Tracking West
The Flyer
The Fernley Flyer, as the name implies, is a local that takes cars to and from Fernley. The train originates out of Sparks, following the Truckee River to its namesake town.
On this day, I had randomly come across it while waiting for ZLTG2. Donner was slow that day, the MSPRV was already long gone, I had caught Amtrak 5, and there was no eastbound traffic until the middle of the afternoon. I then decided to ask a friend of mine what traffic around Portola was looking like for that day, there was literally nothing until midnight. In an attempt to not waste my time I decided to head east towards Reno. As mentioned, I would find myself waiting for the eastbound Z just outside Sparks at the Hafed Siding. However, the train was taking awhile to switch Sparks and I was getting hungry. I started to leave when something caught my eye as I was crossing the tracks, a local at some point had pulled into the siding. I knew then that the Z was almost done switching so I headed back and made my way down an access road to get a better look. Sure enough, there was the Fernley Flyer.
After sitting for around ten minutes, the signal finally changed to a green, so the Z would be arriving shortly. Knowing it wasn't likely that anything was following behind the stacks, I started looking around and noticed I could get a shot with the river, code line, and curve. I made my way up the side of a steep embankment next to the tracks, and a few minutes later the Z would race through. After the train cleared, it only took about a minute before the local would start pulling out of the siding. After getting the shot, I headed back to Truckee to get some food and try to catch two eastbound trains, Amtrak 6 and the MRVNP.
The Flyer
The Fernley Flyer, as the name implies, is a local that takes cars to and from Fernley. The train originates out of Sparks, following the Truckee River to its namesake town.
On this day, I had randomly come across it while waiting for ZLTG2. Donner was slow that day, the MSPRV was already long gone, I had caught Amtrak 5, and there was no eastbound traffic until the middle of the afternoon. I then decided to ask a friend of mine what traffic around Portola was looking like for that day, there was literally nothing until midnight. In an attempt to not waste my time I decided to head east towards Reno. As mentioned, I would find myself waiting for the eastbound Z just outside Sparks at the Hafed Siding. However, the train was taking awhile to switch Sparks and I was getting hungry. I started to leave when something caught my eye as I was crossing the tracks, a local at some point had pulled into the siding. I knew then that the Z was almost done switching so I headed back and made my way down an access road to get a better look. Sure enough, there was the Fernley Flyer.
After sitting for around ten minutes, the signal finally changed to a green, so the Z would be arriving shortly. Knowing it wasn't likely that anything was following behind the stacks, I started looking around and noticed I could get a shot with the river, code line, and curve. I made my way up the side of a steep embankment next to the tracks, and a few minutes later the Z would race through. After the train cleared, it only took about a minute before the local would start pulling out of the siding. After getting the shot, I headed back to Truckee to get some food and try to catch two eastbound trains, Amtrak 6 and the MRVNP.