Tracking West
Searchlights, Spreaders, and Situations
Sometimes things just work out perfectly, and this day was a prime example of that for the most part. A week prior, one of my friends mentioned he was free on Monday and Tuesday, and so was I, having absolutely nothing to do on Tuesday. We decided that we were going to go somewhere to chase trains, not knowing where to go, I threw Donner out as an idea. I've been shooting Donner for years, my friend had only been as far as Applegate, so that became the plan.
Skip a few days later, NS 8098, the NS's Conrail heritage unit, was on H-VAWFRS. This train runs down the Feather River Canyon and BNSF's Gateway Subdivision, two lines I rarely have the time or patience to go to. We decided that if this was a daytime run we would go chase that train, as I've been wanting to get up there again. The problem is, trains are hard to find on both lines, but with an NS heritage unit on a train it would be easy to both locate and chase due to everyone and their dog trying to track its every move. In the late afternoon on Monday it passed Tionesta, and knowing it was unlikely that the train would tie down, that would put it to our area between 1-3 in the morning. I was right, and so I slept instead, because now we were going up Donner for sure and I preferred to get more sleep for the day ahead.
One thing I noticed when planning Tuesday was that the following days were going to be storms. I knew that Truckee only had a pair of GP38s and a flanger set up there, which meant UP was likely to send up something. However, the forecast changed, originally Wednesday the storm was starting, but it was weaker than expected and would start Thursday. I was unsure at this point if a flanger would head up while we were on the mountain, and was absolutely convinced that the spreaders would not go up. I still decided to reach out to a contact, he confirmed everything I thought, so I didn't think much of it. Nothing could have prepared me for just how wrong I was going to be.
After getting up to Donner around sunrise, I ran into a slight problem. My tire pressure light came on, and I wasn't sure why. I figured it was that the pressure had just gotten low, so I just needed to put some air in. I turned around near the summit to go to the gas station at Soda Springs, but there was no air pump. Since we were there, I decided to take the scenic route over the old highway. Coming over the summit, my friend and I were met with one of the craziest scenes I've seen in a long time. A stunning sunrise over Donner Lake lay in front of us, silhouette of the mountains surrounding all sides, clouds and the rising sun in the sky, and a layer of fog hovering over most of the lake and Truckee. We had to stop for photos as we went along, but not for long, as the westbound Z train was coming. I also still needed to put air in my tires, which I did in Truckee, and then we were good to go. After finding our first train, we had missed two of our shots before catching up, barely making it to downtown Truckee in time. After following it to the summit, we turned back for the next train, MSPRV, but we would miss that entirely. Oh well, the eastbound Z was headed up and a manifest followed behind them. After catching the Z at Norden, we set up east of Truckee. While waiting we had received some interesting news, the spreaders had a crew and were getting ready to head up.
Remember when I said I could not have been more wrong? This is what I meant, but we found out in an unexpected way. At first we didn't believe it, since the person telling us was not exactly a reliable source. He was being vague and really wouldn't provide any proof, so I wasn't really buying any of it. However, at the same time I did have a slight suspicion this guy might not be lying, but was actually giving us some legitimate information. Usually, the spreaders get sent to Truckee right before a major storm, and as far as I knew this storm was not supposed to be major. Since there was a storm though, I figured UP would send at least something up the mountain. After Amtrak 6 left Roseville, we got a text from a friend of ours who was down there, and who had proof, the spreaders were actually going up. Up until that point, we figured it was either completely untrue or a test fire up.
At the time, we were still waiting for the Z train just outside Truckee, so we made a plan. The original plan was to chase the Z to Reno, that was dropped. Instead, we would shoot the train since we were already waiting, go down the hill and intercept Amtrak 5 somewhere, maybe 6 if the situation allowed it, then go to Colfax and chase the spreaders back up. After getting our shot and getting back in the car, it was time to race downhill. Catching up to 5 at Yuba Gap, there was a shot I wanted to attempt at Blue Canyon. After getting there, we waited for a half hour, since Amtrak 5 had a slow order apparently. After that, it was straight to Colfax. Coming into town on I-80, I saw the spreaders running right alongside the freeway, but I needed gas before heading back up. After fueling up, the chase was on.
First up was Magra, an easy shot. Not far off the highway, safe bet, get visuals on the train, and the shot isn't the worst. 5 would show up, then only a couple minutes later the spreaders made their presence known. Next up was Gold Run, and a derailment from a couple months back made for a good shot. However, there was another guy waiting, and he claimed to have been there for an hour for his shot. As my friend was checking out the site, he made a very unfriendly remark to get out of the way. Keep in mind, we had not even noticed the guy until he said something, and my friend was not gonna let some random dude talk to him like that over a photo of a damn train, which in turn sparked a short argument. The guy backed down fast, realizing he was not going to win that fight. Another thing is this guy was far older than us, probably 60s or 70s, you would think he'd be a bit more mature. He then decided that climbing on active MOW equipment for his shot was a good idea, and yes we snapped photos and video of him on it. After that unpleasant situation, we headed to Casa Loma, where this same guy nearly crashed into my parked car in a dirt lot... he had all the room in the world by the way. Excuse my French but seriously what the fuck was up with this guy? After getting the shot we left that guy in the dust and raced inward to get another shot at Casa Loma, and made it with seconds to spare. Thankfully, we wouldn't see that obviously very kindhearted and social fella again. We decided that we would get the train at two more spots, Emigrant Gap and Andover. Andover was the priority, as an old signal bridge with searchlights still on it is there, and getting that with the spreaders would be sick. After getting there it would be awhile before they showed up, but we got it. Somehow, we would also make it to downtown Truckee for one last shot. After that it was time for some dinner.
If there's one thing to take away from this rant-like story, it's that if someone is in your shot just politely ask them to move. I get it the train is cool, but seriously it's a set of spreaders, nothing that crazy. Even then, that's quite the audacity to be rude then proceed to climb all over active maintenance equipment, he's lucky we decided not to report him.
Searchlights, Spreaders, and Situations
Sometimes things just work out perfectly, and this day was a prime example of that for the most part. A week prior, one of my friends mentioned he was free on Monday and Tuesday, and so was I, having absolutely nothing to do on Tuesday. We decided that we were going to go somewhere to chase trains, not knowing where to go, I threw Donner out as an idea. I've been shooting Donner for years, my friend had only been as far as Applegate, so that became the plan.
Skip a few days later, NS 8098, the NS's Conrail heritage unit, was on H-VAWFRS. This train runs down the Feather River Canyon and BNSF's Gateway Subdivision, two lines I rarely have the time or patience to go to. We decided that if this was a daytime run we would go chase that train, as I've been wanting to get up there again. The problem is, trains are hard to find on both lines, but with an NS heritage unit on a train it would be easy to both locate and chase due to everyone and their dog trying to track its every move. In the late afternoon on Monday it passed Tionesta, and knowing it was unlikely that the train would tie down, that would put it to our area between 1-3 in the morning. I was right, and so I slept instead, because now we were going up Donner for sure and I preferred to get more sleep for the day ahead.
One thing I noticed when planning Tuesday was that the following days were going to be storms. I knew that Truckee only had a pair of GP38s and a flanger set up there, which meant UP was likely to send up something. However, the forecast changed, originally Wednesday the storm was starting, but it was weaker than expected and would start Thursday. I was unsure at this point if a flanger would head up while we were on the mountain, and was absolutely convinced that the spreaders would not go up. I still decided to reach out to a contact, he confirmed everything I thought, so I didn't think much of it. Nothing could have prepared me for just how wrong I was going to be.
After getting up to Donner around sunrise, I ran into a slight problem. My tire pressure light came on, and I wasn't sure why. I figured it was that the pressure had just gotten low, so I just needed to put some air in. I turned around near the summit to go to the gas station at Soda Springs, but there was no air pump. Since we were there, I decided to take the scenic route over the old highway. Coming over the summit, my friend and I were met with one of the craziest scenes I've seen in a long time. A stunning sunrise over Donner Lake lay in front of us, silhouette of the mountains surrounding all sides, clouds and the rising sun in the sky, and a layer of fog hovering over most of the lake and Truckee. We had to stop for photos as we went along, but not for long, as the westbound Z train was coming. I also still needed to put air in my tires, which I did in Truckee, and then we were good to go. After finding our first train, we had missed two of our shots before catching up, barely making it to downtown Truckee in time. After following it to the summit, we turned back for the next train, MSPRV, but we would miss that entirely. Oh well, the eastbound Z was headed up and a manifest followed behind them. After catching the Z at Norden, we set up east of Truckee. While waiting we had received some interesting news, the spreaders had a crew and were getting ready to head up.
Remember when I said I could not have been more wrong? This is what I meant, but we found out in an unexpected way. At first we didn't believe it, since the person telling us was not exactly a reliable source. He was being vague and really wouldn't provide any proof, so I wasn't really buying any of it. However, at the same time I did have a slight suspicion this guy might not be lying, but was actually giving us some legitimate information. Usually, the spreaders get sent to Truckee right before a major storm, and as far as I knew this storm was not supposed to be major. Since there was a storm though, I figured UP would send at least something up the mountain. After Amtrak 6 left Roseville, we got a text from a friend of ours who was down there, and who had proof, the spreaders were actually going up. Up until that point, we figured it was either completely untrue or a test fire up.
At the time, we were still waiting for the Z train just outside Truckee, so we made a plan. The original plan was to chase the Z to Reno, that was dropped. Instead, we would shoot the train since we were already waiting, go down the hill and intercept Amtrak 5 somewhere, maybe 6 if the situation allowed it, then go to Colfax and chase the spreaders back up. After getting our shot and getting back in the car, it was time to race downhill. Catching up to 5 at Yuba Gap, there was a shot I wanted to attempt at Blue Canyon. After getting there, we waited for a half hour, since Amtrak 5 had a slow order apparently. After that, it was straight to Colfax. Coming into town on I-80, I saw the spreaders running right alongside the freeway, but I needed gas before heading back up. After fueling up, the chase was on.
First up was Magra, an easy shot. Not far off the highway, safe bet, get visuals on the train, and the shot isn't the worst. 5 would show up, then only a couple minutes later the spreaders made their presence known. Next up was Gold Run, and a derailment from a couple months back made for a good shot. However, there was another guy waiting, and he claimed to have been there for an hour for his shot. As my friend was checking out the site, he made a very unfriendly remark to get out of the way. Keep in mind, we had not even noticed the guy until he said something, and my friend was not gonna let some random dude talk to him like that over a photo of a damn train, which in turn sparked a short argument. The guy backed down fast, realizing he was not going to win that fight. Another thing is this guy was far older than us, probably 60s or 70s, you would think he'd be a bit more mature. He then decided that climbing on active MOW equipment for his shot was a good idea, and yes we snapped photos and video of him on it. After that unpleasant situation, we headed to Casa Loma, where this same guy nearly crashed into my parked car in a dirt lot... he had all the room in the world by the way. Excuse my French but seriously what the fuck was up with this guy? After getting the shot we left that guy in the dust and raced inward to get another shot at Casa Loma, and made it with seconds to spare. Thankfully, we wouldn't see that obviously very kindhearted and social fella again. We decided that we would get the train at two more spots, Emigrant Gap and Andover. Andover was the priority, as an old signal bridge with searchlights still on it is there, and getting that with the spreaders would be sick. After getting there it would be awhile before they showed up, but we got it. Somehow, we would also make it to downtown Truckee for one last shot. After that it was time for some dinner.
If there's one thing to take away from this rant-like story, it's that if someone is in your shot just politely ask them to move. I get it the train is cool, but seriously it's a set of spreaders, nothing that crazy. Even then, that's quite the audacity to be rude then proceed to climb all over active maintenance equipment, he's lucky we decided not to report him.