July 4th... Independence Day. We had been drinking a bit too late Wednesday night and I didn't roll out of bed until well after 0900, when I received a text from Seth that he had heard the horn of a westbound making their way through Byers. From the house, these distant horns give about six-seven minutes of warning for a train. So I scurried out of bed, and (half asleep) dumbly climbed one of their several display semaphores. This wouldn't be a problem if I believed in using camera straps, but I'm very much stuck in my ways, and had to climb the 6" wide ladder with one hand - not fun.

My incessant complaining aside, it was (you guessed it), another oil train. I wasn't nearly as happy with the head end shot, so here's the DPU shoving on the rear. This would be the highlight of the day as I'd later have to go to the town's 4th of July party and interact with a bunch of people I had never met before - just about the biggest nightmare for my socially anxious mind.

Thank god we have trains...

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Yes yes and yes. But GEs look way cool ass out anyway.

J772 and their ES44 look quite out of place as they trundle out of the rickety Airline Yard in Monon. Three hoppers for Medaryville is all that's needed for this evening's run. They will make an immediate left-hand turn down the spur you see to the right of the frame, close up the switches they had to open, and be on their way from there.

I for one love seeing something so heavy on such a dinky local. A very nice contrast from seeing them whiz by on high priority cross-country stack trains!

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My last few trips to eastern Colorado have found me fall in love with the High Plains. Ages ago, pioneers referred to this region as the Great American Desert, a more than apt way of describing this place. While it's not the Mojave or Death Valley, a Chicago suburbanite like myself can't go outside and stab myself walking into a wild yucca or cactus, and I've never had a need for separate day and night outfits ready for 30+ degree temperature differences over six hours.

Perhaps most notable are the fantastic storms that pop up most evenings. In Strasburg, about 35 miles east of Denver, I was close enough the the Rockies to keep the severe storms at bay, those to the east weren't so lucky. I could get used to being able to shoot under skies like this five times a week!

West of Byers, an abbreviated Sunday edition of the Union Pacific's Denver-Limon local is returning west to Denver under one such sky, with no cars back today. To my knowledge, this job runs twice weekly out to interchange with the Kyle Railroad, switching the - extremely - small amount of industry left along the Limon Sub on their way. I could go on about my disdain for lite power and invisible trains, but you can't go wrong with a very enthusiastic crew, SD40s and storm lighting caught by complete chance 1000 miles from home!

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I guess one could say I live under a rock most of the time when it comes to where I go to shoot. Well, hopefully this proves I'm trying to change that. If you saw my last shot, you'll remember that the first thing I'd see running on the WSOR was their 301. However, this is the first look I would get at the railroad period - a glorious 3 pack of SD40s - the purest of the pure of EMD lashups...

IIRC, this power would be later be stuck on Tuesday's T3 back to Horicon.

As previously stated, I'm hoping to get back up to these guys sometime next month. Hopefully I'll actually see a moving, non-yard job this time...

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Ah, Otis Hill. THE place to watch locomotives of all makes scream their guts out breaking out of the basin of Lake Michigan. The hill is also spectacular for its fall colors, and all of the scenery around it, regardless of when you venture out. Life is easy, especially here in Durham, IN. Just point the camera and shoot, let your surroundings do the rest.

In one such moment in Durham, we find NS 20K - midday stacks from 63rd Street bound for Croxton, NJ. Fall colors are now in full swing (the whole reason hours upon hours are spent around Otis by a select few folks every year) but still won't peak for another week from now, though. Two GE's are powering the train, but it's VERY hard to care in a location like this.

Tags:   autumn fall fallcolors orange trains scenic

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