Railfanning Washington State

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And the shot we were scoping out early, this time much better with an actual train in the shot:

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Of course, we have a moving train now, and the sun is just getting better... so we hopped in the car and ran down the road to the sand pile again, so that we could catch this guy in the morning light snaking through those glorious S-curves:

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One more, just because I like this spot a lot:



I'm keeping these nice and big, so it's worth clicking on that yellow bar above the picture to see it full size and undistorted.

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We drove back into Wenatchee when we spotted another Eastbound running out of the yard. We backtailed it to the bridge shot location, and made plans to shoot the hat trick with this one... bridge, S-curves, and all the way back to Trinidad Loop!

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First goal: The bridge.

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As we were headed back to the S-curves, I spotted a diverging clear into Columbia Siding as we were hauling up the hills just past the damn. John quickly pulled off the road and we ran out to try and figure out what was going on with our Stack Train and the hat trick attempt. If he was going to be parked in the siding, we didn't want to miss the Westbound, and be waiting forever at the sand pile. It turned out to be a wise move, first of all for this shot across the dam: (bonus goal #1)

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And secondly for this shot over a short deck bridge. This is taken from the same perch as the previous shot, and is a photo I really like: (bonus goal #2)

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And a third shot, passing that diverging clear I spotted from the highway and into Columbia River siding: (bonus goal #3... mini-hat trick?)

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With our stack train obviously parked in the siding, and with a great photo perch under foot, we decided to camp out here to figure out what was coming Westbound: A few minutes later we get a headlight:

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And crossing that neat little bridge:



Mopar or no car!

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Our stack train started moving, so we jumped back in the car and made it out to the sand pile with plenty of time to spare. While waiting for the train, An even better automobile headed past...



Mopar or No Car!

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You guys are probably getting bored of this set of curves... but here's another anyway:

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And for the hat trick we talked about earlier... John figured out that 20 x 2 = 40mph, so we hauled down the gravel road and scrambled up the hill just in time to catch our second train at the horseshoe curve:

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And on the curve itself:

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And another: