UP 6609

Desert Draw

 

566 miles. That was the plan for September the 8th—to make it to Wyoming. After shooting Amtrak 187 the previous evening and enjoying the sunset, the going consensus was that there would be nothing to shoot the following morning. Why not sleep in just a little? Of course, the railroad always has other plans. Shortly after getting up, there went an eastbound through Green River, Amtrak nowhere in sight and the sun already suspended in a cloudless sky. Thompson was the obvious place to shoot this one, but we weren’t even close to beating it there. We just managed to get ahead of it here at Cisco for a quick shot, aided by UP’s faulty track infrastructure. And that was it. Off it went into Ruby Canyon, joined by clouds that would cover the rest of its journey into Colorado. With no time in the schedule to wait for it once more, we called it a win and off we went.

 

There is a certain appeal to the desert, especially for a place that has so few trains. Beyond just its geography, the excitement of finding a train when you don’t expect one is the complete opposite of how most of the time is spent experiencing the hobby, at least for many of us, and more than anything, I appreciated the sit, wait and hope approach—almost as if it was my first time again, witnessing the hobby through the innocent and optimistic perspective I started with before I knew any better. It’s often the mystery and the unknown that first draws us to a certain place. Keeping places mysterious in our minds on purpose, or perhaps on accident, might be one of the best strategies to keep an otherwise monotonous and stagnant hobby interesting.

 

CLBWE9 04

September 8, 2024 - 8:49AM

Cisco, UT // UP Green River Sub

Done