26-AUG-2007
First Light
I'm lucky enough to know a few crew members of the Palouse River & Coulee City Railroad, and in August I contacted a few of those guys and spent the day riding along Union Pacific's Ayer Sub.
My day starts bright and early in Wallula where our train is already put together. As the crew starts the locomotives, and unlocks the hand brakes I snap this picture of the lead locomotive.
(Click on each shot for a larger size)
BLMR 792
Power on today’s train is a matching pair of Blue Mountain Railroad GP35’s; BLMR 792, and 799. These units were originally built for Western Pacific in 1965.
26-AUG-2007
PCC Engineer Tony Viviano
After the engines are started and the hand brakes released Kent walks to the back of the train and gets on the radio and is granted permission from the UP dispatcher to make a reverse movement into a wye near the Boise Cascade plant. Tony and Kent stay in constant communication during the reverse move.
26-AUG-2007
Local Rail Fan
As we make our reverse movement a local rail fan races ahead of us to catch the scene. I joke to Tony and said, “Damn foamers never give us any peace.”
Red Means Stop
We wait for a Red block (red signal) at the wye for an hour for a southbound UP mixed manifest. As we wait Kent fills out paperwork and quizzes Tony on different rules. When the UP train finally arrives, we are all happy to see our signal turn green.
26-AUG-2007
Waiting for 1 @ Page
We make it 20 miles north before we are lined into the siding at Page where the dispatcher informs us that we will be waiting for 1. So I got out stretched my legs and took a picture of our train.
26-AUG-2007
Passing Time
I spend a lot of my time looking up the tracks at the red signal, waiting to see what’s going to be whipping around the bend. I'm excited to see what it will be, and the 3 of us find our own ways to pass the time.
26-AUG-2007
BNSF Coal Train
Riding this line was quite a bit different from the Pleasant Valley sub because there were no meets on that subdivision, and cruising along at 50 MPH on the UP main gave little time to set up for a shot.
About 45 minutes after we pulled into the siding I’m surprised to see a BNSF loaded coal train come chugging through.
26-AUG-2007
Abandoned SP&S Line
Once the coal train passes, our signal once again turns green and we pull back onto the main.
The line follows the banks of the Snake River and Tony points out the old SP&S and NP grades which can bee seen on the other side. The SP&S took the high road out of the gorge, and had several beautiful bridges. The line was abandoned by Burlington Northern in a cost cutting move.
26-AUG-2007
Abandoned SP&S Line
It would have been really cool to catch trains crossing these bridges back in the day.
26-AUG-2007
Approach Medium
Our attention turns to a long series of approach-medium signals we receive on our approach to Avery. Note the large slide detection fence. At first I thought we would be meeting another train, but I soon realize that this is because we have been lined into Ayer to pick up more cars.
