America 2012

Day 7 - Bozeman Pass

Woke up to find it snowing! Not heavily mind you, just a very light dusting that fluttered around in the breeze.

I lay in bed keeping an eye on the yards seeing if anything was happening. A couple of downhill trains came through, including a "no grainer" (empty BNSF grain train). A while later I heard some noise and saw a pair of MRL GP35s heading off, and a few minutes later they started tugging a string of wagons out of the yard. I figured this might be a manifest heading up the hill so went out to watch it. Turns out it was just shuttling around the yard, so I sat and watched for a while. They radioed in and headed off up the wye and then didn't come back. Went off to investigate and found them nearly at the end of the wye "spotting" an industry siding.

I went and watched and got a friendly wave as the snow flakes fell.

The GP35s are quite handsome locos and look good in the M...

Day 6 - West Yellowstone to Livingston, MT

Nothing like starting the day at –19°C! I had a little sleep in and since the heater was working tonight, it was much easier to get up in the morning. Packed and drove off slowly to give the car time to warm up. Drove out to the north, passing through a nice river valley.

Things then opened up as I approached Four Corners. Soon I was passing through Bozeman and then onto familiar teritory as I zoomed along I90 over Bozemand Pass. I was shocked at how little snow there was here; last year it had been well and truely blanketed in the stuff. This year there were just little patches of surface snow in the shadows.

I arrived in Livingston and did the rounds. Montana Rail Link workshops were looking pretty bare, however I was pleased to see that there were still helper units sitting around.

It seems the 5 packs of SD40s have been replaced with SD70ACe-SD40-SD70ACe combos. A...

Day 5 - Yellowstone National Park

3:30am NZ time my alarm goes off, and it's well well well below freezing here in West Yellowstone National Park. I showered, shaved, got rugged up real warm, had a bite to eat and was almost done when I heard a big rumbling outside and mere seconds later a knock on my door. The snow coach had arrived!

I climbed in and we set off. Since I was first to be collected I got the front seat which was extra fun cos I was always first off and had the best view. We collected the rest of the group and set off at a blazing crawl for Yellowstone National Park. There was a thick fog out and it was somewhere in the region of –15 to -20°C!

Yellowstone is the world's first national park, and covers a large chunk of northwestern Wyoming (and a little bit of Montana and Idaho). It's geologically very active with numerous springs, geysers, warm patches and so forth. For some reason, despite not being near any plate boundaries, it is a...

Day 4 - Wells, NV to West Yellowstone, MT

Pewwww smelly motels. There used to be a time where I could tolerate them, but my patience has worn thin and now I die a little inside each time I spend a night in a smelly motel. This one was ok, however the bedding smelled musty and the pillows were positively gruesome, all limp and floppy and musty. Yum yum. So that coupled with the local that decided to warm up his pickup at 6am by revving it repeatedly for 5 minutes, meant I was up pretty early and on the road unfashionably early.

I had a quick snoop around some of my previous hunting spots but no trains were to be seen, which is a shame as the scenery was looking stunning!

I hopped on the road and was soon driving along an endless road towards the Idaho border. I passed some weird rocks there were big and round and just piled up all over the land scape. Looking back there were some stunning views of the ranges.

I stopped at...

Day 3 - Lake Tahoe, CA to Wells, NV

Ahh Nevada, a state I can understand. California is all fast and noisy, but Nevada… such vast open spaces, and such amazing scenery.

Lazy start today, packed the SUV and was off on my way. Wonderfully clear and sunny, the internet reckoned it was -8°C outside but the car said 0°C which seemed closer to the truth; regardless it was slightly chilly but hardly unpleasant. Drove over the top and was soon on I80. Approaching the Nevada border I saw flumes alongside the freeway, from what I've found these days from the mining days.

Past Reno I thought I saw a nuclear reactor, but turns out it's a combined cycle plant and a gas power station. I stopped in at Reno to visit Wal-Mart and got thoroughly lost, but eventually emerged with clothes, pyjamas, hundreds & thousands coated chocolate donut holes, contact lens cleaner, and some dried cranberries! Just what a boy needs on the road.

Soon I was out of the...