I'm usually only up that way during the migration period, visiting the National Wildlife Refuges in the Sacramento Valley. The CFNR runs trains Monday, Wednesday and Friday with extras as needed all year long along the old SP West Valley (Old California Hwy 99W, now Interstate 5) line between Davis and Tehema, servicing the nut, rice and other ag businesses along the line.
New camera for trains. Sony RX10M4 with a range of 24-600mm. It also has a crazy accurate autofocus and can blaze away at 24fps, which I don't really need for trains, but it works really well for birds.
Only have a few so far. Of course a 1" sensor is not going to compete with a full frame, but the convenience of a small light camera versus pounds of gear has advantages some times. The focus really locks on though, as you can see with the duck shot in the rain below. Colusa NWR right along the CFNR line.
Thanks Brad! Just got back from a few days up in the Klamath Basin. It wasn't a railfanning trip, but I managed to sneak one in as this mixed freight rumbled by just as I was pulling onto the highway from a rest area. It looks like noise in the photo, but it was raining pretty steadily. This line is the old SP line between Dunsmuir and Klamath Falls
The tracks in the foreground are the old Southern Pacific Mococo line that ran from Port Costa to Tracy and the even older Sacramento Northern. The San Joaquin Daylight used to run right by here, and the SN used to have a ferry that docked a few miles to the east ( photo right) for crossing the Suisun Bay between West Pittsburg (no H on the California city) and Chips Island. Today the UP runs locals as far as Antioch out of Ozal yard in Martinez on the middle track. The Santa Fe San Francisco Chief used to run on the BNSF mainline that the vehicle train is on.
Same train, 2 different places. I wasn't actually chasing it, but it happened to be going in the same direction as I was on my way home from the Merced NWR in the central valley. Shot with the RX10
RailroadForums.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com