Railfanning the Sacramento Valley

Here’s a really neat video chronicling the modern-day action in the Sacramento River Valley. See hy-rail trucks, military flatcar loads, and even the return of a consist of california zephyr cars to mark the anniversary of the original WP-CB&W-DRGW name train.

 

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/9iG-KMf2-W8&hl=en_US&fs=1&”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/9iG-KMf2-W8&hl=en_US&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

A Railfan Report

On Monday 7/20/09 I went to Binney Junction in Marysville, CA to do some railfanning with a friend. Binney Junction is a diamond where the WP (now UP Sacramento Sub) and the SP (now UP Valley Sub) cross each other. The first train I saw at Binney was a southbound BNSF manifest heading south on the Sacramento Sub, it had one GEVO and two C44-9W’s, the 2nd C44-9W was a treat, because it was still in Santa Fe Warbonnet paint. The next 2 trains were southbound UP manifests, and both were on the Valley Sub. The next, and last train to pound the diamond on the Sacramento Sub was a southbound UP stack train, which was lead by an SD70M. After the stack train came the “Rocklin Rocket” which was a local that used to run from Roseville – Ostrom, but it now runs from Roseville – Oroville, it was southbound and was transferring from the Sacramento Sub to the Valley Sub. After the Rocket came the southbound “Redding Turn,” which is a train that runs from Roseville – Redding and return, the train was lead by a GEVO. The next train was a northbound manifest, and was lead by a GEVO. After that came 2 back to back northbound intermodals, and they were both lead by GEVOs, and that would be it for us, and it was time to call it quits, so we went home.

It was a great day at the diamond.

A Railfan Report 6/23/09

(Delayed due to vacation, the SP Turntable article will appear monday)

On Monday 6/22/09 RailfanHunter went to Haggin Junction to catch 2 special trains in one day. The first train of the day and the only train I saw on the Sacramento Sub that day was a northbound BNSF manifest lead by 4 BNSF Heritage II C44-9W’s, one of which had its paint peeling near the roof. The next train was the eastbound California Zephyr Train #6. P42DC’s 85 and 65 were leading the train, which also had a baggage car in Amtrak’s Phase III paint. Next up was westbound San Joaquin Train #701, which was lead by CDTX F59PHI #2004. A few minutes after the passage of 701, other railfans started to show up, which told me that the specials would be rolling through at any minute. I relocated to a different area of the wye to get better angles of the specials. About 3 minutes after I had adjusted my tripod, the Disney Christmas Carol train came into view. after making a slow runby past my camera, the train took the wye, to be turned to go westbound toward San Francisco. As Christmas Carol train was finishing up it’s turnaround at the wye, and was on the west leg preparing to switch back onto the mainline to start its westbound journey to San Francisco, the UP passenger special came into view. I sat at a red signal while the Christmas Carol train cleared the block. After the Christmas Carol train cleared, we wondered why the passenger special hadn’t moved yet, and according to the scanner infomation, the crew on the special was arguing with the railroad museum if they should be wyed, or just roll on through the junction. While this argument was going on we heard the dispatcher direct the ZNPOA intermodal through Haggin and that he did, as it came roaring out from behind the special passing through the interlocking and putting on an awesome show as it headed for Oakland. About five minutes passed before a decision was made with the special and the museum. It was Decided the the special would not wye, but instead bypass the wye, and head into the museum locomotive first. The special was headed by a clean SD70M and had 6 UP passenger cars in tow.

It was a great day for railfanning at the wye.

A Railfan Report 6/15/09

On Sunday 6/14/09 RailfanHunter took the Amtrak Capitol to Davis to do some railfanning. The Davis Wye is a well-known railfan location, it is a Junction between UP’s Martinez Subdivision, and California Northern’s West Valley Subdivision. For those of you who don’t know what California Northern is I’ll give you some information on the railroad. California Northern is a shortline railroad that was formed in 1993. It was formed in response to the Southern Pacific’s “spinning off” of some of their branchlines during the 1980’s. The Southern Pacific had the CFNR serving the industrial spurs along the West Valley Line and Napa branch, including the famous napa pipe company. California Northern’s eaarly roster consisted of former C&NW GP15-1 locomotives, but later they purchased SD9’s, which were later sold to the Fillmore & Western Railroad. They now have purchased several locomotives from leasing companies, including a GP20 still in the failed SP-Santa Fe Kodachrome paint. Now, onto the trains, and my day at Davis.

The first consist I saw were a two California Northern GP15-1s coming in as a light engine move, they went down to pick up a waiting cut of cars on a siding just east of the station platform and the wye. After coupling onto the cut of car the train had to wait for a Union Pacific intermodal to pass. The intermodal was a mix of autoracks and doublestacks, and was headed by an SD70M. After that, several Amtrak Capitols were moving in and out of the station, with their destinations being Emeryville, Sacramento, and San Jose. The next UP train to come through was a stack train headed up by a General-Electric Evolution Series locomotive, this train had a single midtrain helper. After leaving the station for about an hour to have lunch at the In-N-Out Burger, I headed back and was happy to see a green signal, it was for an eastbound Amtrak Capitol Corridor coming into Davis for a station stop. The next and final freight train of the day was an eastbound UP stack train with an Evolution Series locomotive leading, it was a suprisingly short train. After several other Capitol Corridor arrivals and departures, the westbound California Zephyr Train 5 came into view. It was ver confusing, because it went through the station, when it usually stops. It had 2 private cars from the original California Zephyr, which ran from 1949 – 1970.

All and all it was a great day for railfanning at the wye.

Redwood Valley Meet 6/6/09

On Saturday 6/6/09, I and the webmaster were at the Redwood Valley Railway’s annual meet. There were 3 visiting locomotives, along with the usual roster operating. I spent most of my time on the vertical-boiler 1-Spot, which I also got to operate. There were two public trains operating, one of which was a doubleheader. I also had the task of moving tables and chairs from the shops to the roundhouse, all the major moves of the supplies were done with the 1-Spot shunting a flatcar around. When the wood that was brought with the 1-Spot to the railroad was getting low, we hooked the it up to a four-wheel wagon (known as jimmies on the RVRY) and went up to the shop, and with the help of several other people, the old rotten wood pile next to the shops was put to good use. After the wood was in the car, Jay (owner of the 1-Spot), asked who hadn’t ran it yet, and everbody but me had, so I had the chance to take the controls of the locomotive, and I ran it back and forth for a few laps.

This by far was a great day, and for me, a very memorable experience.

A Railfan Report 6/3/09

On Tuesday 6/2/09 RailfanHunter decided to go to a well known Californian train watching location, Union Pacific’s Haggin Junction in Sacramento. Haggin was originally just a flyover between the Southern Pacific and the Western Pacific with the SP on the upper line and the WP on the lower line. After the UP/WP merger in 1982, Haggin became a small interchange yard between the UP and the SP. After the UP/SP merger in 1996, and after UP completely absorbed SP in 1999, Haggin became a wye and junction between Union Pacific’s Martinez and Sacramento Subdivisions. Haggin in the morning hours is great for BNSF fans because of BNSF run-throughs on the Sacramento Sub. It is great for intermodal fans in the afternoon hours, because of heavy UP intermodal traffic over both subdivisions. The Sacramento Subdivision will see more action than the Martinez Subdivision on a daily basis, because the Sacramento Sub is a major line for intermodal traffic over the UP, and is also a major line for the BNSF, so it can transfer to its own tracks (BNSF Stockton Subdivision) at Keddie Junction in Stockton. The Sacramento Sub runs from Stockton – Oroville, and the Martinez Sub runs from Roseville – San Jose. I saw 12 trains during my trip to Haggin; two of which were BNSF freights, four Amtrak Capitols, six UP freights, and a UP highrailer.

It was a great day out at the junction.

A Railfan Report 5/24/09

On Sunday 5/24/09 RailfanHunter decided to railfan the UP Fresno line in Sacramento. I set up at a small yard that had a switcher, an SW1500, but it was parked for the weekend. Today was AC4400 day on the Fresno Sub, because just about every train I saw had an AC4400CW leading. I had 3 major catches, two SP AC4400CW’s, one leading and one trailing, and a light move of 25 locomotives. I saw the daily westbound San Joaquin train #701, and a stack train, as well as a few manifests, Although grain traffic was the heaviest today. I was hoping to see a BNSF train but to no avail.

All and all it was a great railfanning day.

A Railfan Report Special Edition: 5/12/09

On National Train Day (5/9/09) I visited the California State Railroad Museum for their special celebration. Locomotives usually hidden off in the SP Sacramento Shops were pulled out for display. Handcar rides were also given, and in the museum itself there was an Amtrak California coach on display and open for touring, as well as seven tables of railroad themed giveaways, which is always a pleasure to find.

Locomotives on outdoor display:

Southern Pacific E9A 6051

Union Pacific 0-6-0 4466 blowing its whistle on compressed air

Sacramento Northern SW1 402
Sacramento Southern GE44Ton 1240
Sacramento Southern SW8 2030

Union Pacific Motor Coach

…and of course the Granite Rock 0-6-0T was out to pull the Sacramento Southern passenger specials.

The weather was perfect and made for a very enjoyable day.

A Railfan Report Special Edition 4/20/09

On 4/19/09 I visited Roseville for their centennial celebration. There was a magnificent display of locomotives and cars on display at the celebration, probably the best I’ve seen.

Locomotives:

Union Pacific 4-8-4 FEF-3 844
Union Pacific Heritage SD70ACe 1983
Union Pacific Heritage SD70ACe 1996
Southern Pacific E9A 6051
A Southern Pacific Rotary
Two Union Pacific Genset Switchers
Two Union Pacific GP38-2s
Union Pacific GEVO 7909

Note from Hunter, who was on the scene at Roseville Railroad Days:

When I went to see the cab of 844, I dropped my camera from 10ft. but it still works. 844 Only blew her whistle once, and at closing time she blew off some smoke. All and all it was an exciting event and I had a great time.

Here’s the story from Kevin’s POV:

He started high up in Donner Pass capturing the 844 and other freight trains and chased it down the sierras into Roseville, amazingly there was still snow on the ground in some parts.

Before the arrival of 844, he witnessed a quartet of Dash9-44CW’s two of which were old Espee “speedlettered” units on the point, one midtrain, along with the usual sea of UP yellow.

The arrival of 844 was a welcome sight, as seen here from across the river.

Here’s a more dramatic photo of FEF-3 class 844 rounding the curve.
FEF stands for Four-Eight-Four (4-8-4 is the whyte notation for this type of wheel arrangement)

Here’s a great photo of it coasting downgrade in the snow…

The huge Union Pacific steamer needs all of her parts running smoothly, so the crew runs around to grease all the moving parts on the frame and siderods.

The future of US railroading, the GENSET switcher was on display at Roseville, along with the aforementioned locomotives. Overall it was quite a show.

A Railfan Report Special Edition 4/11/09

From 4/2/09 – 4/10/09, I took a trip to Forsyth, MT. Railfanning was a major thing on my agenda. I saw trains at several locations such as Nichols Wye, the mainline just west of Forsyth Yard, Greycliff, Bozeman Pass, and Pocatello, ID. Out of all the trains I only saw one UP locomotive, an SD70M working a baretable with a BNSF SD70ACe, I recorded that train from a gas station in Pocatello, ID on a cold, snowy morning. I didn’t see my next train until I got to Forsyth, it was a BNSF manifest at Nichols Wye, and it was doing 60mph at least, that’s why you here me cheering in the video I took of it, that train made a wind storm. The next day I went to a location I discovered just east Forsyth. It is 6 miles out of the yard so the trains are still at speed. I saw two coal trains at that location, one had an SD70ACe leading, and the other had an SD70MAC leading. Both lashups had SD70MAC’s still in Burlington Northern Executive paint, albeit, patched. At Nichols Wye there is a spur to Colstrip, MT, that spur sees one train every few days, I caught empties returning from Colstrip at Nichols Wye, which is the junction between the spur and the BNSF Forsyth Subdivision. I didn’t see anymore trains in Montana until the journey back home. I saw two trains the journey back, one at Greycliff and one on Bozeman Pass. The train at Greycliff was a Montana Rail Link manifest with 2 MRL SD70ACe’s leading, and 3 BNSF locomotives, it was doing at least 40mph. The last train of the trip was on Bozeman Pass, and it was probably the greatest train I have ever seen, it was a westbound grain train lead by 2 BNSF C44-9W’s one in Heritage I paint, and another in Heritage II paint, the mid-train helpers were 3 Montana Rail Link SD70ACe’s, and the DPU was a BNSF C44-9W still in Santa Fe Warbonnet paint. It was a great trip, and I saw some really great trains at some very scenic locations.