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Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Seligman Subdvision

One of the first orders of railfanning business after I arrived in Phoenix was to head up Flagstaff and check out big show on the BNSF's main through northern Arizona. This is the original transcontinental line of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe and it's as busy as ever. In a single day, as many as 100 trains ply the two pairs of steel rails that stretch across the state and crest the Arizona divide. The freight is hot and the speeds are fast. Trains are loaded up with the biggest, newest locomotives and much of the line has 70 mph speed limits for freights, and 90 for Amtrak. I wasn't disappointed with what I saw.

  1. A westbound speeds down the western slope of the Arizona divide under the majestic San Francisco Peaks
  2. The Southwest Chief heads east under the San Francisco Peaks.
  3. An eastbound intermodel train rolls under the signal bridge in East Flagstaff in the pre-dawn light.
  4. Container trains pass in Crozier Canyon.
  5. A westbound is dwarfed by the mountains near East Perrin.
  6. An eastbound enters the cut at East Perrin behind a typical mix of BNSF power.
  7. East of Flagstaff, a grain train snakes through an S-curve.
  8. On a stormy afternoon, an eastbound speeds along the mainline relocation at Double A.
  9. A westbound coasts down the Arizona Divide near Williams Junction.

These next shots aren't in Arizona--they're in New Mexico, on the Raton Pass line. Semaphores are a fast-disappearing piece of railroad history, and I had to shoot a few on the way back home in August.

  1. Amtrak's Westbound Southwest Chief splits the blades at MP 791.2.
  2. The Eastbound Southwest Chief passes a pair of semaphores and a wind mill as it approaches Wagon Mound, NW.
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