Tracking West
Blue Hour Horse
I post this photo hours after taking it, I did not feel like waiting to post it.
It was 11:45 this morning when the BNSF's Stockton to Provo trackage rights left for Utah with an NS AC44C6M on point. I was sitting at home, not planning to do anything or go anywhere, but I realized that this train might make it to the snowline before dark. Getting screwed out of shooting the spreaders only a few days earlier when my car got hit, which happened the night before I was going to go up, I wanted any excuse to go to the snow. I decided to start at Roseville, where one of my friends would meet up with me. We would end up carpooling to chase the train. However, things were not looking so bright when the train left Roseville nearly three hours after departing Stockton, just after 2:30. On top of that, the dispatcher had sent it up Track 1, which would add on even more time. Thankfully, this was not a massive train, so it moved fast. The trackage rights reached Colfax just before 4 PM, and after I devoured a sandwich we headed to Casa Loma.
Casa Loma was looking nice, as the canyon reflected a light ray while the sun was rapidly setting. It didn't take long before the NS showed up, and I told myself it was the last shot, for a few minutes. Right before getting back to the highway exit, I decided that it might be worth going further. An attempt would be made to shoot it at Emigrant Gap.
In 2021, I had shot a grain train overlooking the valley below E Gap, and I wanted to reshoot it in the snow with blue light. However, I knew that this was risky, the access road was more than likely not plowed, and hiking up the hill is long and very steep. Since we had went to Casa Loma, we also would not have a whole lot of time. After getting to Emigrant, the two of us saw that the signals were on and there was a green, at that moment all I could think was that we were already here so I may as well try, even though I was convinced this would fail.
Parking at the bottom of the hill, I would lead the two of us up as fast as possible. I was trying to retrace my steps from four years ago, eventually attempting to go straight up the side of the hill. The photo doesn't really show that well just how steep the side is on the left, but while climbing it is very much possible, trying to climb on a time crunch is hard. However, there was a certain point where me nor my friend could find good footing to continue up the hill, with things like slippery rock and unstable brush covering an area in front of us. After a few minutes I was ready to call it quits when finally I found an area just good enough to get up, and raced uphill. It was just after this the sound of a horn could be heard blowing nearby. I raced the rest of the way up, trying to keep the wind from blowing my hat off my head. Finally, I had made it to the top, and only about ten seconds later the train would roll around the curve. Once it cleared, my friend made it to the top, as it turns out he had been struggling to get by the problematic area. Just then I also realized there was a far easier and faster way to get up the hill the whole time. Needless to say, I felt like an idiot that I tried to go up the hard way when there was a very obviously far less steep path we could have taken. It was now over though, so we headed back down to the car and traveled down the mountain.
Blue Hour Horse
I post this photo hours after taking it, I did not feel like waiting to post it.
It was 11:45 this morning when the BNSF's Stockton to Provo trackage rights left for Utah with an NS AC44C6M on point. I was sitting at home, not planning to do anything or go anywhere, but I realized that this train might make it to the snowline before dark. Getting screwed out of shooting the spreaders only a few days earlier when my car got hit, which happened the night before I was going to go up, I wanted any excuse to go to the snow. I decided to start at Roseville, where one of my friends would meet up with me. We would end up carpooling to chase the train. However, things were not looking so bright when the train left Roseville nearly three hours after departing Stockton, just after 2:30. On top of that, the dispatcher had sent it up Track 1, which would add on even more time. Thankfully, this was not a massive train, so it moved fast. The trackage rights reached Colfax just before 4 PM, and after I devoured a sandwich we headed to Casa Loma.
Casa Loma was looking nice, as the canyon reflected a light ray while the sun was rapidly setting. It didn't take long before the NS showed up, and I told myself it was the last shot, for a few minutes. Right before getting back to the highway exit, I decided that it might be worth going further. An attempt would be made to shoot it at Emigrant Gap.
In 2021, I had shot a grain train overlooking the valley below E Gap, and I wanted to reshoot it in the snow with blue light. However, I knew that this was risky, the access road was more than likely not plowed, and hiking up the hill is long and very steep. Since we had went to Casa Loma, we also would not have a whole lot of time. After getting to Emigrant, the two of us saw that the signals were on and there was a green, at that moment all I could think was that we were already here so I may as well try, even though I was convinced this would fail.
Parking at the bottom of the hill, I would lead the two of us up as fast as possible. I was trying to retrace my steps from four years ago, eventually attempting to go straight up the side of the hill. The photo doesn't really show that well just how steep the side is on the left, but while climbing it is very much possible, trying to climb on a time crunch is hard. However, there was a certain point where me nor my friend could find good footing to continue up the hill, with things like slippery rock and unstable brush covering an area in front of us. After a few minutes I was ready to call it quits when finally I found an area just good enough to get up, and raced uphill. It was just after this the sound of a horn could be heard blowing nearby. I raced the rest of the way up, trying to keep the wind from blowing my hat off my head. Finally, I had made it to the top, and only about ten seconds later the train would roll around the curve. Once it cleared, my friend made it to the top, as it turns out he had been struggling to get by the problematic area. Just then I also realized there was a far easier and faster way to get up the hill the whole time. Needless to say, I felt like an idiot that I tried to go up the hard way when there was a very obviously far less steep path we could have taken. It was now over though, so we headed back down to the car and traveled down the mountain.