The Train Thread (AKA Thread A La Choo-Choo)

[eerockk]

There is something afoot with our biggest railway company, CN. I am completely baffled as to what's going on here...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/11/30/cn-biodiesel-mystery-shipment.html

[Manroon]

You got me, but it smells rotten whatever it is.

[eerockk]

Hi Foamers! It seems we all have a focus or specialization when it comes to railfanning. Whether it's modeling, or Rina's locomotive-hiking across Siberia (I AM MOST JEALOUS), we all have something specific that we like to do when trains are concerned. Mine is long-exposure photography. I live in the NW part of London Ontario and although development is encroaching, I still live relatively on the outskirts of town. Near my house is the Denfield Rd bridge which sees the mainlines of both our railways CP and CN come side by side to each other. There are hundreds and hundreds of miles before that happens again, so the spot is considered very rare, and even more so as all 3 sets of tracks pass under the same bridge. Anything moving in or out of London to the west goes under this bridge. This spot is just awesome!

Since it is outside of the city limits, there is darkness there at night; pure, country darkness. I put my small tripod on the wooden bridge rail, set it to manual at f2.8, auto ISO, and 30s exposure, and wait for the inevitable. There's nothing like 8800+ horsepower running under you at full power to make you feel alive. Link to photo album follows image.



http://s1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff407/EeRocKK/RFH%20Photos/Nighttime%20Railroad%20Long%20Exposure%20Photography/

[Veldryne]

"Thomas train go to misty island!" I hear that daily.

[Manroon]

eerockk that's an awesome photoalbum! You know, our office used to be a couple blocks over next to a short freight line of the BNSF 3 years ago and the one thing I've missed about that location is being able to watch the freight switching whenever I went out. Lucky for me, we're supposed to be moving back that way after the end of the year, to a nicer location than the old one. If I'm lucky, I might be able to run out on lunch every so often and shoot some of the freight action. I dunno about now, but 3 years ago there was a crew that was still very fond of using a caboose. That's insanely rare out here these days. Made my day trading waves with the conductor on the way back from lunch.

[eerockk]

Ohhhhh snap! This could not be fun for anyone...

http://news.yahoo.com/woman-crashes-train-house-sweden-125308519.html

[Ricos]

ABC's Alphabet Train Song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVM-nrfGNaU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

edit: Didn't realize there is a toy train commercial at the end! lol

[JEStucker]

I'm pretty sure I've ridden every operational Narrow Gauge rail line in the United States...

Cumbres/Toltec was featured in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade (The circus train used one of their engines with a repaint) This one is an overnight train trip, you leave in the morning, there's a noon lunch stop, stop for dinner, stay over night, then ride the train back
Durango/Silverton is probably some of the prettiest scenery in Colorado - same set up, but really through some serious back country in the Rockies.
The Georgetown Loop outside of Denver is a fun ride, but it's much shorter run
Ghost Town/Callico is in California, it's got some neat scenery and the restored train cars on it are just works of art

Something about those wood/coal fired steam boilers... riding in an open air car, getting covered in soot and ash, ITS AWESOME

[Manroon]

I heartily concur! I believe I've ridden the Ghost Town myself. When I was little, we did a vacation with a goal of riding every tourist train in California. And Succeeded! It was awesome. lol Also have to say, I'm surprised to see someone else who's ridden the Loop! That is a BEAUTIFUL ride! I caught that trip about five years ago, going through the mountains in a box truck on the way back from Chicago hauling a train collection we'd picked up there to auction here in Cali. Just happened to be on the right highway to see the sign, followed it to the Loop, and it was amazing. That steel bridge is incredible! Not to mention the scenery, and the staff is just unbelievably nice. When we got there, the tickets for that run were sold out and it was either the last run of the afternoon, or the next one was an hour or so later. We didn't have time to wait around like that, or to stop over for a night, so we decided to just watch the train from the station. Conductor caught us staring at the platform and asked if we were going to get on or not. We told him we didn't have any tickets, they'd sold out before we got there. He laughed and told us to get on anyways, he knew the look on our faces and he wouldn't do that to us.

[eerockk]

Conductor caught us staring at the platform and asked if we were going to get on or not. We told him we didn't have any tickets, they'd sold out before we got there. He laughed and told us to get on anyways, he knew the look on our faces and he wouldn't do that to us.

I love stories like that, and a lot of them happen in the world of trains... gotta be why I like them so much!

[Manroon]

Yep!

BTW, I forgot to tell you guys there was a great train show here in Anaheim weekend before last. Did pretty well selling there, and I scored a nice O-Gauge dump car for myself too. Hornby!