Live from Boise following the Idaho Erben's one post at a time…

Sometime much earlier this year, I believe I took Tyler out to the tracks for an afternoon or two. He was still much more of a peanut, barely babbling, and not all that interested in the outside world. He did have fun digging through the glove box and center console, and turning the Tahoe inside out...some things never change.

Flash forward past the summer, and into fall in Idaho. Tyler is not a lot bigger physically, but his motor skills, yapping ability, and all around development has grown exponentially over the summer. With Tyler's favorite movie a toss-up between Monsters, Inc and Thomas and the Magic Railroad, I figured it was time to get him out to see the real thing before he starts thinking ten car trains with 'trucks' are cool. You need to start these kids out right these days. Additionally, my buddy Aaron had sent across some pictures of his clan, including Chip, his mini-me, around 9-10 months Tyler's younger, poking around the Smokey Mountains back in September, and I was hooked. I had to get Tyler out and about.

So, Friday night, September 29th, I packed up the necessities. Of course, I had the camera gear, scanner and such. I threw in a few movies to occupy Tyler in case boredom overcame him, and we had a small cooler full of Father/Son treats. We did not get out of the house that early, but we were able to a diaper changed, dressed, some OJ, and were rolling down the highway by 07:45. With the daylight rapidly decreasing this time of the year, and living on the west end of the Mountain time zone, the sun had barely started to come out as we were rolling past the east end of town, on our way toward Glenns Ferry.

We dropped off the Interstate at Mountain Home, and dawdled our way through down, and out the west side of town following the tracks. The rails were quiet, as was the scanner, but Tyler was having a good time between his Thomas' movie, and all the sugar beet trucks rolling down the highway. Of late, he has taken to calling out anything larger than my pickup while he is in the bar. Rest assured, not a single bus, semi, dump-truck, cement truck, or other large motorized vehicle gets past his view. A few miles of "Dadda dadda Tchrukkkkk" with a very very faint "rrr" sound in there begins one of those parenting patience quests.

We rolled down Medbury Hill, and continued heading east, looking for signs of life along the rails. As we pasted through Hammett, and crossed over the tracks, going to the north side via a bridge east of Hammett, the scanner crackled. The detector at MP379ish sounded, alerting us to something on track 2. 90-95% of the time, this means eastbound, so we continued pushing east, and caught the tail-end of an eastbound stack train rolling over the OS at the west end of Glenns Ferry.

Tyler was content in the back, so we moved along, passing the head-end of the stack train just a mile east of Glenns Ferry on the old highway. The tracks wind around a few bends in the river here, so it is a good chance to make some time up, and we easily got ahead of the stack train, heading to a spot east of King Hill to setup for a shot. This is a pretty neat spot...first, the photo is not too bad. Additionally, eastbounds are wound-up for the run up King Hill. Add in a little bit of a canyon effect, and you get the sounds of the rails echoing around for a nice experience. Unfortunately, Tyler had no desire.

As I setup the tripods, Tyler was quite involved with some activity in the back seat, and did not want to get out. I figured he had to get out and check things out, wagering a little bit of fussiness would be worth it. Within a few minutes, we had the eastbound in sight, and Tyler's moans and whines turned into a quiet stare.

UP5391 came roaring by our location. Tyler's complaints quickly turned into glee, as he let me know a few times that we had a train going past. With this guy having a good set of power online, we quickly packed up, and bogeyed on up to Ticeska.

Ticeska is where it goes back to a single track railroad at the summit of the eastbound grade, with a seldom used road crossing for access to the Snake River. We setup our gear as we watched the eastbound climb upgrade toward us, and nabbed him at 09:44.

As we were arriving at Ticeska, we heard on the scanner that two westbounds were on their way, and would meet the eastbound stack train. I noticed the first westbound zipping toward after about 3/4 of the eastbound had passed, and turned Tyler's attention toward the east for the approaching westbound on track 1. Tyler was having a good time waving at the containers, and telling me they were "boxes dadda". The westbound came hollering past, and we were able to have an un-obstructed view of the last half of the train as the eastbound cleared the crossing. It was quite amusing as the tail end of the westbound neared, Tyler was saying, "boose, boose". His mother has been doing a good job teaching him steam engine, boxcar, and caboose with his Thomas the Tank items, and to my amazement, he knew that a caboose should bring up the rear. How to explain to dear Tyler that he was born about 18-20 years too late for that sort of thing.

Another westbound passed by about ten minutes later, and the eastbound was quick to start pulling, leaving the rails quiet for a little bit. Tyler was not at bay though, as he enjoyed being out in the open with day, and stirring up all sorts of trouble.

Things were quiet for sometime, but around 10:40ish, we had another eastbound pass by. Tyler was getting things down, and started his wave to the crew a good two minutes before they reached the crossing. You would think he would get tired, but no, that wave keeps going until the last car has passed, and he has closed things out with a "bye bye trraaaeeennn."

After the train cleared, Tyler was quite intent on seeing another train. As I was monkeying with the camera gear, he climbed into the driver seat and let me know that he wanted to see another train. He also informed me that the "tracks" were "there dadda." Helpful child.

We decided we would roll back west a little bit, and head back into Glenns Ferry (ok, I decided). I was not quite sure how much juice Tyler would have, and thought we might pull up between the tracks and the river in case he became too bored. Well, a few minutes after arriving at the west end of town, a westbound came rolling by as we gawked and waved. Ten minutes later, the Gooding local came west with a trio of SD40-2's rumbling along the river past the Tahoe. After the local cleared, we heard the scanner trip on track two, so we setup the camera for the oncoming eastbound.

It was just a pair of helpers coming back to town after shoving one of the earlier westbounds, but they drifted by slow enough for Tyler to crack a wry smile as he was waving and received a friendly wave from the engineer.

We hopped back in the Tahoe, and wandered between reading a model railroader, climbing around, to eating some string cheese. I was considering packing it up and calling it a day when the scanner crackled again, meaning another eastbound was a minute or two away. This time, I tried to see how Tyler would do standing next to me, instead of me holding him in his arms, but the situation was still a little too much, and he insisted on hanging off the left side of my body as UP4058 rolled by with autoracks.

After the train passed, I let Tyler down as I started to pack-up the gear. He caught his second wind, and was into anything and everything. Rocks, dirt, bugs on the ground to his toys and balls inside the Tahoe were all fair game. We spent another thirty minutes hanging between the back of the Tahoe and walking around the car.

The above photo was taken a couple seconds after the last rack cleared the OS at CPP376, and we were moseying back to the Tahoe. Tyler stopped, watching the eastbound round the bend into Glenns Ferry proper, and through his pacifier, you could here "Where go dadda?" That, folks, is my boy !

When we finished up playing, I popped on the Thomas movie, and about forty-three seconds later, Tyler was zonked for the remainder of the journey home. When we arrived, Ralph greeted us (loudly), so Tyler woke up as I was carrying him inside. So, Flossie made us some lunch, and he scarffed down several chicken nuggets before nap time. Nap time was a little shorter than normal, but all in all, Tyler did pretty well. I hated to break-up the rest period between driving home and trying to get him in the crib, but what can you do.

Stay tuned for more adventures of Tyler and Dad...trackside in Idaho.

http://trains.mtnaircomputer.net/index-nscale.html

Well, I shoved off from Boise Saturday morning, destined for Chadron. I left behind Flossie, Tyler, and Gramma Bean, which was a little discomforting. One can only imagine what loot Tyler hauled in while Dad was on the road. I guess if it is not 'some assembly required', I am in good shape though.

I did not set any world records for travel on my way east. I leisurely enjoyed a drive across southern Idaho, basking in the end of summer weather of mid to upper 70's, with a hint of a breeze. The only objection I have is the hazy, smoke filled skies that pretty much cover Idaho and Wyoming. Not enough to make it 'dark and dreary', but enough to make it look rather unpleasant. So be it.

I followed the tracks most of the way across Idaho. I did not really camp out and wait for things, but around Glenns Ferry, things were happening, and I happened to catch this eastbound rolling along the river.

I followed this guy eastward, catching a few more around Fuller. I then continued east on US26, then Idaho 24 east from Shoshone. It was a rather pleasant, quiet drive as I had the windows down, and a mix of Bluegrass, Blues, or Mischke playing on the iPod at any given time. Temperatures were in the mid to upper 70's, light breeze, and the smoke filled hazy skies.

Eventually, Idaho 24 deviates from the railroad, and drops down into Rupert. I hopped on I-84, then I-86 and wandered into Pocatello. The railroad was a mess, with westbounds 20-30 miles WEST of Pocatello tying up and in search of crew vans to haul them home. East of Pocatello, there were westbounds everywhere tied up, waiting for a clear track, etc. I continued eastward on US30, seeing a train or two here in the distance, but the skies were becoming more and more overcast, with pockets of rain showers visible out the windshield.

I figured my evening plans would drop me into Rock Springs for a bite to eat, and then I would scurry out to a place east of there along the tracks, pulling up to enjoy my meal and watch a few trains roll by before the sun faded from view. Well, I wasted a good thirty minutes wandering around Rock Springs for a Wendy's, finally settling on McDonalds in a disgruntled mood, and jetted east. The sun had disappeared behind thunderstorms west of me, and out to the east and south east, the lightning and dark skies provided an ominous, yet peaceful view. I spent about an hour at Salt Wells Road, catching three or four trains before I settled in for more miles on the road.

At this point, it was around 9pm, and my Chadron ETA would have been around 3am. I felt like I could have done it...in fact, that feeling of just keeping the wheels turning was now fully circulating through my veins. The rain soaked sagebrush has a delightful aroma, the iPod was churning out some tunes here and there, or I would switch over to an episode of Jean Sheperd to mix it up. Anyway, I decided I would hole up for the night in Cheyenne, pulling up to a spot along the tracks on the west side of town for a few hours of sleep before rolling on up to Chadron at daybreak.

The weather was quite interesting east of Rock Springs. Right at Point of Rocks, just as I got back on the road, the skies were wide open, dumping a torrent of rain. I had the pickup slowed down to about 55 for 5 or 10 minutes throwing a roost of rain wide and far behind me. Eventually it let up, and for the rest of the trip to Rawlins, I hit little patches of downpour for a few minutes.

East of Rawlins, it became a little more interesting. Once I started the eastward climb up toward Elk Mountain, the fog began to settle in in spots. It was not all that heavy, and I did not break from the cruise control locked in at 79. East of Laramie though, Sherman was engulfed in thick fog, just as I crested the climb up the canyon. From there until I pulled up at MP511, it was periods of less than 500 feet of visibility, up to about 1/4 mile of viewable terrain. Quite interesting to experience, although it lengthened the journey to Cheyenne ever so slightly.

I pulled up at MP511, and while the air was damp, the wind was nowhere, and the fog was sitting a few hundred feet up in the air. There was no lack of action on the railroad though, and for the next few hours, it was almost a constant back-and-forth of EB's arriving, sitting for a little bit, a westbound getting out of town, then the EB creeping through over the road crossing. I had the scanner on, but eventually dialed it down and was able to finally put on the full deep sleep around 3ish and the whistles and bells became more and more faint.

Tyler and Dad Go Railfanning

Over on the Cody's Railfan Hideout blog, I finally posted a write-up of a little trackside adventure Tyler and I had a week ago -- Tyler and Dad Trackside.
 

Tyler and Dad Trackside

Well, today marked a historic moment. No, it was not the first time the Cardinals have blown a game in Atlanta (see Saturday's results for that). No, today, I packed up my kid in my trusty pickup, and we headed for the tracks. Worst case, we get down there and the kid hates it, and we trudge 15 miles back home. Best case, he loves it, and we have a great time. The result...somewhere in-between.

On Sunday's, Flossie usually takes a leave from Tyler for a few hours, going off to do various things and get some alone time without a diaper to change or kid to feed. We tried letting the dogs watch Tyler, but with the squirrel scenario, they get too involved with the rodent to keep their eyes on Tyler. With no grand-parent within a short drive, and the aunt off running around town on Sunday's, this leaves only the Dad to care for the offspring.

With the weather turning more like spring, and a pretty sky this afternoon, I figured I would kill two birds with one stone--get some fresh air for Tyler, and get in some railfanning for myself. So, after mowing the lawn and Tyler catching an afternoon snack, we loaded up the gear in the pickup and headed south toward the tracks. I was not really sure where I was going to go, as my old stand-by at Owyhee has been gated the past few times I have been down that way. But, I figured I trudge down somewhere east of Nampa, and see if I could find a place to park the pickup and wait for something to show up. I drove to an old spot I have driven past a few times, and decided to take a look at the access road. As it turns out, found a nice little spot out of the way to sit in the afternoon sun.

On our way down Eagle Road, we heard the scanner crackle...and the Nampa DS informed an EB he would take the siding at Kuna for 1, and that 1 was just rolling over the west switch at Owyhee. Oh Tyler...here we go. Luck was upon us, and we caught a nice string of highballs as we zipped down the highway, and shuffled over to Cloverdale Road and maintained highway speed. Twenty minutes later, we drove down the access road and setup the tripod. Soon, a whistle in the distance indicated the WB had cleared Kuna and the EB was out of Kuna and a few miles off. I got the video camera setup, then grabbed my son, decked out in his Wyoming cowboy hat to protect his noggin and eyes from the afternoon rays. Soon, the eastbound rumbled by, a nice set of power today with a SD70M on the point, a GE, then a non-turbocharged GP38 making a nice grumble as the trailing unit. If you check out the video link below, you will notice Tyler's excitement as well about 70-75 seconds into the clip.

It was a little quiet after the EB, and Tyler and I walked around the area, I showed him the rails, showed him the fence, showed him the dirt (did not let him play in it as much as he seemed interested), and showed him an airplane flying around. I had him back in the car trying to keep him entertained when a WB intermodal train snuck up on us. This guy has a SD70M on the headend (surprise surprise), and a Conrail GE trailing. I was going to share with Tyler some of my past days on Conrail, but after the westbound cleared, he became quite hungry. I had a bottle warmer with me, and tried to warm up a bottle for him. Alas, it was a failed enterprise today, and Tyler was not much for cool milk. So, he was a little grumpy (as you can see in the gallery of pictures below) for the next hour or so.

We stuck around for one more westbound, catching a manifest in the late afternoon. This time, I had enough time to get setup and drag Tyler out in my arms while snapping a few pictures. He was a good trooper again, and watched the various cars roll by. After the westbound cleared, we loaded up, and before I was back to the main road, Tyler was snoozing in his car seat. All in all, an enjoyable afternoon in southwest Idaho with my boy.

Pictures from the day:

  -  

Video can be found here.
 

A Day in the Gorge

While extremely belated, I am trying to go back and start posting some of my railfan adventures in the recent past. Anyway, I will skip a lot of idle chit-chat here, and just jump right into the details.

I have a good friend who calls Vancouver, Washington home. We are computer game buddies, co-workers, and amateur photographers. Back in August or so, I had been IM'ing with my buddy Charles about wanting to get in a railfan trip somewhere before I headed back to New York in September. Well, one thing led to another, and we had planned a Day in the Gorge in early September.

The itinerary was such--Cody would work until about 14:00 on Friday, September 10. Then, I would jump into my loaded pickup and hit the road west for the Columbia River Gorge. Along the journey, I planned to catch a little action along the OSL in eastern Oregon before sunset.

As I left town, I flipped on my scanner with my new antenna, and enjoyed the improved reception. I listened to fair amount of Nampa yard chatter as I rolled west out of the valley into Oregon, and here and there, caught a few trains calling signals out around Ontario and Payette. The afternoon sun was out, with some haze here in there, but a nice railfan afternoon. I heard a Z-train leaving Nampa as I was through Caldwell, and figured I would run up to Huntington, OR, and setup for a shot of him coming over the bridge over the Snake River.

I rolled into Huntington, and took the road east back toward the Snake River. Friday afternoon had a number of people out fishing along the meandering Snake. I pulled out my gear, and sat, and waited...and waited...and waited. Finally, a little after 17:25, I heard a rumble in the distance. I jumped in the pickup and drove to a spot a little way up from the river, and setup for a shot with the 300D and my 55-200mm zoom:

09/10/200417:32MP537 - Huntington Sub, ORUPWB Autos, Stacks & VansUP4994  UP4063  UP9171(flag & flare SD70M, SD70M, C40-8)#MT61 carsZKCPD-08

- Kansas City to Portland, OR Premium Intermodal

  -  

Giddy with a westbound in the evening light, as soon as I snagged my shots of the ZKCPD rolling across the bridge, it was back into the pickup for a dash for another spot. I zipped to a spot up the road a little bit in the teeth of the westbound climb, somewhere in the 1.5% to 2% range at this point, at the highway overpass to head to Rye Valley. The sun turned out to be a little low here by the time my subject arrived:

  -    -  

After passing, it was back on the interstate headed west. The tracks out of Huntington turn North by Northwest, so the sun is on the west side of the tracks, and this time of year, nose light is a little difficult in the afternoon and evenings, and the interstate and roads are on the east side of the tracks with only a few places to cross over. I decided Durkee was my best chance of a shot in the rapidly disappearing light, as I am on the west side of the tracks, and it is somewhat more open, in addition to swinging slightly more westward for a small stretch. There was a big town get-together/BBBQ BYOBB in Durkee that evening, but I had plenty of time to setup, watch some cattle, and snap off a few nice sweet light shots of a UP SD70M rockin-n-rollin through Durkee:

  -    -    -    -  

After these shots, the sun fell behind the hills, ending photography for the day. I followed the Z train most of the way west until the tracks leave the interstate at North Powder. Then, it was a nice journey on the interstate to the Gorge, where I'd find a little spot to park the pickup and recline the seat for shut-eye.

Saturday Morning

After decent weather on Friday, I awoke to the pitter-patter of rain drops on my windshield. Not overly surprising, although I had hoped some miracle would have occurred and whisked away the clouds. Either way, I was here, and if I had to look for a bright spot, at least I had a chance to run the 300D through its paces under less than ideal conditions.

I was on the Interstate side of the Gorge--the south side where the UP roams, but zipped back east to The Dalles and crossed over into Washington on the north side with the BNSF. Since I was going to meet Charles somewhere out there, I started heading toward the Couv, and if a train should happen to cross my path, so be it. As luck would have it, it was only a few minutes until I came upon a WB in the siding, and just as quickly, an EB intermodal came into view. It took a little bit of work to catch up and get ahead of him, as he was rumbling along at a good clip. I finally found a spot, somewhat elevated, at Avery, just a little west of Wishram, and popped a few shots:

  -    -  

The intermodal backed off as he rolled past and neared Wishram, and as it would turn out, he would hold for about ten minutes while he waited a WB Amtrak. With this delay, I was able to find a spot high up on the hillsides east of Wishram, and waited for the EB to leave town:

  -    -  

After snapping a few shots, I quickly packed up and continued east. However, the intermodal was up to speed fairly quickly, and I could not find a shot as the road played tag here and there with the river-side and tracks. So, I gave up the chase and turned back west...and a little bit later, the cell rang and I arranged meeting plans with Charles.

To pass some time, I went back to Avery to see what was up on the BNSF, and listen for activity on the UP, which had been fairly quiet. There was a crewless WB manifest at Avery with a colorful set of power:

  -  

After a little wait, an EB manifest rolled through Avery, and you can find pictures of it over in the gallery here. Then, I packed up the gear and again started back west to meet up with Charles around Bingen. Charles and I met up, and I transferred the essentials into his pickup, and we hit the road east to find some trains. The sky was brighter, but still a good overcast over the Gorge.

We drove in at Avery, and setup for a shot of a WB that was getting a fresh crew in Wishram:

  -  

We caught a grain train as well at Avery about twenty minutes later, then decided to drive over to the UP side to see if we could catch some action over there. While the full gallery of my photos are here, Charles'' photos from the day can be found over on this site here.

The day was somewhat quiet, we did not have a lot of action on the UP side, but we did have some fun. We were able to chase a few trains east of The Dalles, and find a few shots from up on hill-sides overlooking the tracks, interstate, and river. The last train we were to shoot we shot headed WB in the mid afternoon, then heading back to Bingen for dinner, we caught him at OT Junction crossing over to the BNSF to head south on the Oregon Trunk, and eventually back onto the UP at Keddie and down into Roseville, CA via the Feather River Canyon.

  -    -    -  

The weather was not perfect, but Charles and I had a good time, and a nice meal to wrap up the day back in Bingen. We have not ventured out again, but as soon as Tyler is ready to snap a few pictures of his own, we'll have to head back west to the Gorge.