2022 Archives - Page 7 of 8 - The Trackside Photographer

Posted on February 17, 2022February 24, 2022 by admin

Hi-Railing the Royal Gorge

Denver & Rio Grande Western train at Pueblo yard, 3/31/89

I had been traveling out to the Transportation Test Center near Pueblo for several years as part of my work with the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Research & Test Dept. The railroad activity around Pueblo fascinated me and I thought it would be interesting to see the Royal Gorge from track level. A friend on the D&RGW, Jim Ozment, offered to take me on a hi-rail trip up through the Gorge from Pueblo to Salida, Colorado. It was March 31, 1989 and it had really snowed the night before. Jim couldn’t get down from Denver, but the Roadmaster in Pueblo, Robert Valdez, was ready and waiting. We left the Pueblo yard shortly after it was light. It turned out to be an especially scenic ride because there was snow all the way up to Salida. No trains were scheduled in either direction that morning, so we had the railroad until lunch time. Robert patiently answered my questions about what his job entailed and how the railroad was maintained, and he explained some of the history of the line. But, for the most part, we just rode along looking for any trouble like fallen rocks or track defects. It was quiet and the snow made the incredible mountain scenery, track, and river even more stunning.

Posted on February 10, 2022February 17, 2022 by admin

Leaping Ahead to 1902

Not a sound on Friday, July 30th. Everything was ready.

An unprecedented event occurred on the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway on July 31^st – August 1^st. All, as in ALL of the remaining two-foot gauge locomotives in Maine were gathered together. Five in total, three in steam, for a photographer’s dream.

The following history was written by the WW&F Railway Museum and is used with permission.

The Historic WW&F Railway.

The Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway was one of fine common carrier two-foot gauge railway systems that served Maine during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The first two-footer was the Sandy River, opened in western Maine in 1879. The Wiscasset and Quebec (predecessor to the WW&F) was the last two-footer started, opening in 1895 between Wiscasset and Albion, Maine.

Posted on February 3, 2022February 10, 2022 by admin

Editor’s Notebook

Community

This past October, I had the privilege of spending a day of photography with my friend Andy Morang. That’s him in the the photo, bending over his camera bag by the tracks in Monroe, Louisiana. Andy wrote about our day out on his blog, Urban Decay. We reprinted his post here a couple of weeks ago and he now has part two up. (See Part One and Part Two.)

Posted on January 27, 2022February 10, 2022 by admin

Wreck on Tennessee Pass

First view of derailment area from CO Highway 24, November 27, 1994.

On the morning of Tuesday, November 22, 1994, a friend of mine who was the environmental manager at the Southern Pacific in Denver, Colorado, called me at my office at the Transportation Technology Center to say that there had been a derailment early that morning on Tennessee Pass. The air brakes on a train load of taconite pellets failed to function after cresting the top of the pass. Almost the entire train derailed on a 10 degree curve, he said, and that there were some injuries but fortunately no lives were lost. I wanted to see the aftermath but couldn’t get away until Sunday morning.

Posted on January 20, 2022January 27, 2022 by admin

Railroad Town:
Monroe, Louisiana

Kansas City Southern rail bridge over the Ouachita River, Monroe (Tri-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, green filter)

Formerly Fort Miro and now the seat of Ouachita Parish, Monroe is the “big city” of north central Louisiana. The family and I used to attend theater productions at the Monroe Civic Center and have flown out of MLU airport, but otherwise have not spent much time there.

A Virginia friend asked about someplace to explore, and I suggested Monroe. We drove there on a sunny warm day and headed to the Ouachita River at the historic city core.

Posted on January 13, 2022January 20, 2022 by admin

Railroad Heritage: Herndon, Virginia

Former Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Depot

If you were to visit the town of Herndon, Virginia today, you would think of it as any other town. It has a town center, houses, stores, and main streets. What very few people know is that this suburb of Washington D.C. has a deep-rooted history.

Who is Herndon named after? It is named after William Lewis Herndon, the commander of the S.S. Central America, a ship that sank in 1857 in a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean while in route from Panama to New York City. It is said that Commander Herndon saved his crew as he went down and perished with the ship.

It is named for a sea captain, but there is no navigable waterway in the town. How is it named for a sea captain? William Herndon and his wife were born in Virginia. He was born in Fredericksburg, and she was born in Culpeper.