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ROAD TRIP
DAY 1
Day 1, Monday, 04/09/01
Got lazy for this Road Trip. Decided to hit the road when I got around to it. Stop by the local gas pusher and take on three tanks for the Train Chaser and head south to Helper and beyond. Turn on the scanner at Spanish Fork and head on up the hill. Scanner is quiet as I head over the top and down the hill to Helper. At Willow Creek I spot my first train. It is the MDVRO-8. What is it doing here at 1030 in the morning. Have never seen it this early. There was a T-2 buried in the consist.
Head on down to Helper. Martin yard is dead as is Helper. Only one T-2 in town. Head for Wildcat. Nothing. On down the road to CV Spur. Bare. Decided to head for the Sunnyside Sub to check on the Dirt Train. I thought I might run into Dave Abeles from NJ out there. He was in town for a week and I was to meet up with him this evening at Groog's for dinner.
No sign of any Grande units any where. Come to find out later, they had gone up to the end of the line for beans. Dave was also up there talking to them. I thought they had already headed back to Helper. I guess that is what I get for thinking.
Headed back to Helper. The scanner was quiet so decided to grab a bite to eat, check into the motel and take a nap. In all this time, the only work on the scanner was a Utah RY coal heading to Wildcat. He wouldn't be loaded until 1600.
Get up from a good nap and head for Wildcat Loadout. There are about 20 cars from being finished and could not see the power. When they load out, they just pull up and start in heading down hill. When finished they move the power to the head end and head for Martin for the help.
Back to Helper and get a couple of shots of the Dirt Train power returning from Sunnyside.
T-2's in the pit.
About this time the scanner comes to life. The Utah coal is heading to Martin. My main two motives for this trip was to spend a couple of days chasing trains with Dave and get pictures of the MK5000C's in the new Utah RY livery. My first wish was granted as soon as the coal train pulled out of the tunnel at Martin. This was the MK5000C's first run in the new paint. It was getting late and the clouds were playing with the light. They were having a problem with one of the units so took a while to fix that. In the mean time, I headed to Utah RY Jct to set up.
By this time it is 1845, clouding up fast and have to meet Dave at 1900 at Grogg's. Get to Grogg's about one minute ahead of Dave and his friend who came along on the trip. One of Dave's main objectives was to chase an all Grande "M" or "Z" across the desert. That would take a bunch of luck. I had got my shots a few minutes earlier of what I wanted ;^).
Finally get out of Grogg's at 2130 and head for the motel. It has been a long day. Put in my 0530 wake-up and retire.
Last Update 04/13/01
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