Chasing the Train

We were sitting here yesterday morning, enjoying our coffee/computer time when Sue got a text from her daughter, Rachyl.  The had just driven by Neely mansion near the Auburn/Black Diamond exit of Highway 18

"There are a lot of people milling around the railroad tracks with cameras down here."

After a few exchanges, Sue got interested enough that she put some clothes on and drove down there to investigate.  I couldn't go--I was busy eating cold pizza (yum!).  After a few minutes she called me and said a steam engine train was on its way through.  By this time I had finished my breakfast of cold pizza (yum!) so I got dressed and drove down.  For the people that don't know where we live, that's only about 3 miles.

There were quite a few photographers there staking out spots in various places.  Sue was right up alongside the tracks with her eye on catching it as it came around a curve near her.  I was going to stay with her but go slightly up the tracks and onto the other side of a wooden trestle, but when I got to it and saw no way to cross other than the middle of the tracks I chickened out.  After all, I've seen movies, read stories, and I'm not stupid.  Besides, there was a river below and I didn't want to fall through either.  I had gone back around by my car and was barely across the river on the road bridge (where there were also a couple photographers camped) when I heard the unmistakeable whistle of a steam locomotive in the distance--apparently crossing the road about two miles away.  I hurried back to grab a spot right on the middle of the car bridge that afforded a good view of the trestle over the river.  After a few minutes I saw the bright white steam billowing through the trees as it approached.  When I saw it, it wasn't what I expected.  It was a racy, sexy-looking engine that looked like it was designed to pull passengers cross-country at high speeds!  Behind it were several retro passenger cars that were equally cool-looking.  While none of my pictures were all that outstanding (I'm going to blame the crappy white sky for most of it because you almost can't tell the steam from the sky), here are a couple:


When it was all done and gone, I noticed some SUV cop cars pulling up and checking things out.  As I walked up to where Sue was, he was out of his car and was definitely interested in intercepting her as she came up the bank to the road.  It turns out they were all BNSF railroad cops (in full cop gear) and were apparently following the train on its entire historic run between Tacoma and Easton, which is on the other side of Snoqualmie Pass.  He asked for her ID and wrote her name and info on his little pad, all the while explaining how she was trespassing, etc, etc.  I guess they picked that spot because it was real easy to get to.  You know how cops are--They don't want to work any more than anyone else does...

After that fiasco, we jumped in her car and left mine there, and sped up Highway 18 to a crossing spot we knew of near our local Costco store.  There were a lot of photographers there as well.  A lot of traffic goes by that little road and people were constantly rolling down their windows and asking what was going on as they went by.  After a few minutes, we were greeted once again by the beautiful train (this time no cops though!):


I got a kick out of the people that were on the train, obviously having the time of their lives waving at everyone as they went past.  These guys here looked like they were kids again:


Later on we were wondering aloud if we might get shots of it when it makes its return trip.  Sue did a little internet digging and found out some arrival and departure times and its beginning and turnaround point and we figured out about what time it should be coming back through.  We wanted to get a good spot where we would have the shots we wanted with nobody around, so we explored a little--finally finding one that looked good.  We went back home, and when it was time we grabbed our gear and headed back out.  We hung out on the tracks for quite a while, patiently waiting and testing various spots to shoot from.  She was down the tracks from me and I was under a trestle where a small road passed overhead.  After what seemed like an hour (I forgot to look at my clock when we arrived) she texted me: "5 more minutes?  10?"  I was just typing my reply when we heard its whistle up the tracks where it was crossing at the Costco area we were at earlier in the day.  After only a couple minutes it came around the curve in the distance.  It was moving a lot slower and didn't have the big plume of white coming out of it's top.  Apparently it was kind of decelerating or coasting as the tracks might have had a slight downhill to them.  We were a little disappointed because the sky was bright blue and the white would have looked awesome under it.  Here's what I did get as it went by me just a few feet away:


It was a fun day of train chasing.  Definitely something we didn't have planned!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

And to think, when I called to tell you about all the photo geeks hanging out by the tracks, you actually asked "why'd you call us?" Haha

I'm glad you had fun!! Photo geek.

Rach