May 20, 2006
last updated: 01/03/07
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© 2000-2007 Dave Honan
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David.Honan
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GorgeRail Day 2Saturday morning I was once again out at 05:30, and once again skunked by clouds. As it turned out, the railroad was thoroughly screwed up as the dispatcher tried to deal with two opposing Z trains and No. 27, along with a bunch of other less-important trains. |
| Home Valley, WA |
 |
After completely screwing up a shot of the eastbound Z, I set up near Home Valley to catch the westbound Z-CHCPTL2-17A approaching the MP 61.0 defect detector. I specifically wanted to do a photo from this spot after a similar effort from three years previous was spoiled by an unexpected cloud. |
| Home Valley, WA |
 |
I figured the late-running No. 27 wouldn't be too far behind the Z, and I was pretty much wrong;
it was another 55 minutes before the Empire Builder leaned through C-61 at track speed. With the two hotshots out of the way, I figured I should pack up and move east to find someplace to set up for the eastbounds that were sure to be stacked up towards Vancouver. Turns out I was wrong about that, since the dispatcher had a loaded grain train following Amtrak. I was halfway down the slope to SR 14 when I got a panicked phone call from Robert Scott informing me of the imminent arrival of the train. He had barely hung up when the train arrived; no photo for me, so I headed east. |
| Cooks, WA |
 |
I made it all of five miles to Cooks when I spotted what looked to be a pretty neat shot, although it involved a fair amount of half-hiking, half-climbing up a steep basalt outcropping to reach the elevated perch I had spotted. I hadn't been in position long when I spotted a train approaching the west end of Cooks; of course, my planned shot was spoiled at the last minute by a cloud (how frustrating is it when everything in the frame is in perfect sunlight except the three engines and the first car?). To my relief, eighteen minutes later the M-PTLPAS1-19A passed a parked westbound in the siding and rounded the southernmost point of Cook Hill. |
| Avery, WA |
 |
Figuring it was time to head back to The Dalles for the GorgeRail main event, I descended from my
aerie and trundled eastward on SR 14. Much to my surprise I overtook the Piddle-Pass at Bingen as it
met a westbound stack train, so I took advantage of the opportunity and continued past the turn for
The Dalles to capture this view at Avery. Prominent in the distance is Horsethief Butte. And so ended my day of photography, which ended up being the only truly sunny day of the whole weekend. No matter, as I enjoyed attending the slide shows, meeting new people and listening to Doyle McCormack spin tales. |