After the shoot at CP Chalendar, I grew concerned, not so much about the distance we needed to travel today, but rather the uncertain condition of the roads and the general accessibility of the area that laid ahead in our travels along BNSF’s Seligman Subdivision. According to my original plans we were due to spend the day shooting the area around Eagle Nest and Double A. Since we were not even near Double A yet, I felt tense because that meant something must give in our schedule. I preferred it to be those areas we had visited before so we headed west on I-40 towards Williams, Arizona to try to get back on schedule…
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…)