Hot - Rail 2009

[Trackside]

I wanted to share some pics of the annual Hot - Rail event I host each summer. This one by far had the most interesting weather with downpours not only in the mountains, but a few in the desert too with thunder and lightning. Still, we had lots of sun a decent number of trains and a lot of laughs.

1. First up for me was a eastbound Z train between switches at Scenic. MOW was working on the siding spreading new balast. You can see where the grade eases off to 1.7% from the 2.2% and why crews prefer to start a train at Scenic than Berne.




I followed the eastbound to Wenatchee stopping at Leavenworth for lunch. There must have been a bunch of slow orders because Todd and I caught up to the Z around Cashmere after our sit down lunch.

2. Here is the Z again at Rock Island after picking up a fresh crew. Right after this shot it began to rain.




3. I was so happy to see something besides a dash 9 or GEVO when the Spud local met the Z at West Trinidad and a little Cascade Green is great too. It was raining pretty hard when I got this shot and temps were well below the 100° predicted at a mere 80°.




4. Some of the group at Trinidad's horseshoe curve.




5. A friendly competition of rock throwing between trains.




6. Another downpour between locations. It sure cleaned the windshield well, but felt so out of order for the place and time of year.




7. I think Mike had better luck, but I only had 1 train in perfect sun around Trinidad. Here's a vehicle train we chased at West Trinidad climbing out of the Columbia River gorge on the 1.0% grade. Looks like its almost night time huh?




8. Finally some good sun up in the mountains! Hey I can shoot at under ISO 400 now! A eastbound Z at about the halfway point between switches at Berne.




9. At Sky I got in my airplane and took some birds eye views of the Skykomish Valley. So beautiful up here!




10. While I was up a eastbound empty grain train went by. Here the tail end of the train is crossing the Old Cascade Highway at Money Creek while the head end has just passed Miller River.



11. Looking down on the historic town of Skykomish which is really showing the after effect of being a railroad town and engine house. A multi-billion dollar clean up project is in its 3rd year. During this phase the historic Skykomish Hotel - built by the GN is being moved along with many other buildings so oil and heavy metals can be removed from the ground.

As you can see the Depot is gone (moved last fall) as well as the Sky River Inn which I think was torn down.




12. Last from me is Index with the polarizer. An admittedly awkward composition, but the scene looked so colorful through the lens that I wanted to capture as much as I could while not stepping on my colleagues who beat me to the scene.




I hope you guys enjoyed a peak and I look forward to seeing the pics from the others who came along.

[SDP45]

I managed to catch up with the guys for Friday only. I only saw one train all day.

It was a blast to see you all again.

My only photo for this thread is this one showing Steve, Todd, and Ross getting a unique shot.

[SDP45]

BTW, here is a link to my blog post about the rock ovens at Trinidad.

http://sdp45.blogspot.com/2008/07/gr...uincy-and.html

It includes the interview from the guy who helped build the line.

[nhrailfoamer]

Great shots Ross, looks like a great time was had by all.

[PNWhogger]

Looks like a great time, Ross. Wish I could have joined you.

[steveeshom]

This year's Hot Rail was certainly unlike years past. The traffic was slower on Friday than we've seen in previous years and for a change we had thunderstorms instead of the normal hot sun. In fact the forecast for Wenatchee on Saturday was 102 but the early morning storms and rain held that to just above 90.

Here's my train counts for the weekend:
Friday (arrived at 3:30pm) - 1 photographed, 2 more seen after dark
Saturday - 8 photographed
Sunday (left at 2pm) - 5 photographed, 3 passed in the dark over night

1. Saturday started early in the first few photos were done in a rainstorm. Now, rain in Wenatchee is not like rain elsewhere as you dried quickly. This is the V-TACLPC1 finishing its trip around the Trinidad loop.



2. The traffic on the Columbia River sub tapered off so we headed west of Wenatchee. We arrived just in time to catch the Z-SSECHC2 drifting down grade for a meet at Merritt.



3. After the meet at Merritt things quieted down a bit so we all headed our own directions to do some scouting and wait for one train each direction. In the mean time the thunderstorms kicked up and were rumbling pretty good as the Z-CHCSSE2 passed the Wenatchee river south of Plain.



4. Smokin' it up in the Cascades.



5. After a few more trains the last train for Saturday was Amtrak 8 crossing Nason Creek.



6. What's a railfan gathering without a railfan photo? On Sunday morning Ross is setting up for a west bound near Gaynor.



That's all for me. Thanks Ross for getting us all out on Stevens Pass again this year!

[martin burwash]

Hey Ross, the next time you're up on that little knoll where you took shot 8 between the switches at Berne, take a look up on that pole that is there. The day I carved my initials up there I they were just a little below my eye level. (I've never been there in the summer, but I think my carving is about 5'-6' above ground level.)

BTW..the cover shot on my blog was taken right there last winter during the tracks in the snow outing.

http://ramblingwest.blogspot.com/

Martin Burwash

[markgillings]

Originally Posted by Trackside

Sky River Inn which I think was torn down.

Great stuff, guys. Correct on the Sky River Inn. I stayed there for my very first job assignment on the Pacific Division Maintenance Gang in 1996.

[NPRS11]

Great shots guy's. Hey Ross that shot of the work at Sky was cool, I haven't been up that way in almost a year now, I do see the Taven looks OK.

MD

[Trackside]

Very nice Steve, I forgot you made it over to the Wenatchee River bridge at Plain. Looks like you got a lot of keepers too.

Originally Posted by martin burwash

Hey Ross, the next time you're up on that little knoll where you took shot 8 between the switches at Berne, take a look up on that pole that is there. The day I carved my initials up there I they were just a little below my eye level. (I've never been there in the summer, but I think my carving is about 5'-6' above ground level.)

BTW..the cover shot on my blog was taken right there last winter during the tracks in the snow outing.

http://ramblingwest.blogspot.com/

Martin Burwash

I'll have to look on the pole next time. That was a new location for me, and I found a quick way in. As I told the guys last weekend, I saw it on your blog and reviewed some cab video to find the spot. It's a perfect one allowing you to stand above the train on a S-curve and I really like how your shot shows the end of a waiting westbound.

Originally Posted by SDP45

My only photo for this thread is this one showing Steve, Todd, and Ross getting a unique shot.

LOL! We sure had a common vision for that location.

Originally Posted by markgillings

Great stuff, guys. Correct on the Sky River Inn. I stayed there for my very first job assignment on the Pacific Division Maintenance Gang in 1996.

I stayed there for the first time last January. I loved the location, but boy did it need a remodel! I look forward to the rebuilding and hopefully all the in-room signs don't return.