Day 14: Flagstaff to Kingman

Time to head West. Packed up and hot footed it down the Interstate to Seligman. Took Rt66 at the first opportunity and was soon paralleling the railway, where I saw some possible good photo spots on the way down. Pulled into Seligman only to find the Sno Cap was closed for winter, so no malt for me today. Wandered down to the tracks and found this old barn along the way:

(Note the lovely weather)

Down at the tracks I could see a WB train quickly approaching town, so lined up for a shot. Found some really old looking track in the yard, reminded me of an old western movie.

Cruised back up Rt66 to my previously identified photo spots and even before I'd got there I cold see a light off in the distance heralding an approaching train.

Continued on to my actual spot and could see another approaching train off in the distance. While waiting for it, I saw something in the sky approaching me…

BNSF Special Agents out looking for a blue Ford Explorer?

I'm not aware of any military bases nearby, although there is a National Guard base up near Flagstaff so maybe he was heading there? Meanwhile, an EB had zoomed past me and crossed the rapidly approaching EB.

Climbing up the hill, note the west bound train in the disntance

This time I had found a good little bluff to stand on and got some great full throttle run bys from this little spot. As the tail end of the train passed me, a headlight flicked onto the horizon and the next EB started making its way towards me. This process repeated several more times; in total I think I got four heavy trains working their way up towards me in the space of an hour. Not bad!

Continued on my way to Kingman under heavy gray skies.

On the long run down the hill into Kingman the weather started to lift, and the mountains there took on their usual stunning appearance. Behind the Mojave airport there was fresh snow on the mountains and the sun was starting to dip under the clouds.

No sooner had I arrived in Kingman than I spied a train leaving town, so rapid U turn and chased him back up the hill.

I was pleased to discover that railfanning along this part of the line is very easy, with little access tracks through the desert to each bridge and signal, so there were no problems getting off the highway for photo ops.

The storm lighting was a very pleasant surprise too, and definitely made up for the gray skies earlier in the day. Nothing lights up more vividly than BNSF orange under storm lighting!

Containers over a small crest in the line.

Having finished chasing the EB, I returned once again to town. Passed a truck stop with no less than 24 trucks visible, and that's just the visible ones! Trucking is serious stuff out here.

Called in at the yard and spied a par of Dash-8 40BW warbonnets basking in the sun, although they were a "little" tired looking. Also spied a old "yellow bonnet" loco, which made for an interesting and colourful array of local shunt power.

 

Shunt power basking in the sun at Kingman, AZ.

The skies were now quite stunning with all sorts of layers of clouds going on.

I checked into the "Hill Top Motel" which was very 50s, although a little expensive at $47, but not to worry as I've budgeted for $60/night accommodation so any left over goes into the Train Fund.

Since Kingman Canyon is literally only a few blocks away I went over there to see what was happening. Now that all the rattley things are asleep (I hear they can get quite aggressive around here) I had no qualms bounding up the rocks to have a look around. Found a great little rock seat to sit on and watch the sun set, and eventually a train came past, although I was surprised how quiet things were.

Went and had dinner at a 50s diner that was resplendent in white with hot pink trim and lovely red leather seats. For an entirely reasonable $15 I had beef soup as a starter with crackers, and then chicken fried steak with fries, beans, carrots, country gravy and root bear for my main. Chicken fried steak for the curious is thin steak (like schnitzel) that is coated in flour and then fried, much as you'd fry chicken and hence the name. It's really quite nice.

So Kingman gets the thumbs up for turning on some much improved weather and a lovely meal. It's a nice enough wee town, fairly small and unassuming, although their local radio station, call sign KGMN, is called Super Country!