Tag Archives: rail

Iron Goat Caboose

The old path of the railroad across Stevens Pass has been abandoned and replaced by a new route that is lower down and has tunneled through sections of the mountains to avoid the tricky climb that was previously required. This abandoned right of way has been turned into a trail called the Iron Goat Trail. Since it is a railroad trackbed, it is not a steep trail which means that a substantial portion of it is actually wheelchair accessible!

Our day out did not include time for hiking but the trail looks well worth exploring and, come the spring, we shall be making a specific trip to go hiking. We did stop at the parking lot to read the signs about the history of the pass. Also, an old caboose is kept at the entrance to the trail and I figured it deserved a shot!

Snoqualmie Historic Trains

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Snoqualmie has an active historic railroad. While we were at the falls, a couple of times we saw a tourist train running along the opposite side of the falls taking visitors on a trip. We never got too close to the train itself while we were there but we did walk past one of the stations. It was a nicely restored building and contained some exhibits on the old services that used to operate there.

Also, parked out of the back was an old locomotive. It wasn’t going anywhere anymore but it did provide a great example to the visitors of the sort of steam loco that used to operate. Now it was possible to get up close and look at the amazingly complex mechanisms it included. Just outside town was another exhibit. This was a snow clearing machine for the railroad. Rather than a plow, it had a cutting head mounted on the front of the vehicle and a blower that could throw the snow in either direction as required. This example had been rebuilt a number of times prior to retirement but now it sat by the road for visitors to check out. (Being a black vehicle on a high sunny day meant it was also a pain to photograph!)

The Old Seattle Streetcar and Its Modern Counterpart

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We were wandering around down by Lake Union checking out the sights of the city. When it was time to head back, the easiest thing for us to do was to grab the streetcar that runs back up to Westlake. This is a relatively new addition to the city and they are expanding their streetcar system at the same time as Sound Transit expands the light rail system.

It did remind me of a previous trip we had to Seattle quite a few years ago. At that time, there was a vintage streetcar that ran along the waterfront. We had stayed down there on that trip and the streetcar tracks ran right outside the hotel. During the course of some redevelopment activity, the barn where the cars were stored and maintained found itself in the way and it was demolished. The system went away and clearly has not returned.

The tracks are still along the right of way but obviously aren’t used anymore. I thought it was interesting to contrast the old style of a streetcar with the modern vehicle that is appearing in cities all across the US today. The return of streetcars are gaining momentum all across the country.

Vintage Steam Locomotive

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I made a visit to the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento for a press unveiling of a new locomotive for Caltrans. After the event was over, I headed outside to make some calls and walk along the river. The museum doesn’t just have vehicles inside. Outside are a pair of steam locomotives too. They are beefy looking things too. Finished in black, they make for a difficult thing to photograph on a sunny day and the iPhone camera handled it surprisingly well.

I was quite taken with the texture around the boiler area where the outside of the loco includes a large array of rivets. I don’t know whether they were recently restored or just are well looked after but they were an impressive sight and attracted a large number of people having their pictures taken.

New Locomotives

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The acquisition of new locomotives for the state of California is something I have been working on for a while. A little time back I posted about some testing from the cab that we did in Colorado. Since then the first locos for the state have been delivered to Oakland. We had to do a bunch of testing with local equipment and to carry out trials out on the corridors that the trains operate. I managed to get a few shots of the locos during these tests (as well as some in Colorado that used locos that will go to Illinois).

Now that the testing is wrapped up and the locos belong to the state and, if they haven’t already, will shortly be showing up in regular service, it is okay to post some shots of the vehicles. They are Charger diesel locos built by Siemens in Sacramento California. These locos are powerful and fast. They are designed for 125mph although they won’t be used at high speeds in California due to track limitations. However, hopefully they will provide modern, efficient and cleaner traction for the state. I am proud to have been involved in the program and enjoyed working with the team.

Amtrak Over the River

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Having watched a guy walking across a narrow railroad bridge over the Alameda Creek in Fremont as you can read about here, a train was now coming across the bridge. The train was a Capital Corridor service heading to San Jose. I am currently working on a project to acquire new locomotives for Caltrans that will see service on the Capital Corridor and will replace borrowed Amtrak locomotives. This train was being hauled by one of these Amtrak locomotives. All being well, this will soon no longer be a regular sight.

Trains Along the Bayshore

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Having had a post with a train in it, I was reminded that I had actually photographed some trains a while back and they had never made it on to the blog. It was actually a work related reason I was out there. I was waiting for the delivery of a pair of our locos (a delivery that was o late it was after the light had gone) but, since we often need imagery for proposals, I thought it would be good to get some new shots.

The location is up in Pinole. The trains are running along the shore of the bay so it provides a quite photogenic location. A number of Amtrak California trains came through. Since these trains are part of my work, I found myself checking out what was in each train and what condition it was in. I guess I have been doing this for too long! Anyway, here are some train pictures.

Going Around in Circles Quite Quickly

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A recent work trip involved some testing of a locomotive. The test track in use is just outside Pueblo Colorado. The testing program involves a ton of different tests, many of which are pretty boring to watch if you are not involved. We did get to do some high speed runs while I was there though. The locomotive is designed for 125mph so it has to be tested to 130mph. We got to blast around the track for a while. Wildlife would scatter as we approached – usually. The loco is a modern design so at this speed, things were really quite uneventful. The ride was smooth. The noise was pretty quiet and would have been better if we didn’t have instrumentation cables out of the windows breaking the normal seal. Soon you will be seeing these locos in service in a number of states across the US.

Waiting for Amtrak

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While we were walking around Truckee, a UP freight train pulled in to the town just short of a grade crossing. At first I assumed it was going to head into the pass but it didn’t move. We then figured out that an Amtrak train was due in from the opposite direction but was running about an hour late. (The flight only started in the Bay Area so I have no idea how late it might have ended up being by the time it got to Chicago.) Since there is only a single track, the UP train had to wait until the route was clear. We left before it did so I hope they got on their way before too long.

Commuter Train Without Commuters

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The Altamont Commuter Express or ACE is a train that runs from Stockton to San Jose each day. It brings commuters from inland to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley stopping off en route to pick up and drop off passengers. It only runs on weekdays so I never normally see them operating although I have visited their team for work in the past. However, they do run special services when the 49ers are playing at home.

I decided to head out one Sunday when the train was due. I occasionally need shots of trains for work proposals and presentation usage so thought I should get some stock shots. There is a crossing south of Pleasanton that I went to. You get a good view of the train as it approaches. I set up with one camera and had a second with a wider lens closer to the crossing with a remote. Sadly, despite my testing, I had pulled the plug on the remote slightly out by mistake and it didn’t fire. However, I did get the main shots I was after.