The station in Winchester is the start and finish for most of my workdays at this point. The station is on a long straight section of the main line to Southampton. From the platform, you can see a long way in either direction. Looking south, there are a number of bridges across the track before it curves out of sight. On a misty afternoon, the view looks quite pretty.
While we were staying in Canmore, we got plenty of train traffic passing us by. Most of the time, it was just the regular freight train movements but there was some maintenance work underway in the vicinity and we had a train come by that was not like the others. The locomotive was a different looking beast and it was pulling some flat cars including one with a backhoe loaded on it. I assume that they were heading to or from a work site, but I don’t know where it might have been. They train did look pretty clean so maybe it was not that old?
The location we were staying at in Canmore was very close to the railroad. This is the Canadian Pacific mainline across Canada after leaving Calgary. We had a lot of trains come through night and day, but it was really not terribly disturbing. Not long ago, Canadian Pacific merged with Kansas City Southern to create CPKC. The trains often had a mix of locos from both original companies. I imagine it will be a long time before they are all painted in new colors. Quite a scenic view with the trains in the foreground and the mountains in the background. We did have other operator equipment occasionally showing up in the trains but not too often. I knew someone that would be fascinated by the length of the trains, so I videoed one as it passed. It makes for a long video so be prepared if you watch the link below.
I had to make a quick trip to Denver not long ago. My flight left the morning after the meetings, and it wasn’t too early, so I decided to take the train to the airport rather than an Uber. It was only about a ten-minute walk to Denver Union Station from the hotel and it was a sunny morning, so it felt good to stroll down through the city. The station has been redeveloped with the introduction of the commuter rail services and the general updates to the LoDo area. However, the original station building is still at the heart of the facility. It is a nice-looking structure.
Once inside, the area of the platforms for the services has been modernized. A nice, glazed roof has been added over the platform areas to provide shelter for the passengers waiting for their trains. It has a good feel to it and doesn’t look like it is out of place with the older structures and the newer ones. A pretty good job by the architects in my opinion. It was a brief visit before my train came but a nice way to start the journey home.
My morning trip to the California Science Center could have involved a quick Uber ride but, since I was in LA to discuss light rail projects, it seemed more appropriate that I take the train down there. The station wasn’t too far away, and the E Line dropped me off right next to the park. Whenever I am using some form of transit, I do try to get a photo or two. You never know when they might be useful for a presentation or for adding to a proposal.
The railway that runs from Seattle up to Everett and either on to Vancouver or east across the Cascades crosses a bridge that is just outside the locks at Ballard. The bridge is a bascule bridge and, since there is quite regular boat traffic including sailing boats with high masts, it is frequently opened. The low winter light does a nice job of illuminating the underside of the deck of the bridge when it is open. I was more interested in the shapes at the end of the bridge where the rails end. They are clearly shaped to interlock with the opposite rails on the bridge approach and also to have a shape which allows the wheels to smoothly pass over without some sudden impact forces. As they stand up in the air, they strike me as rather fascinating.
A combination of a travel image and the job stuff today. We were driving from Nairobi to Amboseli on our first full day in Kenya. The road we took initially is the main road to Mombasa which is the principal port for not only Kenya but some of its neighboring countries. Parallel with the road is a railway and, as we headed southeast, a train was coming the other way. A pair of diesel locomotives were pulling the train, and they had a message on the side about their role. I understand they were built by CRRC in China. One for the rail fans who read my blog, I think.
Last year, while we were staying in London, I got to take my first trip on the Elizabeth Line or what was known for a long time as Crossrail. This is a major addition to the transportation network of the town and appears to have been very successful. I only took one trip through the core of town and one to the airport. It was a very quick way to cover a journey that previously was a lot more drawn out. However, the thing that impressed me most was the stations. They are huge. The trains are long from the start, but they have built capacity to have them longer and the platforms are about 250m long as a result. You need to know which end to get out to make sure you don’t find yourself several blocks from where you intended when you get to the surface.
The UK has a large selection of preserved railways. The cuts in the second half of the twentieth century that closed many branch lines provided opportunities for the preservation movement to get going and the result is a lot of lines that you can visit and ride on. They are usually very well run operations. The Watercress Line runs from Alresford to Alton in Hampshire. We wandered past the station in Alresford when we were visiting with some friends there but it wasn’t operating that day.
However, since we were nearby and staying for a long time, I did take the opportunity to nip back out at some point to see the trains in action. I got to see one of the services departing from the terminus at Alresford but, I was a little thwarted on that occasion because the locomotive was billowing steam forwards and almost totally obscuring the view of it from the bridge I was on.
I also stopped off at an intermediate station which had a passing location which allowed trains operating in opposite directions to pass each other and continue on their way. A steam locomotive is quite an impressive thing to watch as it works and a little video does a better job of conveying the impression than stills. Neither will give you the full sensation, though. The smell and the feel if it passing beneath you is hard to replicate.
Our schedule was pretty full and didn’t leave time for playing with train rides but it might be fun to have a ride on this line or another like it when we are next in the area. I’m sure it would be quite fun. However, watching one of these old things at work seems better from the outside than the inside. (The line does run along a ridge that parallels the main road and I would like to go back at some point to try and get some shots of this location too.)
When I first started planning to trip to the Mojave Desert for the Edwards AFB show, a friend of mine in the Midwest was also planning on being there. He said he was also going to visit the Tehachapi Loop. I was vaguely aware of it but decided to look it up. While he ended up not making the trip, I took some time on my last day to go across to see the loop for myself. The Tehachapi Pass is a steep climb for a train to make and, in order for it to climb sufficiently in one section, the engineers that laid out the alignment put in a special configuration.
The trains make a 360 degree climbing turn and, given the length of the trains, the leading part of the train will pass over the top of the back end of the train as it climbs. It is quite something to have a long train twisting around on itself as it climbs the grade. Of course, descending is the reverse but that is less dramatic because the train is braking whereas the climbing trains are working flat out to make it up the hill. The sounds of the locomotives at high power reaches you long before they come in to sight.
When I got there, I had no idea whether I would see a train or not. I had plenty of time but I didn’t know whether the trains were regular on a Sunday. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before a train came into the loop heading down the hill. I watched it negotiate the curves and the parts of the train appear and disappear. The interesting news was, as it got a little further down the hill, it stopped. This looked promising in that it was probably holding for a train coming up the other way. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the sounds of multiple locos pulling hard came up the slope.
There were four locos on the front of the train dragging their load towards the summit of the pass. The cars were stretched out behind them down the grade and, at the back (long after the lead locos had gone), another pair of locos were bringing up the rear. With the train safely by, I decided I wouldn’t hang around to see if there was more traffic. I had a drive back to the airport to do and didn’t need to wait around just in case.