Day 12: Seligman Sub Railfanning

Sun! What a difference a bit of sunshine can make. Slept in thinking it'd be another gray day; the weather forecast hadn't been very encouraging. Was confused when I went into the toilet and the window was blue; looked outside and Flagstaff was bathed in glorious sunshine. As I was gawking :the earthworm" roared past outside in full throttle. The earthworm is a unit grain train, full of brown BNSF grain hoppers. When stretched out it looks like a long brown worm, hence the name. Today it was in a 3x3x2 configuration, i.e. 3 head end locos, 3 mid train helpers, and 2 rear end DPUs. Even more excitingly the rear DPU was a warbonnet.

So in about 5 minutes flat I dressed, washed, packed the car and was on the road heading East, determined to catch the worm. A few miles out of town at Bellemont I made a carefully timed drive-by shot on the overbridge.

Onwards I went to Parks/Maine. Great wee spot, and bow was I in for a treat here. First up the worm came round the corner and eased down the hill.

See why they call it the worm? Stunning location, Ponderosa Pines, crisp clear skies, and snow capped San Francisco mountains; hard to go wrong.

Head end power; mostly Dash-9s from memory

MId train power: more Dash-9s; Read end DPUs: more Dash-9s, including a warbonnet.

Jumped in the car and roared across the crossing, but while looking up and down the tracks I spied a headlight. Did a quick U turn and got back in position for train #2.

 

More GEVOs on an double stacker; but this is the BNSF transcon afterall. A recent Trains magazine article listed 200 trains on the transcon at once. At an average of 4 locos per train that is 800 locos on the go at once. Wow… and just to totally humble things the BNSF have 6000 locos. Kiwirail have a couple of hundred. The UP have a similar number of locos too. They sure don't do things by halves over here!

Was so busy filming that train roar past I almost didn't notice the engineer leaning out the window taking a photo of me; he was grinning his head off and gave a huge wave though :-) Hopped in the car again… same drill, another headlight. Back in position and waited, but it wasn't moving, so went for a stomp through the snow to see what was happening. A nearby dog very helpfully barked at me, as if I cared. This is my snow thankyouverymuch.

Soon saw the mystery train #3 crossing the worm. Jogged back and soon caught it up, then overtook it! Sounds impressive but it was coming to a stop so even a snail would've eventually managed that feat. Still… I raced a train on foot in the snow and won :-)

Having successfully overtaken the freight train I snapped another shot and wandered back to the car.

Looking sharp there Mr Swoosh. Shortly after train #4 — yes Parks turned on a four train meet for me — was seen making an approach. Huge train this one: 3 locos and 2 wagons.

Shame the Dash-8 40BW is so tired. I wonder if they'd let me take it home and repaint it? So that just left #3 sitting waiting for permission to proceed. Went and got the video camera; there was no way I was going to miss a stationary start of a double stacker on a grade. And boy was it worth it, she was an absolute screamer, too bad my camera ran out of tape 10 seconds into it…!!!!!!!!! Never mind, got a photo instead.

Four trains in 45 minutes. Not bad!

Continued on to Williams where I found the old railway line. Sat there pondering where to go next and just as I turned on the indicator this puppy rounded the corner, completely unexpected:

 

Old railway line or not it's still being used. Seems it is start of the line to Phoenix.

Onwards I went and 40 minutes later I was at Seligman, and guess who I should see as I rounded the corner but Mr Worm.

Knowing Seligman well (there isn't much to learn) I was soon in position to capture the crossing that seemed to be taking place:

Very good, very good. Onwards I raced, remembering there was a great canyon just around the corner. Well , an hour and a half later and I knew it must be just around the next corner! I'm sure they've added a bit more to Route 66 since last time I drove it. Never mind, it's a very peaceful drive with Burma Shave signs to keep you occupied. "If daisies are / your favourite flower / then keep on pushing / those miles per hour / Burma Shave!" they read on successive signs.

Found my rock and climbed into position. Set everything up perfectly for Mr Worm only to hear an almighty grumbling from the opposite direction; did a quick reposition and got a a great double stacker "slogging its guts out", as I would say. Got a friendly toot and wave; judging by the very well worn track up to this lookout I'm certainly not the first to come up here; heck there are even fairly well established parking spots on the road!

Worth an hour and half drive? I'll say! Best part about winter railfanning out here is all the bitey & rattly things that AZ is famous for are asleep, so it's just like being back home. So as I was busy listening to quadruplet of GEVOs singing their hears out I noticed the worm coming round the corner; ahah, perfect, did a quick repo and…

Crossing on Route 66

BNSF unit grain train crossing near Valentine on Route 66, AZ / Mid train helpers.

Not a bad spot huh? I figured I might as well follow the worm, after all I'd driven all this way. Hopped in the car and after 10 minutes still couldn't see the end of her; they move quick out here. What I did see though was an approaching headlight, so did a rapid turn around complete with squealing tires and roared back to "my rocks".

Around the corner she came and oh was she singing a sweet song!

Arizona on a nice day is pretty darn hard to beat. Jumped in the car and roared back, knowing I'd get a passable shot at Peach Springs. By now the sun was getting low and the drive there was amazing.

And that reminds me I really need to clean my polarising filters. Arrived at Peach Springs and guess what; another 3 train meet! Unfortunately a bit of a wait here, I have no idea what they were doing but they weren't being very quick about it.

Sitting waiting… / getting creative while waiting…

Things started moving after about 20 minutes. The heat shimmer here was pretty impressive, made for some rather wobbly telephoto shots. Imagine what it must be like here in Summer!

 

The low sun on the autoracks makes for a nice effect. Then mr stack train started moving; impressive noise and there was a very smoky engine in there somewhere.

By now it was time to head home, the sun had nearly set and I wouldn't get any more railfanning shots today. So on I drove… good couple of hours to get back to Flagstaff. Had to feed the car, show her any kind of hill, even a speed bump, and you can watch the fuel gauge go down. I don't know how these guys in Ford F450 pickups/trucks/tanks manage it. Had to wait 10 minutes at the "Gas N Grub" while a huge (native) Indian guy bought one of everything-with-sugar-in-it, and enough fizzy to fill a swimming pool. Was that dinner? I hope not. He then drove from the shop to the pump, after all it was a pretty demanding 10 paces away.

Back on the road I caught the sun setting and… WOW-OH-WOW.

How do they do it???? Does God have a hotline to Arizona? He surely must live somewhere between southern Utah and northern Arizona, landscape that amazing just isn't supposed to exist outside of National Geographic and calendars. Also, notice how the moon sits differently up here. The new moon is amazing, it looks like it is lying on its back.

Amazing flashing blinking neon motel sign in Seligman.

Drove on some more and got a couple more train shots at night, but nothing worth sharing. Arrived back in Flagstaff and went to the Downtown Diner for a burger. As soon as they served it I had to laugh, remembering how Angela would mutter because they didn't put the top on the burger :-)

Came back to the motel and saw the UP Mopac heritage loco cruising by. Not sure what a UP loco is doing on the BNSF, didn't realise they had trackage rights on the transcon.

137 photos, not bad for a days work. Amazing the difference a bit of sunshine can make. I am very tempted to stay here in Flagstaff as long as the sun keeps shining. There is so much more of it to explore, especially some of the less accessible spots. I have a 4x4, so I might as well use it — Canyon Diablo certainly comes to mind. Out east there is the Apache railway with its Alcos (rumoured to cause raised blood pressure and profuse sweating upon sight, and heart attacks upon hearing), and the famous Cosnino Road. Out west there is a malt at Seligman with my name on it, and many less travelled tracks out in the Kiabab forest to explore. Montana can wait!