ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN GE LEADS AN EASTBOUND FREIGHT CLIMBING UPGRADE OVER THE HIGH DESERT - NEAR PANTANO, ARIZONA - APRIL 29, 1989
Saint Louis Southwestern GE's are teamed with parent Southern Pacific GE's, to claw their way over the high level desert territory located east of the ghost town known as Pantano. This guy was flying east of Tucson and so was I, but I ended up sitting on the Interstate waiting for him here, as he had lost considerable speed.
But It gave me time to talk a bit with the late Mr. Doug Harrop, who I never really spent time with other than running into him at cool locations now and then. Wish I had spent more time with him somewhere, as he was great guy but we didn't ever really have enough time to talk. Here was no different, as the sound of GE's barking their way east soon filled the air. Perhaps the most fun memory of this encounter was that we were both talking about our wives, and wondering about them getting kicked out of their respective hotels, due to us being this far east. I thought I might be in trouble since mine was stuck back in Tucson, but then he told me his was back in Phoenix! I tried to explain, but I'm still not sure mine never understood that I really had no choice but to chase this train east.
You'd be hard pressed to shoot a UP train right here these days, as UP re-aligned the eastbound main and cut this section out of it. The track remains in place as a dead end siding, used for car storage sometimes. It will be interesting to see how long that lasts, as it's kind of really strange turning it into a dead end lead. IMHO, at least.
ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN GE LEADS AN EASTBOUND FREIGHT CLIMBING UPGRADE OVER THE HIGH DESERT - NEAR PANTANO, ARIZONA - APRIL 29, 1989
Saint Louis Southwestern GE's are teamed with parent Southern Pacific GE's, to claw their way over the high level desert territory located east of the ghost town known as Pantano. This guy was flying east of Tucson and so was I, but I ended up sitting on the Interstate waiting for him here, as he had lost considerable speed.
But It gave me time to talk a bit with the late Mr. Doug Harrop, who I never really spent time with other than running into him at cool locations now and then. Wish I had spent more time with him somewhere, as he was great guy but we didn't ever really have enough time to talk. Here was no different, as the sound of GE's barking their way east soon filled the air. Perhaps the most fun memory of this encounter was that we were both talking about our wives, and wondering about them getting kicked out of their respective hotels, due to us being this far east. I thought I might be in trouble since mine was stuck back in Tucson, but then he told me his was back in Phoenix! I tried to explain, but I'm still not sure mine never understood that I really had no choice but to chase this train east.
You'd be hard pressed to shoot a UP train right here these days, as UP re-aligned the eastbound main and cut this section out of it. The track remains in place as a dead end siding, used for car storage sometimes. It will be interesting to see how long that lasts, as it's kind of really strange turning it into a dead end lead. IMHO, at least.