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ROAD TRIP
DAY 2
Day 2, Saturday, 10/15/01
At 0400 I decide it is time to hit it. Dropped into the local gas pusher for coffee and ice, no gas yet. Headed to Wildcat Loadout to check on the action. It was dead just as I had thought. Got off a shot of the X-buck there and headed for the powerplant at Willow Creek. Wanted to see if I could get off a couple of night shots there. Needless to say they did not turn out well. This is where a good old film camera shines if you know how to use it. Paul has a couple of good shots there.
Back to the gas pusher for a refill on the coffee. Sure tastes good this morning. Head off to Ridge Road to check out the CV Spur. No action there. It is now after 0600 and time for a B&G fix at the local greasy spoon. The ambience of this place on a five star rating is one point on a star. Reminds me of a Chineese joint on the north shore of Oahu. The service and ambience both would not even rate a point. The food was the best I ever had. It was kind of a locals only place.
Now that I had my fix, it was off to Mounds to a new site to set up. Got set up and waited for the scanner to go off. The scanner finally went off at 0800. It was the MDVRO trying to make it up the hill to mounds. Seems they only had two units on it and one was sick. Finally I could hear it. Not a good sound. Finally at 0820 it came limping by at about 10 to 15 MPH.
Here's where it gets good. Seems there is a west bound coal behind the MDVRO running 2+2. Being there is no helpers in Helper, they both have to tie down at Wash. No way that coal train will make it out of Helper with only four units. #6 is almost to Helper and needs to get by. At 0840 here comes the coal train.
West bound coal with a SD90/43AC on the point.
West bound coal help.
More chatter on the scanner. Seems the crews on both the MDVRO and the coal train are going dead on the law. They are bussing in crews. Not only that, the signals at the west switch at CV Spur are not working. Every train has to stop and check the switch and be talked through the red signal. There is also an empty coal train in Helper that is tryng to get to CV Spur. Nice day to be a Disptcher. He is real calm on the two-way. Kind of like, I may get this mess fixed, I hope. Also the MRODV is almost to helper along with a light unit move. Finally at 0910 the #6 makes it through the mess, trips the detecter and comes around the corner.
#6 at Mounds.
The Dirt Train finally gets out of Helper and is heading East. Still a lot of chatter about dead units, no help, dead crews and broken signals. No Utah RY talk so they must be off for the weekend. At 0925 the detecter goes off west of Mounds and here comes the Dirt Train. Still has the Yeller thing in the middle.
Dirt Train a Mounds.
Time to leave Mounds and head back to town. The two photo locations at Mounds are only good for a few hours in the morning and after the Dirt Train there are usually nothing until the "Z" in the afternoon. Once in a while a stray BNSF will roam through. With the UTAH not running and trying to recover from yesterday, it was time to head out of Dodge. Never did drop by the Helper Yard. Dropped be the local gas pusher and took on a tank to get me over the hill.
Made it just past the Utah RY Jct. and here comes the MRODV with a lot of power on the point. At least six units, all big AC's. Just past the power plant at Willow Creek ran into the light unit move. Didn't have time to count but there were a lot of them, all big AC's.
Had a lot of fun running over the hill. The wind was blowing down Price Canyon real hard. Makes good for good gas milage, NOT. Nothing seen until I got to Castilla. It was a DGHX (North American Chemical) unit train heading east. When I got home, the wide angle lens I had ordered was waiting for me. New toy for next trip.
Day 1.5
Day 2
Last Update 10/15/01
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