Deep in 'Gator' land a Prairie dog slumbers

[mickoo]

Part Deux,

Second part of todays walkabout was local industries, so starting off with a couple of shots of a scrap yard.




Followed by some empty sidings






And finally ending up back at the place yesterday




More wagon detail shots in part three, but onward to some sidnings not yet explored north east of taft


Ah ha, this looks promising, time to decamp and blast away with the camera


And from the other end


And a view down the side showing loading/discharging hoses

 

[mickoo]

Part Trois

For you modellers out there LOL, took over 270 photos today but here's a sample of cars and detail shots.

In Taft yard






Box car draft detail
Hopper cars




Details






And finally, no idea what this is, but it's permanently coupled to hoses and hasn't by the look of the wheels moved in a good few years, luckily there's a cross over to the left so stock can get in behind it for unloading.

Hopefully next weekend there will be some more stock kicking around to photo .

 

[mickoo]

Part Quatre

For all you truck fans, super smart rig outside the breakfast bar


A CSX 53' trailer/container combo


Just a standard semi parked up for loading, looks like a 55' or bigger trailer.


Will try and bag some more during the week as there's some real nice rigs out here.

Just as a note, some of the pictures are not as good as I'd like, two reasons, a laptop whose screen resolution and contrast/ colour is questionable LOL and severe bandwidth restrictions in the villa hence severe image compression for uploading, so apologies for some images being a little grainy or odd coloured and suffering from artifacts etc. Later post should be better than earlier ones as I've managed to cram on to the creaking laptop the Canon RAW phototool rather than using poorer 3rd party image tools.

Whence I return to blighty I'll add the car and loco photo shoots to my dropbox if anyone is interested and of course a massive upload to my Flickr site for larger resolution and detailed shots.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

The Great Central could have been a good freight route too with I believe much more generous loading gauges than the norm for the UK

As I understand the Great Central was built to UIC loading gauge and specially graded for fast running.

Good pictures Mick. US locos are big and it comes across in the photos. Some nice detail shots as well. I'll have to get cracking with my BC Rail stuff.

 

[Steve Cook]

Thanks for posting all the photos Mick, really enjoying your mini series

Nothing to do with 'gators what so ever, but a shot from the Denver this year. This one shot was the sum total of my railfanning



Steve

 

[mickoo]

Thanks for posting all the photos Mick, really enjoying your mini series

Nothing to do with 'gators what so ever, but a shot from the Denver this year. This one shot was the sum total of my railfanning

View attachment 20331

Steve

Steve, ohh dear, not so good, well the photo is, not one but three UP aint bad, now me....if that's public land in front...and it usually is from what I've seen, would have been across there and blown 1-200 detail shots.

Dave, BCR, only if it's the 50Kv section, always liked those juice jacks, mind their older coloured green Alcos were pretty smart in my books.

No railfan episode today folks, the joys of Seaworld....which to be fair was better than it was four years ago, especially the killer whales after the death of a trainer (shame for the trainer, good that the whales are now treated better), no hoops or balls or toys, just the whales interacting and they looked....as if I can tell!!...to be enjoying it much more than previously. Feeding the Dolphins too was neat, I got the feeling when they were looking at us, that we were the stupid ones, and swimming with them last visit earned a healthy respect for the species.

Anyway, back on track tomorrow, over to Taft to pick up Amtraks and R170 going north, so shooting into the sun....though it's cracking off right now with a super cell and more promised tomorrow so might hopefully get some decent weather shots of fluffy cloudy skies as back drops...out with the polorizer it is then Hopefully also pick up the late afternoon mixed freight as well. Will defo bag a whole load more detail shots at 'Rachels', so far got GP60, CW40B, CW44AC, CW60AC, ES40DC and ES44AH, no heavy EMD stuff yet but did see a couple the other day but inaccessible to photo as half hidden by trees and bushes on both sides.

 

[Dog Star]

As outlined in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"...

I followed your link down the inter-galatic Vogonway to the restaurant just by the end of the universe... you know, where the local Docwra outfit are doing work ad-infinitum (which seems a kind of expression given where they are digging... ). No dolphins, not even for ready money.

Please help Prof. Barking's research into sub-neural, intra-connected, baked-orbs (Bonios to you and me) with a page reference within the minion's web log.

regards, Graham

 

[Dikitriki]

Eh

 

[Dog Star]

Eh

The clue is in the puzzle... or rather, a wider "in-joke" than the shores of WT. Try Jordan's link to an alternative look at insanity... carbon-based bi-pedal life forms, authority planning, Norwegian Fjord cruises.

I always thought that a Barking dog with a liking for Bonios might have made a good Sci-Fi character.

Otherwise, great, Jordan, the second link works fine, thanks for the fish.

regards, Graham

 

[mickoo]

Norwegian Fjord

Designed by mice you know!

The answer is 42 and don't forget your towel.

 

[mickoo]

The link should take you straight to the page? It does for me.
Link in full:-
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblo...de-to-the-galaxy-on-dolphin-intelligence.html

I also meant to comment on this -

Probably the reason why so many drivers try and jump the crossing in front of the train!!! Even on the mainline and at speed, those long freights can take several minutes to pass.

Oh don't worry I've seen it all, they'll jump past him as soon as he's half way across the road, I've seen two cars swing through the half barriers right in front of R170, and I mean right in front, about 5' clearance....whilst he's still drawing forward at 15mph, I've seen pedestrians climb over the gap between double stacks whilst it's stationary and charging the second half with air. The loco driver of R170 and the car incident, seeing my disbelief and shrugged shoulders shouted down from his cab through his cigar from under his broad rimmed stetson in a deep southern drawl "there's smarter gators than folk around these parts" and pointed to the RIP cross 200 yrds up the track!


When they double up R170 and it's heading south it'll easily block up to four or five roads for a good 20-30 mins.

R170 double length train charging second half going south (weekends)


R170 double length drawn forward to wait for brake man

A single R170 will draw forward the length of the blue line above, brake man gets dropped off at gas station on W Taft Vineland Rd and crossing intersection.

R170 heading north, both single and double draw forward to 'Rachels' on Spruce Avenue by Jetport Drive and will take the yellow line north non stop once they draw out of the balloon track (weekdays).


Autorack will shunt yellow lines and block at least one road for 5-10mins depending on size of rake in bound or out bound, usually in bounds are three lengths long so will back first lot in, then split half off draw forward far enough to get vehicle ramps in, then cut off second half of first lot, then draw forward to clear switches, back up second lot, uncouple first half and draw forward to give ramp clearance then uncouple second half of second lot, draw forward third part clear of switches and then set back third lot.....you get the idea....back and forth, back and forth....


Aerial shot showing split halves of each Autorack rake.

 

[mickoo]

Not a particularly successful day, arrived to see this little beauty disappearing, best shot I could get whilst stuck in traffic at the crossing, never saw it again


Then is was a fraught afternoon chasing R170 which meant sitting in the baking heat for two n half hours round the back of the balloon track waiting for it to leave and missing pretty much everything else.

Here she comes around the balloon track





Colours are a little washed out on the last two, both could really do with some HDR to get some depth and texture back in.

A while later R170 grinds north through Taft at 5mph creating the usual afternoon traffic jam.



You can just see the train snaking out from the left in the background by the over bridges, that's about where the wye is way back in south Taft.

Finally and I mean finally a few miles north of Taft and still only doing 5mph, R170 grinds along the leafy avenue of trees, total length today of R170 is 75 cars, only the lead unit is running but seems to be coping quite well, but the deep GE thumping rumble can be heard from quite a distance away.

 

[adrian]

Fantastic photos again - thanks for posting.

What I want to know is how you can manage 2 1/2 hours hanging about the tracks whilst on a family holiday! We went to Florida and all I got was photos of Harry Potter World, Gatorland, airboats and Kennedy Space Centre.(ok maybe the last two were for me rather than the family).

Still keep them coming.

 

[ZiderHead]

great thread

Having worked with plenty of 'murcans over the years I get the impression theres alot less railfans over there than here. Its all about the car I guess.

 

[mickoo]

Fantastic photos again - thanks for posting.

What I want to know is how you can manage 2 1/2 hours hanging about the tracks whilst on a family holiday! We went to Florida and all I got was photos of Harry Potter World, Gatorland, airboats and Kennedy Space Centre.(ok maybe the last two were for me rather than the family).

Still keep them coming.

Easy, be a grumpy sod when at Mickey world , then they can't wait to get rid of you LOL, actually it's not a pure family holiday, the in laws are here...separate villa and car....(not even going there on the rows I had to win that little battle), but when they all get together, I tend to be the odd one out and it is a tangible wall, so I don't fight it anymore they all go to the Mouse, I go railfaning. I do go to some parks but we tend to go at lunch time which gives me 2-3 hrs in the morning to shoot around the spots I've found.

There all off to the Mouse tomorrow afternoon and evening, so I'll be out all day railfanning and then probably meet up with them around 18:00 for the evening shows, cakes and fireworks, everyone's a happy bunny.

Thing is, I did all the parks and rides last time four years ago, ain't really much to make me want to go back, I did get to see a shuttle launch last time, night launch too, very spectacular.

Thanks for all the fish


Taken with the pointy shooty, will go back later with the big un and take more wildlife photos I hope.

 

[mickoo]

great thread

Having worked with plenty of 'murcans over the years I get the impression theres alot less railfans over there than here. Its all about the car I guess.

There certainly isn't, that's why the Sheriff was so interested in me the other day! Today I got approached by the CSX transport security at Taft, very polite but wanted to know what I was doing, not as concerned as the Sheriff but wanted to make sure I knew how to be safe and not trespass, I asked if I had and she said nope all the train crews had said I had behaved impeccably, seems I'm getting to be a bit of a feature around here LOL. She said they call railfanners out here foamers, I said I didn't dribble and if I did I had a napkin in my pocket to dab it away, they both laughed and concurred that I didn't look as unruly or disheveled as the normal foamer they get to see, to whit I replied, "we brits like to keep up appearances, even in the midday sun", smiles and handshakes and off they went, totally bemused no doubt.

I did tell them that I was the least of their worries and they'd be better off down at Pine street catching locals climbing over trains that were shunting across road crossings, they said it went on but it was hard to catch them all, most are locals out of work and with little care in the world, you can arrest them.....they look forward to it as they get a good meal if in over night, but then most are released and only go and do it again. I kinda get the impression they look the other way and let nature take it's course, in some ways little has changed from the wild west days.

I did have two locals pull over whilst I was beside the balloon track today, one a utility worker who had driven past an hour ago and then came back and saw me, thought I'd run out of gas or something and wondered if I needed help, a brief explanation and he was on his way.
The second a sweet middle aged lady, again had driven past a while ago and then came back and saw me, asked what I was doing, so explained, "oh she said, you look such a nice young man to be doing a strange thing like that"...which made me grin, next to her on the passenger seat was a small colourful chirpy bird in a cage, I asked if she had been taking it to/from the vet, "oh no" she replied, "I'm just taking him out for his afternoon drive, we like to drive around and have a look at things", I nearly replied ....but you look such a nice lady to be doing a strange thing like that....but just bit my tongue in time LOL, all I could say was "that's nice for you" at which moment the blaring horn of R170 rounding the balloon track saved me and I made my goodbyes and legged it! Up until then I had kinda felt slightly odd standing there, but she made me feel totally normal again LOL.

I did ask the Sheriff the other day about security and less than desirable locals perhaps pulling over and mugging you, his answer was doubt it, roads are too busy plus you look like a big guy who's quite fit (little does he know!) and your wearing a genuine US Navy baseball hat which kinda gives the impression you might have been in the force and know how to use a gun, I was wearing a loose buttoned short over the outside of my shorts...which on reflection could easily hide a sidearm and to which the Sheriff was keen to check out first when approaching with a body frisk.

Actually a lot of people have spoken about that hat and it was real embarrassing at Seaworld where they dedicate the Shamu show to the forces and ask all those who have served and serve to stand up to applause (there quite big on patriotism out here) , the guy sat in front of me stood up and when it was over and sat down turned to me and asked if I'd needed a hand to stand up he would of helped, my left knee in a bandage after walking a lot that day, he'd obviously seen my hat and thought I was also US forces, to which I had to explain it was given to me by a crew member after I visited the ship at Southampton on a good will exchange, to which he was quite chatty about, turns out he's in the ANG somewhere.

The Sheriff did say that if you dressed with say a NASA hat or Disney hat and tourist clothes then some undesirables might give you a second look. It was actually the Navy hat that caught his eye when he first drove past, he was Ex Marines on the air wing side, helo ground equipment.

If nothing else you sure get to meet some folk around here by the side of the line, never had that happen in the UK.

 

[ZiderHead]

taking a pet bird out for a drive - and they say Brits are eccentric!

 

[mickoo]

Yeah, they don't do Irony in the States, as far as I gather.... What a story!! Thanks again, Mick!!

Jordan, that ain't the half of it, most of yesterday morning was wasted after some disheveled youth knocked on the door asking for work to pay for gas, 45 mins later he was still hovering around the street and trying other villa doors and walking around the back and peering through windows in adjacent villas and such and basically waiting for us to leave I presume, so I called the agency and they sent a cruiser around, spoke to the office and the...now....suspect who'd vanished some ten minutes before.... was known to him, 20 mins later he turned back up with him in the back for me to ID and take a statement, which I did and that was it, he was detained for attempted burglary, to be fair he was so far out of his head on something, or just plain simple/deranged that I'd doubt he'd be a serious threat to burglary, other than blundering through an open door and grabbing what he could before the alarm triggered, all the villas are alarmed. They sat in they cruiser for 30 mins then he was released on a caution I presume, no idea if it'll go to court, the Sheriff thought not as 'he' hadn't caught him snooping around, only a civilian (me, non US to boot) and others who had phoned in, but the Sheriff did say, I had almost certainly interrupted a burglary or criminal damage at some point in the very near future and thanked me for my vigilance and informing the law. The incident will go on his record which from the officers tone was quite large already, he certainly had no trouble knowing who I was talking about from my brief description.

It certainly hasn't been a dull or boring vacation thus far, I'll be glad to get home for a rest!

 

[Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen]

"oh she said, you look such a nice young man to be doing a strange thing like that"...

Mick, you sure she didn't say; 'you look such a strange young man to be doing a nice thing like that'.

Happy Holidays
Tim

 

[mickoo]

Well a busy day today but not all as planned....! But some extras I hadn't accounted before, as usual kicked off at 'Rachels with 150 detail shots of a pair of ES40DC, CW44AC, seems not all locos within a class are the same, some major detail differences so it's all added to the data base.

Whilst doing that the first bonus arrived, these pair were turning on the wye, they had come in from the left and went out to the right, the driver never leaves his cab and will pick the cab that will be the lead cab when the train departs, no matter which way round it is now or if it's going to depart in 10hrs, the brakeman/men will either ride on the front as below or in the cab if it's raining or really sunny when the units are going in reverse.


A short while later the power for R170 comes around the balloon track, I've not bothered with the usual shots outside 'Rachels'.


At this point I made a quick dash south three miles to get the two lunchtime Amtraks, hoping to pick the northbound up first...as is usual, as time went by it was clear the northbound had probably gone by as the route still wasn't clear (signals by road bridge), then I heard the horns and it was clear it was the southbound 'Silver Meteor' and I was well out of position and this was the best I could manage....


I've since found some other good spots to grab this in Taft so hopefully more luck next time but I still want my planned shots here. Problem is to set up here in time means you miss all the action with the R170 and Autorack shunting.....which were not present at this time?.....more anon. Anyway all this messing around made me miss R170 departure north as it went as soon as the Amtrak had passed and not 2.5hrs later as it did yesterday

So back to town and because there were no stabled Autoracks the local gas station parking lot had a clear view of the south end of Taft yard and bingo picked up this trio doing a bit of fly shunting.


At the head end is a GP40-2, then a GP38-2 and luck of all lucks a B30-7, only the lead unit was running....seems the norm around here to only have just enough power to do what you need, even if there's spade fulls of it available


Anyway, after a bit more back and forth and exploring I returned to the gas station lot and lo and behold a genuine roots blown GP38-2 (as opposed to many derated GP40-2s kicking around now) in full song doing a bit of shunting....brilliant, my view was temporarily blocked as the northbound 'Silver Meteor' blasted through, I hadn't missed it, it was 2.5hrs late!


He'd made up a short consist and headed north, now I'd been tipped there was a local turn that did Lancaster Road sidings, so once it was clear he was going north and not setting back south of town like the previous UP local we've seen, I barreled north and picked him up here.


I did watch the shunting at Lancaster Rd, but the location isn't the easiest to photo, so I'll not waste bandwidth here with the shots, they're not that good, what I call photo record good, not public good. I did get some wagon details and a track machine but little else really, though the location is good for southbound trains and fair to good for northbound too, so another possible location for photos in the note pad. Anyway after watching that for a while and once he'd sorted his train and sat on the main for 20mins doing noting, I got bored and headed for home....back past the gas station and bloody hell another train had arrived!!, a pair of what looked like SD40-2s, again only the lead unit running and it didn't sound like an SD40-2 at all, and the rear unit looked really odd, but it was a snap shot through trees and parked trucks so a quick about turn to a spot where I figured they might pass revealed the lead unit.


A SD60 no less (and I've just noticed the bloody lamp post sticking out of the cab....that'll have to go when I get home!), hence the different engine sound, but still no positive ID on the trailing unit which looks like it's got a GE cab on it? Shortly after he headed south and as he had just brought in the Autorack train....which I had no idea came from the south, but arrives as and when according to the MOW manager (whom I met again)....so I knew he was either going to switch it into the Autorack sidings or head light engine back south.....which explains the SD40-2 seen the other day and which disappeared without a trace, so a dash to Pine St produced this shot, last of the day as the light was going fast and storms were cracking off all around and it was beginning to rain....harder!


Lo and behold it's an SD40-3, now I have no idea what one of those are as yet and the cab looks a pig in my view, clearly some sort of home grown affair.