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Thanks guys. More to come soon I hope. Too much work, too little time to chase birds and trains
I was out in the Central Valley and combined a bird sighting trip with some train watching, as there is usually pretty good action for BNSF out this way.
I think this is an ore train? Anyway, it was holding on the siding near Escalon and you can just make out the Amtrak San Joaquin (in push mode) passing it full speed heading for Bakersfield.
Amtrak coming through by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
A different view
Waiting at Escalon by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
20140104-AO6A3525 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
The other side of Escalon (in between Escalon and Riverbank)was a mixed freight idling on a different siding.
Mixed freight idling south of Escalon by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
BSNF 4358 at Escalon Ca by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
I waited a while to see if anything else came by, but it was lunchtime, so back to Escalon and Taco Bell, then back to the other side of town toward Stockton where I caught another manifest going full speed south.
BNSF fast freight crossing Arthur road at Escalon Ca by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
BNSF 5351 plus 4 speeding toward Escalon by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Heading home, I pulled off on a small road right at the end of the Stockton yard and caught an intermodal heading out with some CP help.
Leaving Stockton with CP assist by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Powering up out of Stockton by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
The light and air quality that day were abysmal, so I tried a few different ways of processing a couple of the shots.
Escalon Ca by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Sidelined by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Back in my neck of the woods, as far as UP goes, they are doing major track work on the old Cal P, so other than Amtrak, I haven't seen much freight traffic at all. They may be doing it at night. Hopefully it will pick up soon.
Train #1 is a ballast train; the discharge chutes and solar panels on the sides of the ballast hoppers are a pretty good clue.
Back closer to home, traffic on the Stockton sub seems to have picked up lately.
I caught a mixed freight with some UP guest help at #2 crossing Hwy 4 at Collier
BNSF 5369 crossing Hwy 4 at Hercules Ca by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
BNSF GE and UP EMD on the Stockton Sub by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
And its always fun to see a big freight head right through the downtown park
Rolling through the park by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
I caught the San Joaquin with one of the new(old) car sets and cabbage car.
New San Joaquin coaches and cabbage car passing Point Pinole by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Amtrak California Cabbage Car by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
I purchased the new Tamron super zoom last week. 150-600mm. Mainly for birds and wildlife, but up near the Sacramento NWR I pressed it into service to capture the California Northern "Corning Flyer"
California Northern502 heading toward Willows Ca along old 99w by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
The lens works pretty well on critters too!
Tamron test 20 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
This was near Maxwell California
The Corning Flyer by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
And right near my home, they are construction a new "Transit Center" in Hercules. There will eventually be a Capital Corridor stop here when it is complete.
Dash 8 running by the future Hercules Amtrak station by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Capital Corridor crawling thorugh a work zone in Hercules by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
For now though, they are slowly nicely for ongoing track work that make it easy to get some interesting shots.
Driving the Corridor by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
More to come as always…
Nice shots. Are you able to handhold the 150-600 zoom?
Nice shots. Are you able to handhold the 150-600 zoom?
Thanks Bil. Yes it's light enough to handhold as long as you remember that at 600mm you really need to keep the shutter sped up there. It's no match for the big whites, but it is one tenth of the price.
Warbonnets have been pretty common on the Stockton sub
Out of the tunnel by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Sunday Z by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Z train in thirsty terrain by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Mt. Tamalpais in the background
Crossing Over 4 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Continuing with the Santa Fe heritage on this line, the old geeps making a run out to the carbon plant in the canyon
Outbound local with 2 old ATSF geeps by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Heading to the Carbon Plant by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Local heading east in the canyon by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
This time the in the lead spot
Out of the haze by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Empty autoracks heading east by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
BNSF 746 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Orange engines are a challenge in black and white. This train was about half covered hoppers and half tanks.
BNSF 6985 monochrome in the canyon by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Motive Power by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
BNSF 6895 Westbound toward Christie by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Some railfans far younger than myself were very excited about the KCS unit on the Saturday UPS Z
Railfans by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
KCS Sandwich by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Getting ready to spot the UPS cars at North Bay
Saturday UPS delivery to North Bay by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Done and heading for the barn about 3 miles down the track at the Richmond yard.
BNSF 4088 heading to the barn by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
There just hasn't been that much UP freight traffic during daylight lately as trackwork continues on the Martinez sub.
Your photos illustrate quite dramatically the drought that has California in its grip. They look like they were taken in July instead of February.
I don't have time for a big post, but I have to share this consist I caught on a easttbound double stack last Sunday. It was a very fun day for train watching in Franklin Canyon, as there were 5 westbound trains and this east bound, which after entering the siding at collier had to wait for over 3 hours for the next 4 westbounds to clear. I will have more pics once I catch up.
3 Warbonnets, a Citirail and a CP unit that has seen better days. We don't usually get such interesting motive power on the Stockton Sub. The first shot was shot with my5D3 and new Tamron 150-600mm, although it's actually at 302mm according to the exif:
Warbonnet entering Collier by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Switching to my 7D with the Sigma 18-240 for a wide angle shot. I love the hand painted "CP" on number 4:
No Oragne Allowed by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Wow, love the first photo of them splitting the signals.
Quite the lineup there!
Nice shots. I have found the 5DIII/telephoto zoom + 7D/wide angle zoom is a very convenient combo to carry where you may be photographing both birds and trains.
Nice shots. I have found the 5DIII/telephoto zoom + 7D/wide angle zoom is a very convenient combo to carry where you may be photographing both birds and trains.
Thanks Bill. Yes, I try to keep the whole focal range with me, without having to change lenses. I would rather use my 5d2 and 5d3, but this great little Sigma, the 18-250 is an EF-S lens. The closest equivalent full frame lens is a monster Canon 28-300L, that has too much overlap with several other lenses I have. For trains, the APS-c and Siggy are a good enought combo, as long as I keep it stopped down to about f8.
Catching up on some older ones…You can see the effects of the drought in the first pics, and then a couple of weeks ago, we did get one good soaking rain, which really didn't dent the drought much, but has at least turned the hills a bit green.
This one took the siding and was slowing to a halt, so I figured that a westbound was approaching
Power Portrait by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
I was right
Eastbound stack at Sycarmore Ave by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Even though I was chasing the setting sun, I headed out to Christie
Eastoubnd stack at Christie by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
The shadows can make a nice ffect if you catch them right
Heat Waves by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Eastbound stack approaching tunnel 3 by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Finally we got a small dose of rain!
Back to Ozal by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Work Horses of the Martinez Sub by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Union Pacific in the Neighborhood by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Running light to pick up a train in Antioch
BNSF 4022 at the defect detector by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Heritage in the canyon by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Every Sunday sees an empty vehicle train.
Tilt-shift look for vehicle train in Franklin Canyon by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
East bound by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Wow, I had more than I thought, so I will end with shots of my first sighting of Citirail units here in the bay area.
Citirail assist passing the farm by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Westbound and wet by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
BNSF 5681 plus Citirail in Franklin Canyon by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
CREX 1302 at Collier by
lennycarl08, on Flickr
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!! Great Photography! Love them!
Some of your best. I look for updates on your thread every week.
Paul Z.
Some of your best. I look for updates on your thread every week.
Paul Z.
No pressure there.
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