Day 8: Nevada to Utah

Had a "wee" bit of trouble waking up this time! Still I had to, so I did. Was fairly brisk outside, and the weather seemed to know I was leaving so didn't make much of an effort; was pretty gray and boring outside.

I packed up everything, programmed the GPS and headed off on my way. Down highway 50 I went, through numerous valleys and down endless empty roads. After a while I was crossing the Nevada/Utah border, past the familiar gas station with a motel on one side, and slot machines on the other, and all just a short 77 mile trip from the nearest town in Utah. Amazing thing is, people do come here to play the slots, as every time I've passed, there have been cars outside and people staying there. Wow!

Passed through various small forests, although forests out here have obviously never met forests in other parts of the country; a few trees here and there equals "national forest" in Nevada!

It's a terrible photo, but the skyline in Utah can be pretty interes...

Day 7: The Nevada Northern Railroad (part 3)

Another early start, these 5am wakeups are pretty rough! Headed on down to the railroad and found that our train for the day was already assembled and waiting; no dramatic shed-emerging shots today.

Steve Crise attempted to remake a photo from the original railroad, however the early morning sun and long shadows made this pretty touch. After a while the train headed on down to the end of the yard where the lighting was much nicer.

We did a bunch of shots here, and as it was still pretty early the steam plumes were pretty amazing.

Soon we hopped on our train and headed back up the line for some photos. Curiously, all the photos I like from this location are looking back on the train.

Once again we headed up the li...

Day 6: The Nevada Northern Railroad (part 2)

Extremely early start this time, I was down at the railroad depot at 6am, well before sunrise. Had a quick bite to eat then headed off to the workshop with my tripod and shutter cable.

Wow! What a place! The moment I entered I was stunned; it was full of noise, damp humid warmth, thick with the smell of old oil, dense clouds of smoke wafted and the ceiling lamps cast beautiful cones of light. Inside a plethora of locomotives stood, ranging from beautiful RS3s, to "functional" Baldwin switchers, though to three beautiful steam locos.

 

Our two locos for the day, 40 and 93 were busy being prepared, having been woken at 3am by the crews. It was a bit like one of those thriller movies set in a power plant where every pipe and valve seems to randomly hiss and vent steam.

Day 5: The Nevada Northern Railroad (part 1)

So I come to the first big highlight of my trip: a weekend of intense railfanning on the Nevada Northern Railroad. I've been here once before and was a little underwhelmed… let me tell you know, I have completely changed my tune! This railroad is simply amazing! Lets start at the start.

I arrived at the depot, just around the corner from my motel and checked in. I got my "Michael Adam" name badge (kiwi accents and long distance skype calls do not work well together) and signed a waiver and then I was free to go anywhere I wanted on the railroad.

I wandered around a bit and introduced myself to other camera-toting, suspicious looking characters. Here is our train:

For those who aren't aware, this loco is a little bit special. First off, it obviously isn't a steam loco. Second, it's an Alco RS3. I guess I need to explain. Alco was once one of the great loco builders (Alco = The American Locomotive Company) but nev...

Day 4: US Highway 50

Didn't exactly hang around in my smelly motel room this morning! No signs of life from the unit next door either, watch the papers for "death by fatal laugh, Reno, NV". Was out on the road fairly quickly, some quality country blasting out on the radio (Reno knows how to do Country!). Fueled up, pump wanted a ZIP code for my credit card, but the usual 00000 and 90210 didn't work… got there in the end. Drove through Sparks and kicked myself; there, right next to the railway yard is a massive casino / hotel complex. I bet I could've got a nicely scented room overlooking the railway yards for dirt cheap! Next time…

Back on 80 East and after one wrong turn and a detour past a trailer park, I was at Scheels, thanks to a quiet tip off from someone at Cabelas. Well… I thought Cabelas was huge. Scheels of Sparks, NV is the largest single sporting store in the world! 295,000 square ft of specialty sporting goods (Westfield Riccarton is 593,000 sq ft, across two h...

Day 3: to Reno

Woke at 8am to another bright sunny day. Google said it was -9°C outside, but it didn't feel that cold. Drove up the old Donner Pass Rd to the summit of Donner Pass. The drive up looked spectacular in the early morning sun, everything was so crisp and clean and fresh looking. I had a specific shot in mind, so packed up my gear and wandered down the icy path to the tracks again. Made myself a little seat out of the wind and waited. And waited. And waited. An hour passed and still nothing, not even a blip on the radio. Sorry I lie, one hirail truck went by. I waited a bit longer but eventually gave up; even for Donner Pass this was excessively quiet.

Went back to the lookout over Donner Lake and had some lunch. While waiting I heard that the West bound Amtrak was due into Truckee in 30 minutes (quite late) so I headed down and found a nice spot.

Soon I saw some headlights, but using my camera as binoculars (200mm of optically stabilised lens is very handy!) it ap...