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The Tortures And Rewards Of The Oregon Trunk, Pt.1
This is part 1 of a 9 part photo essay.
I recently returned from my summer vacation, and this year, the focus was on Oregon. I visited a mix of new locations as well as familiar favorites, mostly oriented to landscape photography. In the middle of the week, however, I left an open day as I finished some explorations of the Central Cascades. Smith Rocks State Park was an obvious destination, offering a good camping area for the night and more interesting scenery. Moreover, I was a bit ashamed that I had driven past a wonderful spot so many times without stopping. My other options involved an all too rare train outing. The reason I had never been to Smith Rocks was all my previous visits had been oriented on railfanning the Oregon Trunk, a line that I so highly favored railfanning that it was only recently that the nearby and far busier Columbia River Gorge caught up to the OT in terms of time I had committed to photographing trains along them. Offering stunning scenery but few trains to enjoy in the setting, I had committed a couple days back in 2010 and found it well worth my while to visit and revisit. Controlled by track warrants at the time, it was quite easy to keep track of where the limited rail action was, and I found that at most times I was either in pursuit of a train or waiting for one I was aware of at least. Yes, getting shutout was a very real possibility, but I never had a complete bust day. If it was getting late in the afternoon and nothing was happening, it was easy to pop up to the gorge and catch a couple trains to salvage a day. I made several visits as years passed, but eventually change came, and BNSF installed CTC, which made keeping track of the trains a decent bit harder. Secondly, whenever I was in the area, traffic patterns seemed to be somewhat unfavorable, with a propensity for trains to follow one another, meaning an entire days worth of southbounds might pass in 15 busy minutes, leaving nothing for the rest of the day. So my visits dwindled and I focused more on the Columbia Gorge for trains or on Landscape photography. However, on this trip, I had an open day, and was in the area, so what to do?
Scott Lothes has written an article for Railfan & Railroad magazine about the Oregon Trunk, and just happened to mention it on Facebook and how sometimes it was torture to railfan that line. It sure could be, but his photos reminded me of a few angles that were on my list. Do I blow a vacation day on the OT? Well, I slow played it. Coming out of the Central Cascades, I grabbed lunch and picked up some supplies in Bend. No trains were hanging around town, so I headed north, thinking to go to Smith Rocks. First, I stopped at Deschutes to see if anything was lined through. Jackpot! A northbound manifest was tied down in the siding with no crew. This was not uncommon, as my memory of the line was that hardly would a train get through Bend without having to wait on a rested crew. I figured around 5pm they'd get a crew and get going. Hmmm...that might offer some great photography opportunities! Truth be told, I was tired from hiking, so I decided Smith Rocks would wait yet again, and I'd try my luck with the trains.
Checking the southbound signals, and Jackpot! A southbound was lined through! I figured this might be the Bend local. I drove northward with one eye glued to the tracks, and approaching Redmond, switching chatter was picked up on the scanner. Redmond is not a scenic spot, so I pulled into a gravel lot south of town, and a few minutes later, bagged the local headed to Bend, with a nice pair of geeps.
The Tortures And Rewards Of The Oregon Trunk, Pt.1
This is part 1 of a 9 part photo essay.
I recently returned from my summer vacation, and this year, the focus was on Oregon. I visited a mix of new locations as well as familiar favorites, mostly oriented to landscape photography. In the middle of the week, however, I left an open day as I finished some explorations of the Central Cascades. Smith Rocks State Park was an obvious destination, offering a good camping area for the night and more interesting scenery. Moreover, I was a bit ashamed that I had driven past a wonderful spot so many times without stopping. My other options involved an all too rare train outing. The reason I had never been to Smith Rocks was all my previous visits had been oriented on railfanning the Oregon Trunk, a line that I so highly favored railfanning that it was only recently that the nearby and far busier Columbia River Gorge caught up to the OT in terms of time I had committed to photographing trains along them. Offering stunning scenery but few trains to enjoy in the setting, I had committed a couple days back in 2010 and found it well worth my while to visit and revisit. Controlled by track warrants at the time, it was quite easy to keep track of where the limited rail action was, and I found that at most times I was either in pursuit of a train or waiting for one I was aware of at least. Yes, getting shutout was a very real possibility, but I never had a complete bust day. If it was getting late in the afternoon and nothing was happening, it was easy to pop up to the gorge and catch a couple trains to salvage a day. I made several visits as years passed, but eventually change came, and BNSF installed CTC, which made keeping track of the trains a decent bit harder. Secondly, whenever I was in the area, traffic patterns seemed to be somewhat unfavorable, with a propensity for trains to follow one another, meaning an entire days worth of southbounds might pass in 15 busy minutes, leaving nothing for the rest of the day. So my visits dwindled and I focused more on the Columbia Gorge for trains or on Landscape photography. However, on this trip, I had an open day, and was in the area, so what to do?
Scott Lothes has written an article for Railfan & Railroad magazine about the Oregon Trunk, and just happened to mention it on Facebook and how sometimes it was torture to railfan that line. It sure could be, but his photos reminded me of a few angles that were on my list. Do I blow a vacation day on the OT? Well, I slow played it. Coming out of the Central Cascades, I grabbed lunch and picked up some supplies in Bend. No trains were hanging around town, so I headed north, thinking to go to Smith Rocks. First, I stopped at Deschutes to see if anything was lined through. Jackpot! A northbound manifest was tied down in the siding with no crew. This was not uncommon, as my memory of the line was that hardly would a train get through Bend without having to wait on a rested crew. I figured around 5pm they'd get a crew and get going. Hmmm...that might offer some great photography opportunities! Truth be told, I was tired from hiking, so I decided Smith Rocks would wait yet again, and I'd try my luck with the trains.
Checking the southbound signals, and Jackpot! A southbound was lined through! I figured this might be the Bend local. I drove northward with one eye glued to the tracks, and approaching Redmond, switching chatter was picked up on the scanner. Redmond is not a scenic spot, so I pulled into a gravel lot south of town, and a few minutes later, bagged the local headed to Bend, with a nice pair of geeps.