Photo: Whittier Turn Crew

A couple of weeks ago, I was called to work on a Whittier freight train. We went to Whittier with some freight for the barge, did a little switching, and then returned to Anchorage with freight that had come off the barge. It was a pretty simple and straightforward trip, although we were surprised when we arrived in Whittier by the presence of a film crew from Windfall Films. Windfall Films is the producer for the reality television show Railroad Alaska. They stopped us on the way in to clip on wireless microphones and have a job brief, and then they filmed us switching. Anyway, on the way back we had to stop in Portage to wait for a Seward bound freight train to pass. Our train and theirs were too long to meet anywhere between Portage and Anchorage, so we had some time to kill while they got to Portage. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to take some pictures.

Left to right are as follows:
John, Manager of Operating Rules and Training
Ryan, Student Engineer
Keith, Brakeman
And me, the Student Conductor.
Davy, the Conductor, was behind the camera, and the engineer opted to stay in the cab.

Appropriately, ARR #4004, the Spirit of Whittier, was the leader on the return trip from Whittier. Our other locomotive was the #4014. This train was known as a "turn," since it went to Whittier, dropped off cars, turned around, and came back with new cars.

Photo: Union Pacific Stack Train

Steven sent me this photo of a Union Pacific stack train traveling through one of the Salt Lake City, UT, suburbs several months ago, and I have been meaning to share it. Sorry to keep you waiting!

-James

Photo of the Week: Anchorage Depot

This week our (not so) weekly photo comes from Anchorage, AK. This is the Alaska Railroad depot, in Anchorage, still with a layer of snow on and around it.

The depot is a quiet place during the winter. Between October and May, the Alaska Railroad only runs a few passenger trains per month, one to Fairbanks and back each weekend, and one to Hurricane on the first Thursday of each month. By the middle of May however, the depot will be a busy place several times a day, with daily departures to Fairbanks, Seward, and Whittier. The passenger trains will get longer as tourist traffic increases in the spring. Freight traffic also picks up in warmer weather, and is beginning to pick up now. It will slow down again in the fall, just like passenger traffic does. The Alaska Railroad is the only railroad in the US that still carries both freight and passengers.

The depot itself was built during World War II, to help accommodate the increase in passenger traffic during the war. Interestingly, the Alaska Railroad carried more troops during the war than any other railroad in the US. The depot has been renovated and remodeled inside since its completion. In the last couple of years, a high level platform was added to meet ADA boarding requirements.

The locomotive that sits out front, ARR #1, is an old tank style steam locomotive, with an 0-4-0 wheel arrangement. The locomotive belonged to the US government and was built for use in the constriction of the Panama Canal. The canal was finished in 1914, and many of the newly surplussed locomotives and freight cars from that project were brought to Alaska, to build the "government railroad." The federal government owned and operated the Alaska Railroad until the 1980s, when the state of Alaska purchased the railroad. Since the state purchased it, the railroad has been operated for profit and pays all of its operating expenses without receiving a subsidy from the state.

Photo(s) of the Week: North Temple Station

This week I got several emails from Steven, containing a description of the construction at Utah Transit Authority's new North Temple station.  The station recently opened for the FrontRunner line, and will eventually serve as a transfer point between FrontRunner, the Salt Lake City commuter rail, and TRAX, the Salt Lake City light rail system.  The new North Temple station is located just a short distance north of Salt Lake Central station, and is served by both Ogden and Provo line FrontRunner trains.  TRAX service will begin at the completion of the new airport line, which is scheduled to open later this year (See the UTA website for more information.).

Steven mentioned that, since the opening of the Provo line, most FrontRunner trains operate the entire distance, between Ogden and Provo, with only a few going into service or out of service in Salt Lake City.  He said that trains that either start or end service in Salt Lake City serve both stations, regardless of which line they are operating on.

Besides the airport line, UTA is currently working to extend the TRAX system south, to Draper, and building a streetcar line through the Sugarhouse area of downtown Salt Lake City.  Both projects are also expected to open later this year.  For information on all current UTA projects, please see their Frontlines 2015 website.

Besides just a description of the happenings in Salt Lake City, Steven also sent along several photographs he took at the new North Temple station.  Currently, only the FrontRunner portion of the station is in service, as the TRAX line is not yet open.

Northbound train arriving at the North Temple station.  Photo by Steven Ogden.

Southbound train departing the North Temple station.  Photo by Steven Ogden.

Northbound train approaching the North Temple station, from Grant Tower and Salt Lake Central.  Photo by Steven Ogden.

For those that are unaware, Steven is currently serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City.  He has used the FrontRunner several times to travel between the offices, in Salt Lake City, and the area in which he currently serves.  While time does not allow him to contribute to the blog regularly, he still takes photographs and keeps everyone at home updated on his activities, and as seen above, the local railroads.

Photo of the Week: First Snow

A couple of weeks ago, Eastern Montana received their first snowfall.  It amounted to just a couple of inches, but it was just enough to blanket the entire area in some white powder and brighten everything up from the fall brown.  Several days later I found myself out working in that fresh snow, and had the opportunity to capture my train, the U-HUTSID0-66T, near Shirley, MT.  We were following an eastbound coal train, which had stopped at the west end of Shirley, to wait for a westbound train to clear the main into the siding there.  We had a red signal at MP 62.4, which is where the eastbound approach signal for Shirley is located.  While we could have proceeded at restricted speed, I decided to just sit tight and wait for an Approach signal, since I knew the train ahead would be moving soon anyway.  Since we had a few minutes to kill, I decided to take advantage of the morning sun and fresh snow, and get this picture.  Also, I had been sitting for a while and this gave me a good reason to get up and go for a short walk along the river, and get the "I've been sitting too long jitters" out of my system.

U-HUTSID0-66T at MP 62.4 on the Forsyth Sub.  Photo by James Ogden.

(I have to admit, I am pretty happy how this turned out.  I do not consider myself a photographer, and this was just a quick shot. :) )

Photo of the Week: Old and New

I apologize for my complete lack of new blog posts lately.  Needless to say, engineer training has been keeping me quite busy!

Today, I have chosen a photo from my archives.  After I graduated from high school, several years ago, I moved to Utah to go to college.  Well, what really happened is I went to some classes, but spent still managed to spend most of my free time running up to Salt Lake City to look at trains.  Up to that point, I had never lived around the Union Pacific or any mountain railroading, so there was a lot to see.  When I first went out to Utah, the Utah Transit Authority had not expanded to include any commuter rail operations, and the light rail system was significantly smaller than it is today, but I still used the system frequently.

The photograph I settled on comes from April 2006.  The semester had just ended at school, and so I really did have nothing better to do than run to Salt Lake and look at trains.  I went up there wanting to do a few things I had not gotten during the winter.  On the bucket list for that day was to ride the entire light rail system, known as TRAX, which at that point included two lines.  One line went from the Delta Center (now the EnergySolutions Arena) to Sandy, and the other to the University of Utah.  I had been on the Sandy line many times to Salt Lake, but never the University line.  I also wanted to find the Amtrak station, which at the time was several blocks from any transit, and now is the largest central transit hub in the city, and home to the commuter trains, known as FrontRunner.  I also wanted to find some of the old stations in the city.  I knew that TRAX ended near the old Union Pacific station, which is now part of the Gateway Mall complex. Besides all that, of course, I wanted to go look at some Union Pacific trains.

During the course of that day, I managed to get several pictures of the TRAX light rail equipment while it laid over at the Delta Center (now Arena) station, which was the end of the line at the time.  The tracks ended in the middle of the street, directly in front of Union Pacific station.  The contrast between the two struck me.  The new, modern, light rail vehicles and infrastructure take up most of the view, but in the background is the old station, with its ornate stone and brick work, large windows, and enormous neon sign, that makes the former owner quite clear.  While train service to Union Pacific station ended when Amtrak moved to their current depot, the station continues to serve as a convention and event center, which can be rented out for private events and parties.  I never was able to find out why the TRAX train said "Special" on the destination signs, but it was parked on the tail track at the end of the platform, possibly awaiting a busier time of the day.

If you would like to see your photo featured as a "Photo of the Week," please email it to ogden.bros.trains@gmail.com, with a description.  We would be happy to share some of your favorite photos!

Photo of the Week: Drawbridge

This week, I finally visited something I have heard about for months.  East of Fairview, MT, just over the border in North Dakota, there is an old railroad drawbridge and tunnel.  They are no longer used for the railroad, and are open to the public to walk over and through.  The line they are on was once part of a project by the Great Northern to build a second main line, to the south of their existing one, which would connect New Rockford, ND, to Lewistown, MT.  This was known as the Montana Eastern Railroad, a wholly owned subsidy of the Great Northern.  This parallel line would serve the farms in the area that were currently out of reach of their existing line, across the northern part of North Dakota and Montana.  The Montana Eastern Railroad was never completed because of the economic downturn that came with the start of World War I, although the line was and still is used in parts throughout Montana and North Dakota, for local train service.

The Fairview Lift Bridge is located about four miles east of Fairview, MT.  It crosses the Yellowstone River.  Today, no ship traffic uses the Yellowstone River, but when the bridge was built, in 1913, the Yellowstone River was considered a navigable waterway, and regulations stated that bridges over navigable waterways must be at least 80 feet above average water level.  Since all commercial river traffic ended on the Yellowstone River in 1913, the only time the bridge was ever raised was at the end of construction, to test the lift mechanism.  The bridge is 1,320 feet long and comprised of several steel truss spans.  There is a sister bridge located in Snowden, MT, which is still used by rail traffic.  Because of light rail traffic, the bridge was also used to accommodate highway traffic until 1956.  Planks were laid on the ties, between and on either side of the rails, and gates were installed on either end to keep traffic off when a train was approaching.  A "Leverman" was employed to communicate with the railroad and operate the gates as necessary.  Vehicles using the bridge were charged a toll by the Great Northern Railway.  At its peak, the line handled one passenger train per day, and a few freight trains a week.

The bridge was built in 1913, at a cost of $500,000.  The towers are 108 feet tall, and the lift span weighs over one million pounds.  The span is s counter weighted to assist in lifting.  Because the counterweights so closely match the span weight, it only took a small, three cylinder, kerosene engine to raise and lower the bridge.  The lift span is nearly 300 feet long and is connected to the counterweights by 32 two inch thick steel cables, with eight at each corner and 16 per counterweight.  All the lifting mechanisms are still in place, with the exception of the kerosene engine.

Just east of the Fairview Lift Bridge is the Cartwright Tunnel, which is the only tunnel in the state of North Dakota.  The tunnel is 1,458 feet long, and was built in 1912 and 1913.  The tunnel was primarily excavated by hand, though horse drawn scrapers and blasting powders were used to build the approaches.  The tunnel walls and ceiling are lined with timber, and the floor is braced with heavy timbers to prevent the walls from pushing into the former track area.

Photo of the Week: Derailment

If you follow the railroad industry news at all, chances are you heard about a major derailment last weekend, in a place called Plevna, MT.  Last Sunday afternoon, a merchandise train, operating on the Hettinger Subdivision, derailed and caught fire.  The derailment occurred about two miles west of the small (pop. 158) town of Plevna, in eastern Montana.  A total of fifteen cars went on the ground, fourteen of which were carrying denatured alcohol, which is a fuel additive more commonly known as ethanol.  The derailment sparked a fire, fueled by the the leaking alcohol and the dry prairie grass.  Eight of the alcohol cars burned, and five of them exploded.  There were no injuries from the derailment or the fire that followed.  No evacuations were necessary, although the highway, which parallels the tracks, was closed for several hours Sunday afternoon and evening while firefighters and railroad personnel worked to contain the fire.

The night when all of this went down, I was working in the Glendive yard.  It was a pretty slow night, because the roundhouse had no power ready for any trains, and they were really backed up.  The only thing we had to do as a result of the derailment was gather up some cars, loaded with prefabricated track panels, and assemble them into a train.  Despite being backed up and busy, the roundhouse did manage to find a couple of SD40-2's for the panel train, so it could be sent down to the derailment site as soon as a crew was rested.  They estimated that 1,100 feet of track had to be replaced.  On Monday afternoon, after I was off work and caught up on sleep, I decided to head down to the derailment site with my sister, who was in town visiting, to see the aftermath.  It was only an hour from Glendive anyway.

When we got to Plevna, we found that the prairie was burned as far as you could see, starting right at the west end of town.  As we continued west, we came over a hill, and all of a sudden, it looked like a war zone.  There were railroad cars and parts of railroad cars scattered all over the hills, and everything, including the cars was black and charred.  One of the cars were still burning, and there were people everywhere trying to get things cleaned up and under control.  The rest of the train had been moved, and was no longer in the area, so all that was there was railroad vehicles, emergency crews, and the remains of smashed and burned railroad cars.  Of course, the black backdrop of the burned prairie made the whole scene look even more dramatic.

I had forgotten my camera in Forsyth, so I snapped a couple of pictures with my phone instead.  The one below shows most of the scene that we saw from the nearby highway.

The rest of the pictures can be found on our Facebook page, and are accessible to people without a Facebook account, by clicking here.  Additionally, someone did manage to be in the area when the whole incident occurred, and took a video of the fourth car exploding, which is on YouTube and can be viewed here.

Photo of the Week: 7/13/2012

This week we feature Union Station, in Kansas City.  Union Station was built in 1914, in the heart of Kansas City, by twelve railroads that once provided passenger rail service to the area.  Originally, it had 20 tracks, and the main concourse, with its 100 foot ceiling, was designed to hold 10,000 people.  The building had shops, dining, shoe shine service, a barber, cigar shop, post office, spacious waiting rooms, and offices for several railroads.  Besides passengers, mail and express goods also came through Union Station.  The entire building had over 850,000 square feet of usable floor space, in over 900 rooms.  The building was huge, just as railroad stations were in many major cities all over the country.

As passenger rail service fell into decline in the 1960's and 1970's, Union Station began to see less passenger traffic.  Eventually, maintenance budgets were cut, and the station ultimately fell into disrepair.  Amtrak continued to use Union Station into the 1970's and early 1980's, for the Southwest Chief, but eventually the building was in such bad shape, that they were forced to leave Union Station and build an "Amshack" nearby to serve passengers.  In the 1990's however, the station was given a new life.  Starting in 1997, the station was completely renovated and cleaned, inside and out.  By the end of the project, over 10 million pounds of dirt and debris had been removed.  The roof was replaced with identical tiles, and the interior was completely restored.  The chandeliers, which are each 12 feet in diameter, contain a half mile of wiring, and require over 11,000 watts, were all carefully dismantled, then cleaned and restored, and reassembled.  The ceiling had to be mostly replaced because of water damage, but every detail was reconstructed in plaster, just as the original had been.  The company responsible for the ceiling had also restored the ceilings Grand Central Terminal and Windsor Castle.  The color of every part of the building, from paint to metal, stone, roof tiles, and plaster, was carefully and painstakingly matched by a process of carefully scraping away the dirt and grime, one layer at a time.  The entire restoration took approximately two years to complete.

Today, Union Station is a very attractive landmark, right in the middle of town.  Most of the passenger tracks are gone, only two remain.  There are six passenger trains per day that stop there, so it is still much quieter than it was in decades past.  However, the building sees many visitors every day, because there is once again fine dining, shops, exhibits, and events in the station.  The station plays host to a number of traveling exhibits as well as permanent ones.  There is a planetarium and science center there, as well as a model railroad, post office, several gift shops, and fire fighting museum.  In addition, during my visit, an exhibit of artifacts from the Titanic was also at the depot.  Of course, Amtrak once again has a presence in Union Station too, having returned in 2002.  The "Amshack" is nothing more than a small crew office now, and serves no function for passengers.

And finally, the photos!

Photo of the Week: Work Train

If you follow our Facebook page, you may have seen this one already, but I thought it would share it on here too.  Actually, it came out better than I had expected.

For the last few weeks, I have been on a regular assignment, working on a ballast train to support undercutters working in the area.  Every day we go out with ten to fifteen cars loaded with ballast, and dump it in the areas they cut with the undercutter.  Some days it seems like they only cut a few feet, other days they cut over a mile.  It just depends on what needs to be done, and how long they can go before the machine breaks down!

A few days ago we had pulled our train out of the siding in Marsh, MT, and headed west, following the undercutter and a surfacing crew.  They were cutting just east of Terry, MT, and we had several hours to kill before they had made enough progress cutting for us to come in and start dumping ballast.  While we were waiting, I decided to step off the engine and take a few pictures.  I was riding the rear because I have been working as a brakeman.  We like to have someone on the rear of the train so that if we have to back up, there is someone who can protect the shoving movement.  This is one of the photos I took on my little walk.

We had about 15 cars, with one engine on the west end and two on the east end.  Normally we operate with an engine on each end and have them linked as distributed power.  Earlier in the week, we had had problems getting the units to link up properly, so a third one was sent out.  That one would not link either, and so mechanical decided it was not worth sending a fourth locomotive out to a 15 car train!  They told us to just release the brakes, cut out the valves, and just pull the engines like they were any other rail car.  When we had to change directions, we just switched which engine got towed.

Photo of the Week: 4/27/2012

Today's photo of the week goes back to my trip in July.  I have a whole lot of photos from that trip that I haven't shared, but don't worry, I'm not going to bombard you with them now!  Towards the end of the trip, I woke up one morning with the sunrise out my coach window over southern New Mexico. Around breakfast time, the Sunset Limited crossed the Rio Grande and into Texas.  There is a very short segment of Texas where the Rio Grande borders New Mexico and not Mexico, and that is where the train crosses the river.  Shortly after crossing into Texas, the train makes a stop in El Paso:



There are a few places in this area where the train is a few feet from the river and the Mexican border.  The Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, directly across the river from El Paso, is a much different looking city.  I won't go into the details or start an opinion war about immigration by comparing the two, but it was certainly interesting to see the two cities side by side.  I did not go over the Ciudad Juarez, I stayed near the train station, which is the brick building with the tower in the right side of the photo.

Photo of the Week: 4/13/2012

Today I'm sharing another photo from my pre-digital days. About three years ago, James and our sister were going to college in Utah, and I took a week and rode the train out there to visit them. While I was there, James and I decided to ride the UTA line to Ogden, which at the time was less than a year old. We took the trolley line from Sandy to Salt Lake City, where we transfered to the FrontRunner train to Ogden. This is a photo of the train in Salt Lake City before we left.

Most of the fleet consists of Bombardier bilevels and MP36 diesels painted in this paint scheme. They also bought some Comet cars from New Jersey Transit, which were basically rebuilt from the wheels up, and put into service. They ride like brand new cars, but the seats still have the state seal of New Jersey on the upholstery. Since I took this photo, two of the MP36s have been sold to MBTA, where they are running now.

UTA has also announced recently that the line to Provo would be opening towards the end of this year, instead of the previously expected 2015. Provo is south of Salt Lake City, about as far away as Ogden to the north. Since I was last out there, the trolley system has opened two new lines, and more are still under construction. There are other plans to expand the FrontRunner service as well, although I don't know the details on that.

So far, every project that UTA has done have been completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Whatever they are doing, I think other transit agencies need to learn a thing or two!

Photo of the Week: 4/6/2012

Last spring, you may remember that the entire Midwest seemed to be flooded.  While the Forsyth Sub and the Glendive area did experience some flooding, it was minor compared to what was experienced in other areas, such as Minot, ND.  Various washouts kept things moving slowly on the Forsyth Sub.  I was still in training, and I decided to take advantage of all the time off we were getting between trips.  I decided to visit my grandparents, who live in a Long Island suburb of New York.  Being a last minute trip, flights could not be found for even a slightly reasonable price, so I decided to take Amtrak.  When I arrived at the depot in Williston, ND, the ticket agent began to explain that there would likely be delays because of the flooding, and then started a surprisingly elaborate description of how all the water was effecting the railroad.  I stopped her and explained that I was employed by the BNSF, and I understood exactly why Amtrak would be delayed.  She looked relieved that I was not complaining to her!  A few minutes later the Empire Builder pulled into the station, and I boarded.  The next morning, we had a service stop in St. Paul, MN, and I decided to step off the train and take a look around.  I had been there before on a few occasions, but they were all after dark.  This was my first daylight visit.

What I found in St. Paul was a former Milwaukee Road Skytop lounge car, coupled to a full length dome car.  I knew they were there, but had never gotten a good look at them, so I took the opportunity!  The Skytop cars have always intrigued me, because they are so unique, and an icon of the Hiawatha trains that the Milwaukee Road once ran across the country, between Chicago and Tacoma, WA.  These care are available for charter, and one day I'd like to do just that!  Here they are, with another private car, idling at the St. Paul depot.  The Empire Builder was behind me.



I think some preparations were being made to move the car, because there were some people working on and around it, and it was connected to power.  I do not know what the plan was for it though.  I do regret that I did not ask one of those people if I could see the interior of the car.  I keep telling myself that someday I will get to charter and ride these cars, although that day may be a while in the future still!

We would love to see your pictures!  If you have any pictures you would like featured on Photo of the Week, please email it to us with your name, a brief description of the photo, and of course, the photo itself, in 800 x 600 or larger resolution.  We will let you know if your photo is chosen, and you will receive full credit for your submission.

Photo of the Week: 3/30/2012

Usually, I share photos I've taken with my digital cameras, because they are on my computer and easy to share. Recently, however, I've been digging through my photos that I shot on film, and I thought I'd share one today. If you read this blog regularly, you probably know I go to Long Island fairly frequently to visit my family there. I haven't driven there in a few years, and the last time I did, I made a few stops along the way, including this spot in Connecticut, where this photo is taken:

This is Niantic. The train does not stop here, but whizzes past the crescent shaped shoreline on a gentle curve. I had seen the spot from the train, and I wanted to take a look around. The beach is small, but there is a path along the railroad track, where I shot this photo. Behind me, the tracks cross a drawbridge over an inlet to a small harbor, which is on the other side of the tracks. Currently, this whole area is a mess of construction, the drawbridge is being replaced and the beach and boardwalk area have all been turned into construction staging. I really don't know much about the project except for what I've seen from the train, but it looks like they are also building a new boardwalk, so the town will get something in return when the project is completed. The project was started shortly after this photo was taken in August of 2009, and I don't know when the project will be finished.

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Photo of the Week: 3/23/2012

A while ago, I mentioned that I rarely see trains on the Hillsboro Branch, out of Nashua, and I would love to railfan the line sometime. Recently, however, I was driving around town and happened to see a train on the Hillsboro Branch. Armed with my camera and some free time, I followed it back to Nashua Yard. I still didn't get to railfan much beyond what I talked about last time, but at least the train was more than just a light engine!

Here the train is pictured crossing Main Street in Nashua. Most of the crossings on this line are not protected, and someone has to get out of the cab and wave a red flag at all the crossings. Most people still drive through the crossing anyway, until the train blocks their way.

The locomotive is a GP40 painted for Pan Am Railways, the operator of the line. It has B&M reporting marks, but it is not an ex-Boston & Maine engine. Boston & Maine had a small fleet of GP40-2s, numbered 300-317, but Guilford, Pan Am's predecessor, sold those off many years ago. These GP40s came from Conrail, originally purchased by Penn Central for the Boston & Albany line, B&M's direct competitor across Massachusetts.

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Photo of the Week: 3/16/2012

Today I am sharing one of James's photos from Alaska. He had the opportunity to work there for two summers, driving tour busses out of Anchorage. As part of the job, he often met the passenger trains, to either bring people to or from the train on whatever tour they were doing. He has some good shots of the Alaska Railroad, and I thought I'd share one today. I have never been to Alaska, although I have always wanted to go there. It is a very beautiful state, and I'm sure the photos I've seen don't even do it justice. Anyway, here is today's photo:

James included the following caption with this photo:

August 29, 2009, It is 10:51pm, and the sun is still setting behind the Glacier Discovery Train, which has returned to Anchorage from Whittier and Grandview. Later in the evening the train will be moved to the coach yard for cleaning and servicing to get ready for the same trip the next day.

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Photo of the Week: 3/9/2012

Today we have another reader-submitted photo, from the California State Railroad Museum. I saw this museum from the train one morning on my July trip, but unfortunately I had not planned any time in Sacramento, so I was not able to visit the museum. I had heard of it before, and I would love to go out there and visit the place. This photo was taken by Todd Evans, one of our readers, and he also wrote this caption for the photo:

In storage at the California State Railroad Museum shops. Parts of this building was originally built in 1869. The same year as the completion of the transcontinental railroad. For many years it was the home of the SP shops.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe No. 347C GM-EMD 1949 F-7A
Gift to the museum in March 1986 by AT&SF Ry.

Repainted Super Chief warbonnet colors. Operable.

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Photo of the Week: 3/3/2012

Today I thought I'd share a photo from James's neck of the woods. When I was out there in July, James at one point had been assigned on a westbound train to Forsyth, where he spent the night, and came back the next day on an eastbound M train. I came up with the idea of chasing his train back to Glendive, but by then it was too late to drive to Forsyth to meet the train. I instead drove to Miles City, about halfway but a little closer to Forsyth, and chased the train from there to Glendive. I got there in time to see some other trains go by before his train came through, and this photo is one of them.

This is a westbound coal train, heading towards Forsyth. I had seen it on my drive from Glendive to Miles City, and knew I'd see it go through town as well. James had told me there was an eastbound coal train ahead of his M train, so I knew I had some time to kill before he got there. The side track you see in the photo is not a complete passing siding anymore, so trains can't meet here. The coal train was waiting at the next siding to the west, and James's M train was beyond that. After James's train came through, I drove to Terry, and actually beat the coal train there. There is a siding there, and I got to see a grain train meeting James's train there. Finally I drove to a crossing outside of Glendive and met James's train there, but the coal train ahead of him had already pulled into town by then. Overall, it was a pretty fun trip, and thanks to James's radio scanner, I was able to keep track of what was going on!

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Photo of the Week: 2/24/2012

As you probably noticed, James and I were both away on vacation during the first part of February. Once I returned, I was quite busy for a while, and I have not been able to do any writing on the blog because of that. The vacation was a cruise, so I did not get many rail photos during the week. However, the cruise left from Florida, and I took Amtrak's Silver Meteor to get to the ship before the cruise and to get home after the cruise. As much as I love trains, I was more excited about the cruise, and I didn't get many rail photos, but I did manage to snap this one as we raced past the Auto Train facility in Sanford, FL:

Auto Train was started as a private company in 1971 to carry people, and their automobiles, between Lorton, VA, and Sanford, FL. It was very successful, and the company quickly looked into expanding service. A second route opened in 1974, connecting Louisville, KY with Sanford. However, this route was not as successful, and was closed three years later. Despite its popularity, however, Auto Train was forced to shut down in 1981, a result of several major derailments costing the company more money than it had. Two years later, in 1983, Amtrak started up its own version of this successful train, and has been running it ever since. Today, it is one of Amtrak's most popular trains, because it gives people the easiness of taking the train somewhere instead of driving, but also giving passengers their own car once they get to their destination.

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Photo of the Week: Electric Railroading

Well, it would seem that Steven has been quite busy since he returned from vacation, and we did not get any photo submissions this week, so I thought I would share a few of my own.  Just a reminder, if you would like to see your photos featured as a photo of the week, please email them to ogden.bros.trains@gmail.com, and be sure to include a brief description.  We would love to see and share your photos of railroad related subjects!  We will notify you by email if your photo is chosen.

Today, I thought I would share a few photos I have taken of electric trains and transit over the last few years.  These are by no means all of them, just a few of the highlights.  We start with the Seashore Trolley Museum, in Kennebunkport, Maine.  Steven and I volunteered there for a few years, in the summers, and during that time we got to see, photograph, and operate quite a variety of historic and unique equipment.

This first photo is at Talbott Park, the end of the museum's short line.  This is car #1267, which originated in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  This one of the only cars preserved from that area, and incidentally, it was the first car ever operated at a transit museum, and the first car to operate at Seashore.  It began its retirement life at the museum in the 1950's, when a simple generator was connected to the trolley pole with jumper cables, and it moved only a matter of feet.  The line at that time was significantly shorter than it is now.  Today the car operates pretty regularly, carrying people on the three mile round trip to Talbott Park.

This is locomotive #300, on one of the car barn leads, at the Seashore Trolley Museum.  As I recall, it sat on that lead for quite some time.  Unfortunately, a lot of equipment at the museum spends a considerable amount of time sitting around.  I cannot recall the history of this locomotive, and unfortunately I am not able to find information on the museum website.  A lot of equipment at the museum had been renumbered at some point during its life, so it is possible that this has been returned to an original number, and I cannot remember what that was, or if there even was one.  If anyone knows anything about this locomotive, email us, and I'll post it on here.  This is an electric locomotive, as evidenced by the trolley pole sticking out from the roof.

Those of you who keep up with us on Facebook ought to recognize this picture, as we use it as the photo for our Facebook page.  Car #434 originated in Chicago, on the Chicago, Aurora, & Elgin, an interurban railroad that connected downtown Chicago with some of the western suburbs.  The "Roarin' Elgin," as the railroad was sometimes called, was made famous by their closure.  When railroads discontinue service, typically it goes into effect at midnight on the designated day.  The CA&E did things a little differently.  On July 3, 1957, they carried commuters into Chicago, and then discontinued service at noon, with no warning. Commuters who had used the CA&E to get to the city found themselves stranded when they got out of work in the afternoon.  The CA&E used a third rail for electric power, but the car uses an overhead wire at the museum, for safety reasons.  The car in the background of the above photo is car #1267, from Minneapolis., as it idles in the loop behind the museum visitors' center.

Now, we look at some more modern transit.  This photo was taken in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.  A TRAX train, destined for the Delta Center, now known as the EnergySolutions Arena, makes a left turn right near the landmark Latter-day Saint Temple.  The train reached its destination just a few minutes later, where it turned around and returned to Sandy, about 15 miles to the south.  Since this photo was taken, the Utah Transit Authority has added two new lines to the light rail system, purchased new Light Rail Vehicles, announced and started construction on two more lines, built a downtown transit hub, and launched commuter rail operations.  In the downtown area, three new stops have been added to TRAX, connecting the system to the transit hub at Central Station.  In addition, the FrontRunner commuter trains, Amtrak's California Zephyr, numerous bus routes, and various Greyhound and similar coach lines all arrive at Central Station.  This photo was taken five years ago.  The Utah Transit Authority has been expanding service by leaps and bounds in the last several years, and has plans to continue doing so.

In another city, half a continent away, I managed to snap a couple of pictures of the Chicago El, in the Loop area of downtown Chicago.  Most of the transit lines in downtown Chicago are elevated, as seen in this picture.  They run directly above streets, and in some cases the columns supporting the bridge are right in the middle of the street.  As I took this picture about six years ago, I cannot remember which line the train was operating on, or where it was going.  I do remember that I took the picture looking south, from the corner of Adams and Wells streets.

Continuing east, we find the Long Island Railroad, which operates both diesel and electric trains.  The line into Manhattan was electrified a century ago, when it was built, to keep steam engines out of the tunnels.  Over the past century, the electrification has expanded, but to this day the railroad is still not completely electrified.  It is unlikely that it ever will be, especially on lightly used lines.  The train in the picture above had its days numbered.  In 2008, when the picture was taken, the LIRR was nearing the end of replacing the entire fleet of electric trains.  This train was one of the few older ones left.  In the picture, the train was just starting to pull out of the Mineola station, headed east.  The Pennsylvania Railroad style signals govern most of the railroad, since the LIRR operated as a subsidy of the Pennsylvania for many years.  The signal visible in the photo indicate a clear block ahead.