Who's afraid of a little rain?

[funnelfan]

There seems to be all too many railfans that scurry away at the first sign of rain, particularly those California types who are used rainfall has to be measured with a electron microscope. We northwest railfans are quite a bit more hardy simply because we have to be. Of course there are those Seattle types that tend to melt if exposed to direct sunlight for longer than five minutes, but that is another story. But rain can offer a condition that is more rewarding than the sunniest of sunny days. That condition is when the cloud cover is light enough to give a even diffused light to the surroundings without sinking it into a murky darkness, and a light rain soaks into the scenery and subject, super-saturating the colors within.
We’ve had a few of those days here in the interior of the Pacific Northwest lately, and allowed me to capture some of UP’s operations on the northern end of the system. The only place where UP rails reach the Canadian Border at Eastport, ID. I followed a southbound Potash train. This would be the last southbound for a couple days due to a Derailment on the CP about 10 miles north of the border. 15 cars piled up around 8am in the morning. The Eastport Depot is hard to get any meaningful photos of due to all the clutter around it. But just north of the depot is the border marked by a simple CP sign announcing the need to switch radio channels. It was busy this morning with two northbound Grain Empties that need in before the Potash could go south. A new VACUS machine (think giant X-Ray machine) scans entire trains that operate south into the US.

[funnelfan]

It really didn't get down to raining until "Hole in the Wall". Bonners Ferry also had more the same elements.

[funnelfan]

The DS setup a Bonners Ferry three way meet between the southbound Potash, and two northbounds, one of which was a empty pipe train, the other was a local on it's way from Spokane to Eastport. My final two photos were of the Potash crossing the rarely photographed UP bridge across the Pend Oreille/Lake/River southwest of Sandpoint.

[kenw]

nice work, Ted. Rain can add a nice mood if done correctly.

[ahockley]

Very nice Ted... I like the shot with the one SD90 w/ empty centerbeams...

How's your GorgeRail presentation coming?

[Diamond D]

Nice shots Ted! Last summer I waited for an hour with Bruce Kelly on the opposite side of that bridge near Dover waiting for a southbound UP we heard on the scanner coming through. The bridge was lit up perfectly with great sunset lighting... then the clouds turned spectacular colors of pink and orange... then the crew went dead. lol. We hung around getting bit up by mosquitos until it finally came through in the dark, but I haven't gotten scanning in those slides yet.

[AmtrakFan]

Ted,
Great Photos. I personally love rain I especially love it when railfanning. Did the Spokane Internation ever have Passenger Service to CPR? Also how many trains run on it before and after this interchange business?

[hemiadda2d]

Rain sure made this shot a wet one to get, downpour, Tunnel 29, and an EB coal load:

[Coffee]

Railroading is a 24/7 business, rain or shine so I guess railfanning should be too. Nice shots everyone.

[ahockley]

I think this is the rainiest photo I've ever shot (and kept)... train S-BPATAC at Index, WA on 12/20/2003.