At a series of stations throughout Southern California, Metrolink (Southern California Regional Rail Authority, SCAX), the southland’s local commuter rail provider, debuted their new cab and passenger cars. The new equipment, dubbed the “Guardian fleet,” is considered to be the safest in the nation…
Trains at Los Angeles Union Station in HDR: Part 2
Trains at Los Angeles Union Station in HDR: Part 1
To help alleviate our financial woe I have begun take on some web and design consulting work leaving me with less time than I would like to create postings for ChasingSteel.com, let alone go out the far reaches of the California to take photographs. Hopefully the new year will bring better opportunities!
Over the course of the past week I filled the small holes of opportunity during my daily commutes with post-processing some photos from Los Angeles Union Station…
BNSF and Others Threw Quite the Railroad Party
Lately I have been consulting for a couple of rail and historical web sites to include standing up new web presences for each entity and creating accompanying artwork. This effort has occupied all of my free time, as the lack recent posts can attest to. However, I made sure to clear my calendar for Saturday, November 13, 2010. In my calendar I created an entry to block out my time and labeled it simply “Cajon Day…”
Poster Art: Travelers
As I exited the tunnel from Track 3 at Los Angeles Union Station and joined the tide of humanity, the hundreds of recently freed commuters that were rushing to the find their exits, I felt the pressure and the urgency that seems to be part of the daily commuting process. Making my way through the main waiting area of the terminal I passed several lines of people that seemed to consist of business travelers, family vacationers, and many others seeking to be elsewhere…
Cajon Pass in HDR - Crossing Over Cajon Style
Cajon Pass in HDR - Sleepless Summit Sojourn Seeking Sunrise
BNSF Celebrates the 125th Anniversary of Railroad Service Over Cajon Pass
Rail service through the Cajon Pass is turning 125 years old on November 9, 2010 and the BNSF Railway and the San Bernardino History & RR Museum are throwing a party to commerate this historic occasion on Saturday, November 13, 2010, and you’re invited!
To get in the spirit of the event, I created the poster above as a salute to all of the men and women who persevered and conquered the pass by rail and to those who operate the trains and maintain the line today. I get a lot of enjoyment out of watching the trains struggle up and down the pass and try to visit it regularly…
An Idea Fueled With Passion Comes to Fruition in Stunning Fashion
Ah, rail-related daydreams, if you will, are part of the railfanning process I suspect. For me it was winning the lottery and buying the Loop Ranch, at the heart of the famed Tehachapi Loop near Keene, California, and opening a bed-and-breakfast for railfans from all over the world to enjoy. To date, that dream has not been realized. Perhaps it might, someday, if I play the lottery. (NOTE TO SELF: Buy a lottery ticket…)
BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: Provincial Supertramp
Drivers - Man, Water, and Fire
In the course of human achievements there have been many truly advancing inventions forged by talented and brilliant folks. Obviously computers, atomic fusion, and airplanes come to my mind immediately. However, one invention that had far-reaching ramifications, good and bad depending on one’s perspective, considering the time frame when it was first developed, the late 1700s, was the steam engine. This eventually morphed into a steam locomotive, among other implementations, and the future of discovery and settlement of America was cast…
PHOTOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT: Travis Dewitz
Although I have never met fellow railroad photographer and blogger, Travis Dewitz, I feel like I know him because we share the same passion - railroad photography. I have read his blog and reviewed his work for some time now and I have come away feeling inspired and astounded with his ability to capture the beauty and drama of railroads…
Remembering Steam and Martha
As I sat in the numerous hospital waiting rooms while Martha was battling time, I recalled all of the cool stories that Martha had shared with me about her love of trains and the numerous trips she had taken aboard them. Whenever I returned from a trip chasing steel Martha would ask if she could see my photos…
Martha's Sunset
My Dreams Came True
Recent circumstances and my health issues have given me cause to pause and reflect on my life, who I have become, and to “weed the garden” of me, so to speak. During this introspective endeavor I have learned a lot about myself and the choices I have made throughout the years. Like everyone, I suspect, not all of the choices were the right ones. There was the time… Oh, never mind, water under the bridge…
Convergence at Crookton
After leaving the Canyon Diablo bridge we meandered west along Interstate 40 towards Williams, Arizona. By this point it was late afternoon and the lighting was getting good. I was hoping to shot at a location we discovered during our last trip to this area in 2006. It is a cool spot near Williams that affords a semblance of solitude and the railroad track alignment offers some great curves to accentuate the struggle trains face climbing the Arizona Divide. We dubbed this area “Scary Bear Road” because the area was remote and certainly seemed like bear country to us. (We have “friendly names” for many of our railfanning locations to help differentiate them and make them easier to remember…)
I Finally Met the Devil
The date was August 11, 2010. I awoke earlier than Deb, as is the usual case because she likes to stargaze into the wee morning hours. I was feeling a bit anxious. I knew the day’s activities could be challenging based on all that I read and heard.
I let her sleep in as I made preparations for us to leave the Meteor Crater RV Park where we had stayed the night. We were there to witness the Perseid meteor shower and since we were in northern Arizona we concluded that there was no more appropriate place to see the meteor shower than at Meteor Crater, Arizona, some forty miles east of Flagstaff…
It's All About Character - The EMD SD40-2
The BNSF 4311 West Became Everyone's Bad Day
The radio crackled as an assertive and calm voice made a call for help, “Fort Worth Mechanical, this is BNSF forty-three eleven West.” (We later learned that the voice belonged to the BNSF engineer of a westbound manifest train. His name is Leonard.)
In short order the reply came in loud and clear, “Fort Worth Mechanical, go ahead BNSF forty-three eleven West.” (Fort Worth Mechanical is BNSF’s Mechanical Department which is based in Fort Worth, Texas and is a help-desk of sorts for the operating crews out on the rails.)
Leonard then proceeded to describe the predicament that he, his conductor, and their manifest train were in, some thirty-five miles west of the crew change point at Needles, California, “I keep getting a wheel-slip alarm on one of the units. If I go over 5 miles-per-hour then the alarm goes off.”
Puppy Update #2 (6 Months Old)
It has been six months since Beanie surprised us all by having two puppies which we named Chase and Steel. You can read about our experience with the birth and see photos of the puppies when they were just a few days old from this post: New Additions to the Chasing Steel Family!
Here are Chase and Steel today…