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These photos are for the Omaha Posse and everyone else who is enduring the polar vortex that has reached parts of North America.
Tuesday afternoon (1-29-19) I took advantage of another sunny day by dragging my son down to Brackett's Landing North for shots of birds and trains.
I am exploiting his newly developed photographic skills by letting him take wide angle photos while I take the Itsed65 super telephoto shots.
Looking across Brown's Bay at a southbound (tt/west) garbage train.
Passing Brackett's Landing North and MP 18 below Sunset Ave.
The garbage empty was fairly short. I told my son to back off on the zoom so he could get the entire train with Mt. Baker in the background.
Next up was a southbound (tt/west) freight.
The lady in the foreground on the right wearing the black jacket and stocking hat is the wife of a friend of mine. She and her husband take daily walks along the waterfront and marsh. She had walked up the beach looking for banded Brant, a marine, migratory goose that is starting to gather in the water along the waterfront before flying up to its breeding grounds in the Artic this spring. Her husband remained behind to talk with me.
Cover your ears! Directional crossing gate horns are supposed to be installed sometime this year to eliminate loud train horns blowing for the Main and Dayton St. crossings.
The blue water and sand seem so nice. The first shot of 4056 starting around the curve is my favorite.
Your water looks so soft. I don't think it would support an ice fishing hut at all.
Monday (2-4-19) afternoon the Omaha Posse would have right at home at MP 18. It had snowed the night before and temps stayed in the low 20's all day with no sunshine. The wind was rocking my pickup and created a windchill that did not see me spending more time outside than was necessary to take the photos.
I heard on the radio that northend Sounders were running late due to the wind. The morning Vancouver, BC-Seattle was running about three hours late and was stopped at MP 18 when I pulled up.
As soon as I stopped the pickup it got the green and I jumped out long enough to take these shots.
It has been a very unusual week. The snow was followed by cold temps, so much of it is still on the ground. Tall fir trees shade many roads from the low winter sun and keep the snow from melting. Sometimes I have to shift my pickup into 4WD just to get through a short stretch of road that is shaded, then switch back into 2WD when I am through it and back into the sunshine and bare road.
More snow is predicted for Friday, which may end up canceling son's Special Olympics basketball tournament. Due to the hills and paucity of snow removal equipment, the Puget Sound Region pretty much shuts down after a snow storm. I lived in the Chicago area for four years. With the relative flat terrain and an army of snow plows, snow was seldom a problem for long back there.
I don't want to get into a debate on global warming, but my first winter here, the winter of 1991-92, was the first winter on record with no recorded snowfall in the Seattle area. Since then, snowless winters have become the rule rather than the exception.
Haven't heard anything this week, although I know they moved them up to Colfax during the last storm. It was really bad up there last weekend so I wouldn't be surprised.
Snowmagedon has been forecast for the Puget Sound Region this weekend. There were scattered flakes as the southbound (tt/west) Goldbar Turn met a Canada bound coal train Friday (2-8-19) Friday afternoon. A few minutes later it started snowing like crazy and has not stopped since.
I'm getting to like the matched sets of BNSF geeps. While is nice to see the hodgepodge of locos we have around Omaha sometimes it's just nice to sets. Our snow is supposed to start tomorrow and run about 3 days, but the forecasts have not been very accurate this year. If they say 1" we get 6". Just depends on which "computer model" they use. Thanks for the views Bill.
The Geeps and SD60M's are a nice break from the endless sets of high horsepower GE's and EMD's that pull the mainline freights.
I am driving my wife to work as my Tacoma has 4WD and her Avalon does not. After I drop her off I'll swing by the usual locations for photos. The snow is not going to melt anytime soon, even down by the Sound.
Snow and cold continues in the Puget Sound region. I took my wife to work again Sunday (2-10-19). I told her that was far less incovenient for me than to call for a tow truck if she slid off the road in the Avalon.
After dropping her off at work, my son and I drove down to Sunset Ave. hoping to get some rare trains + snow photos before the next big storm hits.
A southbound (tt/west) freight was pulling out just as we pulled up.
The trailing unit was CN 3164, the cleanest unit I have ever seen, especially considering the weather.
Maybe one of our friends north of the border can explain the meaning of this sticker.
No strong winds like the previous two days, but still chilly.
The first few flats held containers, the rest of the train was bare tables. Hard to figure car movements as a bare tables train passed northbound (tt/east) a few days earlier. I usually crop out Sunset Ave., but I wanted to give everyone a feel for the weather conditions. My Tacoma as not been out of 4WD all weekend.
Next up was a northbound (tt/east) manifest.
Finally what I was waiting for, a passenger train for a snow shot. In this case it was the morning Vancouver, BC-Seattle Cascades.
Forecast is for a light storm (4" tonight), then the BIG ONE (10") Monday night. Low temps and overcast is keeping snow on the ground between storms.
Looks exactly like what I just shoveled this morning. Not easy for us to get passenger trains in the snow either. More snow tomorrow too. Some where between none and 85" conservatively.
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