Day 13: Flagstaff

(Ok I've gotten a little behind on the updates…)

Another cold and gray day in Flagstaff. Started off fairly good, just a bit of high cloud. Went down to Maine again to try and get a repeat of yesterday, but very little was happening. I could hear on the radio that a train was just up the road a bit at Bellemont with DPU problems, seems the front half of the train wasn't talking to the rear. Once they got it all set up again they did something called the "bump test", where the rear locos are told to go forward and depending on which way the train lurches they can see whether the locos are operating in the correct direction or not. It's something I'm familiar with on my model railway, so to see it being done in the real world too was funny.

Strolled down beside the tracks in the snow for a bit to see if there was much around the corner. Caught this EB flying past…

And then eventually the guy who had been ge...

Day 12: Seligman Sub Railfanning

Sun! What a difference a bit of sunshine can make. Slept in thinking it'd be another gray day; the weather forecast hadn't been very encouraging. Was confused when I went into the toilet and the window was blue; looked outside and Flagstaff was bathed in glorious sunshine. As I was gawking :the earthworm" roared past outside in full throttle. The earthworm is a unit grain train, full of brown BNSF grain hoppers. When stretched out it looks like a long brown worm, hence the name. Today it was in a 3x3x2 configuration, i.e. 3 head end locos, 3 mid train helpers, and 2 rear end DPUs. Even more excitingly the rear DPU was a warbonnet.

So in about 5 minutes flat I dressed, washed, packed the car and was on the road heading East, determined to catch the worm. A few miles out of town at Bellemont I made a carefully timed drive-by shot on the overbridge.

Onwards I went to Parks/Maine. Great wee spot, and bow was I in for a treat here....

Day 11: Flagstaff

Bit of a gray day today, not much sun and really cold, so didn't get much shooting done unfortunately. Went a short way out of town and set up camp waiting for the torrent of trains. Caught a west bound fairly shortly after with a warbonnet SD70 leading. Don't often see EMDs on the transcon, it is almost exclusively GE territory.

Heading towards Flagstaff, containers snaking away.

Then another west bound with a warbonnet on the point.

Then things ground to a halt. I could see the next train off in the distance, but it wasn't moving. 30 minutes passed and a westbound crossed it, then another 30 minutes and another WB crossing, and then finally it continued on its way.

West bound meets east bound and finally things start moving again.

As expected there wa...

Day 10: Mexican Hat to Flagstaff

Slept really solidly, didn't even hear my Peek vibrating and chiming for at least 10 emails through the night. Woke with a start when someone banged on the door and called out something about coffee, I think. I grunted something and they went off to the next room.

Was soon on the road and before long I was going through Monument Valley. So much quieter this time, hardly any cars on the road and none of the roadside vendors were there. Saw a sign advertising a motel, saying "Stay where John Wayne stayed". This is, after all, the setting for Western movies.

Came across some wild (?) horses grazing amongst the snow. They weren't tame enough to come up and talk to me, but they didn't run away either. I also saw a very serious looking truck making a lot of noise climbing...

Day 9: Helper to Mexican Hat

This morning dawned bright and sunny in the motel room it felt almost summery, but I changed my mind on that aspect as soon as I stepped outside! I decided my time in Helper was up for now, so I packed up, consulted the maps and decided to head south. While I was packing I heard a horn, and it wasn't an Amtrak horn, and it wasn't a modern diesel horn, so I decided to check out the Utah Railway depot on the way out of town. Sure enough there were many extra coal wagons there, and plenty more signs of life than there had been Saturday or Sunday. Maybe they'd be running a coal train today? And yes, as I watched the train started moving, so up the highway I raced to catch it.

The train eased down off the Utah Railway track and onto the UP mainline, but had to wait at the signal bridge for a green light. While waiting the morning UP manifest came squealing down the hill with a very heavy aroma of burnt brake shoes.

Waiting for permiss...

Day 8: Helper again

Up bright and early today to find a cold crispy Helper. So while NZ was fast asleep I was busy suiting up with layers of merino, polar fleece, ski pants, insulated boots, multiple socks, etc and so on. Worked out how to use my shoelaces to tie seal gators in my ski pants tight around my shoes, so not a drop of snow got into my boots all day :-) Not bad when I spent half of it stomping round in knee high snow.

First port of call was the Wildcat loadout facility, but all was empty and not a train or person in sight. Second call was Walmart to stock up on food, I now have Oreos with a weird vaguely radioactive green looking mint icing. Third stop was the Savage load out, but again all was empty, although I couldn't find any roads anywhere near it. What I did find were some dear bouncing along in the snow…

Flying deer, near Wellington, UT.

Called back in at Wildcat, still no train! Stopped in at Helper yard and saw t...