View allAll Photos Tagged Searchlight
The FWWR Cresson Turn passes through a pair of deactivated former ATSF Searchlight signals in Primrose, TX (7/23/23).
As the earlier overcast cloud continued to disperse from the West, the sun's radiance was diffused behind a passing cloud - resulting in this 'Searchlight' effect - sending many light beams skyward as well as producing his vivid silhouette.
NS 223 passes the Wabash era searchlights at CP Wentzville with the Erie SD70ACe leading at brisk pace on a chilly winter morning.
Last night we went for a walk on Gwennap Head, somewhere we normally go at least once a week but haven't been there during August as the narrow access road down to the cove is just too busy with traffic. We got to Porthgwarra only to find that new parking ticket machines have been installed and it would now cost £6 to go for a decent walk on the cliffs. Paying our money we got up onto Gwennap Head about 20 minutes before sunset, by which time the light was fading and the sun was dissappearing into a thick cloudbank to the west. Never mind, I had brought all my camera gear for night photography and the south-western direction of the Milky Way was looking clear. As darkness rapidly closed in, so did the cloud unfortunately and I had to give up after waiting for a couple of hours. I quite liked the post blue-hour colours of this one and I still love being out at night even though most of the time my astrophotography is a complete failure.
MRL's night gas sits at the classic signals on the outskirts of Plains, Montana on a beautiful western evening. After making good time out of Missoula, the crew is waiting an EB BNSF train before proceeding west. Big sky is more than just a slogan, and MRL's 10th and 4th subs are some of the most beautiful railroading I've ever had the opportunity to photograph.
Searchlight signals still guard portions of the UP mainline on the Laramie Sub, at Hermosa, WY, on March 27, 2021.
NS D49 crossing over Crandall Jct on the former NKP in Morton, IL. This is where the TPW Morton Branch & the NS Bloomington District to Peoria cross. Searchlights galore here at this diamond!
Q243 pulls out of Walbridge Yard and heads east down the former C&O toward Fostoria.
The signals here at Turnpike are a bit of an oddity. Mounted on a traditional C&O cantilever, the searchlight signals are required because of the proximity of the Ohio Turnpike overpass, which is behind us.
UP 5786 brings MGRRV through Williams Loop at the North end of the Feather River Canyon as they split a set of searchlights.
The daily Alyth to Coquitlam manifest train 401 rumbles past the searchlight marking Exshaw West during an evening in June 2022
UP ZLAME-15 passes the old Southern Pacific signals guarding the east end of Shawmut siding. While these old signals have vanished from much of the Sunset Route, there is still a cluster of them standing between here and Gila Bend to the west. In this desolate part of the Sonoran Desert, one can see signals for several blocks down the right of way in certain places. The westbound signal here is turned slightly away from the tracks to provide extra visibility on the long, sweeping curve immediately east of the siding.
Sony A7R : Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-63 OS
Something you don't really see with the naked eye. The Sony managed to create an exposure that captured detail in a very, very bright area.
While driving back toward my hotel, I stopped to grab a photo of a pair of searchlights. Although not as sought after as the semaphores on the Raton Sub as they're much more common, they're still sick and my favorite signal type.
A local shoves past Winston Wye and under the old Searchlight signals that still stand guard over this short stretch of track. While the sun is almost fully out behind me, storm clouds line the horizon facing east.
66418 passes Searchlight Lane whilst working the 1254 Southampton MCT - Trafford Park Freightliner, 16 May 2016
Keolis Rail Train is seen blasting east on the B&A by the automatic 10 searchlight signals in Newton, MA. These searchlights and all other automatics will be coming down in the near future, as Keolis is in the process of converting the 261 territory east of Framingham into 562 territory.
If you love searchlights, look no further than the Western Pacific. Like most railroads in the mid-to-late 20th century, it purchased hundreds of searchlights from Union Switch and Signal (US&S). What sets the WP (now UP) network apart from most? Many of the signals it installed back in the 40's and 50's can still be found, working just as well as they did then. The UP Sacramento Subdivision, stretching from Stockton to Oroville, remains a strong holdout for these signals. The Canyon Subdivision, otherwise known as the "Feather River Canyon," also remains a holdout, but to a smaller degree. Between Keddie and the areas around Doyle, you can find searchlights everywhere you look. West of Keddie, however, only two locations remain with searchlights: Paxton and Belden. The location in question is Paxton, specifically the east end of the siding.
UP GMIPGH (Superior, Wisconsin - Goshen, California) with CN 8864 on point is approaching at a mere 5 miles per hour, presumably due to MOW work in the area. CN C44-9WL #2500 is second out, with two ex-SP AC44's following behind. Two units serve as mid-train DPUs: CN 2302 and UP 6577. Something of note is the train makeup. It is combined, grain and manifest. I can only assume the manifest cut was added at North Platte, Nebraska. I assume the cut was overflow from another train, as it wasn't large by any means.
My journey began at school, not long after I was released for the day. I got out around 12:40 PM and headed home to get ready. A good friend of mine was waiting outside, and hopped in my truck once I was ready to head out. Our first location of the day was Keddie, specifically the wye, where the WP's "Highline," now used by BNSF, meets the UP. That image is on my photostream for those interested. After Paxton, we would chase the train further down the canyon to Oroville, where the sun dipped below the horizon.
As Chirstmas Eve rolls around the bend, CP treats railfans to CP 7010 leading CP 234. A late CP 119 is lined on the North track, displaying a clear to medium indication.
With UP's Sunset Route double-tracking project in full swing, little remains of the SP searchlights that were all over the Yuma Sub when it was still a single-track railroad. The most substantial section left is between Thermal and Mortmar, which includes two passing sidings. The highlight of this stretch is the cantilever at the west end of Mecca siding, seen here with eastbound repo autorack train AMLNGR passing underneath.
Sony A7R : Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-63 OS
Challenging; the searchlight, painted a drab army green, was set up in an area with minimal ambient light, and was set to rotate slowly. Without a tripod, which really wouldn't have helped very much, I opened the lens wide and shot a few frames at 1/20th second. It says something for the lens's OS that something reasonable was achieved.
Metro-North GP35R 102 with Michels Corporation trench digging equipment in tow, runs on the seldom-used east leg of the Devon wye at CP-500 in Milford. This equipment was used to lay underground cables on the Waterbury Branch and is headed back to New Haven yard, where the equipment will be returned to their proper owners. Starting in April, the branch was shut down for trackwork, the installation of signals, and PTC (Positive Train Control). Passenger trains resumed regular service on October 26th.
As the sunset through the clouds over Tie siding, a little west of cheyenne, WY, the searchlights illuminated to show their faded colors against the dark.
With lighting being anything but cooperative for the entire chase, the last shot of the day made it all worth it.
The way this gypsum ended up on the West Valley was odd. The inbound loads had arrived very early Sunday morning, and was a last minute reroute. Originally, this train was supposed to go to the West Side Line out of Tracy, but at the last second for some reason it was rerouted to the West Valley, destined for Artois. Keep in mind, the two lines serve different customers, and not even my friend who was on the train knew what was going on with that. Although this train was around 140 cars, unloading it took very little time. It was almost fully unloaded in under 48 hours, but the crew unloading it ran out of hours with just six cars left to unload. On the day the train departed, the outbound crew would have to spend an hour getting the last of the cars unloaded.
The crew got on duty in Woodland at 04:30, then were driven up two hours to their train. The customer's crew in charge of unloading the remaining cars was supposed to arrive around the same time, however, a miscommunication had that crew showing up at 09:00. Once it hit 10, everything had been unloaded and the crew of the southbound backed their cut to the rest of the train. Due to the fact they still had to do an air test, the entire train would be pulled up to a spot where no crossings would be blocked. At 10:50, they departed south to hand it off to UP.
Although the crew was wasting no time getting the empties back to UP, the crew did run into a few delays. Just south of Willows, they would stop to flag a disabled crossing for County Road 57. Around twenty miles south of that at Maxwell, a speed restriction to 10 MPH was in place, not sure for what though. Only a couple miles later, the train would have to stop again at Cortena as the Cortena Job was setting out and picking up cars in the siding, using both tracks. After finishing up, the gypsum would move up to the south end of the siding, stopping for awhile. After that, the train would stop one more time in Davis.
When they got to Davis, two Capital Corridors would be lined before them on the UP. Since this train would be blocking almost every major route to get across town, and it was rush hour, they would be held at the furthest north crossing, 8th Street, before being able to move again. The UP crew was already waiting at the station, so once both Corridors had cleared they would walk over to the top of the wye. By the time the train reached 3rd Street, where the crew change happened, it was greens all the way into Sacramento for the gypsum. Swapping crews only took a couple minutes, with UP's crew getting the train out of there seemingly as soon as they sat down.
Of course since I was in Davis I had to shoot the train under the signal bridge. UP's Martinez Subdivision, which is the mainline through Davis, is almost entirely newer signals. While most of the signals are of course the modern Safetrans you see everywhere, some are older styles installed shortly after the SP's demise. Today, Davis is an oddball, still holding onto SP era searchlights. While I'm not sure what has kept these signals here for so long, it appears that for now the searchlights are not going anywhere. Hopefully, it stays that way for many years to come.
Hope you all have an amazing Christmas.