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Ongoing resignaling work in South Wales calls for some deep excavations at Cardiff Central , passing by is First Great Western 43005 one end of the 1L55 Swansea - London Paddington.
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If you've followed my photostream for a while you may have noticed there isn't much steam on here. Thanks to the antics that surround mainline excursions I swore them off about 20 years ago. I have a list of reasons to pass on them about as long as my arm. I knew the Big Boy revival would be the hot topic this year and didn't make any plans around it. I was content to follow the action through the impressive imagery by those I follow here on Flickr.
When the 4014 got closer to the Twin Cities I started comparing the schedule of the train to my own. I would be in the same city on the same day as the Big Boy at least twice. With billions of pixels burned on the 4014 this summer I had doubts about the need for me take pictures of the trip. A bigger consideration was simply seeing this beast in action with my own eyes. Last Friday the 4014 headed for Duluth but oppressive heat and poor sun angles dissuaded me from being there.
Monday had a very nice forecast and I brought the camera along to work with plans to nab them coming through Northeast Minneapolis on their way back from Duluth. I tracked the progress of the excursion through the day. There is frequent bus service out of downtown so I planned to duck out when they got close to the Junction at Coon Creek and intercept them for a quick photo. I also kept an eye on ATCS for an indication of the line-up and reroute for the extra when I reached the Staples Sub.
It looked like they made excellent time out of Superior and each time they stopped I hoped for a little more delay for a little better afternoon light. Maybe I got lulled by all the updates, I watched them close in on Coon Creek, still no lineup onto the Staples. Hmmm, they aren't stopped, a couple minutes later and a check of the live map on UPRR, they were on the Staples already, oh no! I bolted out the door and caught the next bus, a very crowded and very slowwww bus. Well I got to my spot but missed the 4014 by just a couple minutes. I cut it too close and could do nothing but catch a bus back to the office (almost empty and twice as fast of course).
Frustrated, I now had a quandry, do I give up on seeing the Big Boy or do I make one more try at it since it was still in St. Paul for the night? The forecast for Tuesday was just as nice and if I altered my commute a bit I could be there to see the departure on my way into work. This alternate route put me on the always exciting I-94 where my car sustained a healthy rock chip crater to my windshield. This casual visit with the Big Boy was not proving to be easy. The bus deposited me right on time near the foot of the Kellogg Blvd bridge. There was a handful of folks waiting on the bridge (much larger crowds along a fence closer to the train). The train started the trip right on the advertised at 8 a.m. but stopped to fuel up before departing the depot. Within a half hour the fueling was done and 4014 had resumed the trip to Altoona.
Watching the 4-8-8-4 swing out of the depot and climb the hill was very impressive and I'm glad I was there to see it at work. Now I'll go back to watching its progress near and far through the lenses of others. A short walk from this spot put me on a light rail train in front of Union Depot for the rest of my trip to work.
The careful negotiation of this curve meant plenty of time for a few photo angles and the opportunity to take in the powerful sounds of this gargantuan of the rails. July 23, 2019.
I love to do it! I wonder why? I like to think it's an archaic cultural connection with my Irish/English/German great-greatgrandparents. . . .
Intentional toning and frame via Aviary.
Oh, how I want to go back to Monterey!
Completely unedited (as should be obvious). Just wanted to share :)
Marine Pfc. Michael Richardson, a heavy equipment operator with Engineer Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 2, Regional Command (Southwest), operates a 850JR John Deere Dozer at Camp Dwyer, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Aug. 7, 2013. Richardson collected dirt to assist in area improvements at the Camp. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Anthony L. Ortiz / Released)
For years the DMIR #400 has escaped my glass in good light and leading, but I finally shot the class unit of the Missabe SD40-3's as #400 and sister #406 lug tac empties back to U-Tac for loading.
The wind blew peacefully through the trees. Birds chirped, squirrels chattered, and the sound of leaves falling could be heard in the thick, beautiful forest of southern Lenfald. Bits of red and orange were beginning to appear in the treetops. The forest was changing, green was giving way to red.
Sir Glennian reflected on this as he and his companions treaded, almost silently, on the old forest road. So many things had happened recently, the once peaceful land of Roawia was now aching with the pains of conflict and turmoil, and the only plausible outcome seemed to be war. Loreos, only few miles walk southward, was now threatening invasion. Green did indeed seem to be giving way to red.
Sounds of people now reached Sir Glennian’s ears, and he saw they had almost reached their destination. As he came around a bend in the path, he saw it, not a hundred yards ahead of him. A deep hole had been dug in the center of the path, nearly fifteen feet deep, and men could be seen swarming around it.
“Foreman!” Sir Glennian shouted.
All the workers turned and noticed their visitors, and a stout man in a green cloak turned to greet them. He had a thick, curly, brown beard covering his smiling face, which was topped with thick, curly, brown hair.
“Ah, you are here at last!” He greeted them. “We have made much progress on the work. As you can see, the hole is over a dozen feet deep. Just an hour ago the blacksmith arrived with the spikes that will be stuck in the bottom. Then we will cover it with branches spread over with dirt, and the next Loreesi scum who comes through here-”
He broke off with a large wave of his hand, indicating the destruction the Loreesi would face.
Glennian nodded. “Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
He looked forlornly down the path. Somewhere in that direction was a great desert…one in which war was brewing, a war that, he feared, Lenfald could never be completely ready for.
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Well, I was going to enter this into the last Lenfald LC, but I obviously didn’t finish it in time. Congrats to Gary and Paul on the wins! ;)
Soli Deo Gloria! :)
Digging Out on Highway 2: A Winter Memory
Thirty-three years ago, today. I found myself in an inconvenient situation along Washington State Highway 2, positioned between Hartline and Coulee City. While attempting a U-turn that proved to be ill-advised, my truck became stuck in the deep winter conditions.
Fortunately, assistance was nearby. The section Foreman and the Plow Engineer came to my aid, working together to dig my truck out and get me back on the road.
State Highway 2, Washington
January 12, 1993
©️ 2026 Michael Douglas Sawyer | Photography
All Rights Reserved
E-P5 / Olympus 60mm 2.8 / Raynox DCR-250
Messing around with a new technique, doing combined natural light and flash focus stack of unknown parasitoid wasp. Was observed taking massive beetles much larger than itself from a tree in a controlled fall and dragging them into a burrow in muddy soil next to mangroves, norman creek brisbane.
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa) feeding before last light on the Pacific (California)
[Adjustments: standard raw file edits, light vignette]
Southern Crested Caracara
Scientific name: Caracara plancus (Miller, 1777)
Portuguese: Carcará, caracará, carancho, caracaraí (Ilha do Marajó),gavião-de-queimada e gavião-calçudo
This big, long-legged hawk is easily identified in flight by its large head and white patches at the ends of its rounded wings.
View all my photos here: www.fluidr.com/photos/hmancuso
© All rights reserved
A juvenile just beginning to show his adult plumage
green woodpecker ~ picus viridis
(uncropped and taken through a window)
When you drive on Highway 50 through southern Nevada, there is just NOTHING there! For hours and hours, there are endless barbed wire fences on both sides, no cattle that I ever saw, no cross roads, no towns ... nothing but the road in front of you with an occasional car or truck zooming along at 75 mph.
I really wanted to pull over and walk around in this landscape for half an hour at least and get a little taste of it, but as strange as it may sound - with all this open space - there was no easy way to pull over. Beside the road the dirt slanted downwards and you wouldn't want to get caught on a precarious rock or in a hole, especially with the occasional big 18-wheeler truck whizzing by. There were dirt roads here and there ... but they seemed to be private ranch roads and I felt like I might get shot for trespassing if I tried to walk my dog there! So I ended up being trapped between two endless lines of barbed wire fence with no option but to keep driving.
Until we finally hit a "rest stop," which really was simply an extra little paved area, nothing more. Blanca finally could get out on leash at least and explore. She quickly found something exciting as there were mysterious holes in the ground everywhere! Something, or someone, lived down there and she was going to dig them out! I let her dig for a while but did not really know what was down there, so eventually broke it off. I still don't know who was down there!