest Special trip as the train is coming into Cheyenne, Wyoming for a crew change around 11:30am on July 5th roughly 12 hours after leaving Omaha.  It took us roughly an hour to cover the last 20 or so miles into Cheyenne with only the lead E9 on line.  We headed down Main 3 as we came into town and I spotted UP 2010 the Boy Scout unit working as the DPU on a westbound train stopped on Main 1.  All photos were taken from the comfortable captain’s chairs in the dome of the lounge car Walter Dean.

We curved into the yard and passed the yard tower on our way down to the west end to change crews.

The crew change took about twenty minutes and the Heritage Fleet diesel mechanic was there to ride the rest of the trip with us.  In just a few minutes he found and corrected a problem with the MU cables between the lead and second units such that all three E9′s would be on line again.  In the distance a set of road units can be seen going around the baloon track.

It is easy to tell from the exhaust plumes that now all three e9′s were now available as we climbed the 1.5% grade on the east side of Sherman Hill on Track 2 at a steady 45 mph.

Near Buford we met an eastbound intermodal train on Track 1.

In this series of photos we are passing Dale Junction at the top of Sherman Hill where Main 3 that was built in 1953 with easier grades comes up along side of us on the left side of the train.

Just beyond Dale Junction Main 3 converges with Main 2 that we are on to pass through the twin 1800-foot bores of the Hermosa Tunnels.

Just west of the tunnels we took a red over green signal to stay on Main 2 as we started down the 0.8% grade towards Laramie.

The landscape is pretty desolate out here.  Main 3, the original main line, is somewhere out there in the middle of the valley.

West of Colores we met an eastbound hopper train dragging up the hill on Main 1.

We passed around the south side of this imposing rock formation on our way down the hill towards Laramie.

Not a bad climbing rock to have in your back yard!  In the distance where a line of hopper cars is visible is Red Buttes on the original main line.

Just outside of Laramie we passed a herd of Buffalo on the north side of the tracks.

At this point it was time to head to the City of Los Angeles dining car for lunch, so I retired the camera for a while and just enjoyed the ever changing scenery as I dined on great food.