SeanFKelly
Heart of the Oregon Trunk
Perhaps no location better typifies the Oregon Trunk than the "Twin Bridges", where the railroad vaults across the Deschutes River two times in just a quarter-mile, separated by a curved tunnel punching through the ridge which the river winds the long way around.
I've historically had poor luck trying to photograph the northerly of the bridges; on one occasion, a southbound snuck up on us while we had just parked the car by the road, leaving no time for us to get into position - a disappointing moment to say the least. The conventional photo angle most folks attempt is the afternoon view from the west side of the bridge, but to try to avoid repeating what everyone and his brother has done, I was interested in a morning view from higher up on the ridge. All it would take is a mid-morning southbound... which is a lot to ask for on a line that currently averages maybe 4 to 6 trains per 24 hours.
My fiancée and I were en route to Tahoe for a visit with my future inlaws, so I booked us a cabin in the tiny hamlet of Maupin for one night in the hopes of pulling off the shot that has long eluded me. We left home after work and arrived Maupin about 11 p.m... right as a southbound train was motoring past in the dark. The cabin met the basic need - although my fiancée really could have done without the multitude of spiders we discovered. I opted to pay an extra $15 for late checkout (as late as 1 p.m. rather than 11 a.m.) from the cabin. Experience has shown me over the years that somehow, 11 a.m. hotel checkout has a magical way of almost always conflicting with an important photo opportunity...
Upon waking the next morning before sunrise, *another* southbound was cruising by, long before the sunlight would reach down into the canyon. Now I was getting worried, as almost a full day's worth of southbounds had already passed in the past 6 hours. But all I could do was try. I scouted a few different locations in the early morning until I knew the canyon shadows had sufficiently cleared at the Twin Bridges, and I hiked up on the ridge to wait. My dad had told me about an Oregon DOT highway traffic camera near the Celilo drawbridge on the Columbia River at the northern end of the Trunk, which I could check on my phone every few minutes. This effort felt a bit in vain considering the traffic camera would only update with a new image every 10-15 minutes, but it was something to pass the time at least... and then right about 9 a.m. I saw it - lumber loads on the camera! A southbound was on the way.
Because I am a bit psychotic, I had made a spreadsheet to estimate the running time for a train from Moody to the Twin Bridges using the milepost limits of speed restrictions, plus some estimated fudge factors for acceleration/deceleration. A train making track speed should take about 85 minutes, in theory. I watched with nervous anticipation as massive cloud shadows passed overhead every few minutes. All I could do was hope and pray.
Almost to the minute of my estimate, the roaring thunder of GEs suddenly filled the canyon, and the southbound Vancouver, Washington to Fresno, California manifest freight came into view. The menacing cloud shadows played nice, and I got *the shot* at 10:31 a.m. With a few minutes to hike down off the hill, and a 20 minute drive to the cabin... yeah, that extra 15 bucks was well worth it.
Heart of the Oregon Trunk
Perhaps no location better typifies the Oregon Trunk than the "Twin Bridges", where the railroad vaults across the Deschutes River two times in just a quarter-mile, separated by a curved tunnel punching through the ridge which the river winds the long way around.
I've historically had poor luck trying to photograph the northerly of the bridges; on one occasion, a southbound snuck up on us while we had just parked the car by the road, leaving no time for us to get into position - a disappointing moment to say the least. The conventional photo angle most folks attempt is the afternoon view from the west side of the bridge, but to try to avoid repeating what everyone and his brother has done, I was interested in a morning view from higher up on the ridge. All it would take is a mid-morning southbound... which is a lot to ask for on a line that currently averages maybe 4 to 6 trains per 24 hours.
My fiancée and I were en route to Tahoe for a visit with my future inlaws, so I booked us a cabin in the tiny hamlet of Maupin for one night in the hopes of pulling off the shot that has long eluded me. We left home after work and arrived Maupin about 11 p.m... right as a southbound train was motoring past in the dark. The cabin met the basic need - although my fiancée really could have done without the multitude of spiders we discovered. I opted to pay an extra $15 for late checkout (as late as 1 p.m. rather than 11 a.m.) from the cabin. Experience has shown me over the years that somehow, 11 a.m. hotel checkout has a magical way of almost always conflicting with an important photo opportunity...
Upon waking the next morning before sunrise, *another* southbound was cruising by, long before the sunlight would reach down into the canyon. Now I was getting worried, as almost a full day's worth of southbounds had already passed in the past 6 hours. But all I could do was try. I scouted a few different locations in the early morning until I knew the canyon shadows had sufficiently cleared at the Twin Bridges, and I hiked up on the ridge to wait. My dad had told me about an Oregon DOT highway traffic camera near the Celilo drawbridge on the Columbia River at the northern end of the Trunk, which I could check on my phone every few minutes. This effort felt a bit in vain considering the traffic camera would only update with a new image every 10-15 minutes, but it was something to pass the time at least... and then right about 9 a.m. I saw it - lumber loads on the camera! A southbound was on the way.
Because I am a bit psychotic, I had made a spreadsheet to estimate the running time for a train from Moody to the Twin Bridges using the milepost limits of speed restrictions, plus some estimated fudge factors for acceleration/deceleration. A train making track speed should take about 85 minutes, in theory. I watched with nervous anticipation as massive cloud shadows passed overhead every few minutes. All I could do was hope and pray.
Almost to the minute of my estimate, the roaring thunder of GEs suddenly filled the canyon, and the southbound Vancouver, Washington to Fresno, California manifest freight came into view. The menacing cloud shadows played nice, and I got *the shot* at 10:31 a.m. With a few minutes to hike down off the hill, and a 20 minute drive to the cabin... yeah, that extra 15 bucks was well worth it.