A Dozen Favorites from 2016

At the close of another year, here's a collection of twelve favorite photos I've taken in 2016.

I call them favorites, which is not entirely fair because I still have lots of favorites that will not be included here.  It was a good year for me - I made at least eight successful field trips to photograph shortline railroads within my travel radius, and I shot lots of photos of other railroad activity closer to home. 

So here's a sampling of my bounty, presented in reverse chronological order just for the heck of it:


An "experienced" SD-40-2 still in Cascade Green leads BNSF's "Low Line" local train toward Wallula WA and a connection with Union Pacific's "Washy" subdivision, where BNSF has running rights to reach an interchange with the Great Northwest Railroad (former Camas Prairie RR) at Ayer, WA.  This was taken on the last day of the year.

An eastbound BNSF stack train cruises through Finley WA while a white heron wades in the drainage ditch looking for a meal.  This shot was also taken on New Year's Eve.

A loaded Canadian Pacific unit grain train heads through Kennewick WA on Union Pacific's truncated Yakima Sub to reach a grain transload loop track in nearby Richland WA.

Having just left Pasco Yard, BNSF's Byron Turn waits for its turn to cross the Columbia River drawbridge before heading west to work in Richland.  I had a chance here to try a slow shutter speed, keeping the stationary locomotive in focus, while giving the passing grain train some motion blur.

I finally got a chance this year to photograph a train on the Weston Loops, just south of Milton Freewater OR.  As this Palouse River & Coulee City RR train headed up the hill and around the main loop, I took a bunch of photos.  Normally, with the angle of the sun placing the train in silhouette, this would be a throwaway shot.  However, I felt the silhouette effect wasn't too terrible, and the backlighting gave some real interesting contrasting effects to the foreground trees and bushes.

This is another photo where the lighting was less than ideal, but I still like how it turned out.  With this day's Byron Turn headed home for Pasco, I knew it would be crossing this bridge over the Kennewick Irrigation District's main canal.  To get this shot, I had to speak with a homeowner to ask permission to shoot this from his back yard.  KID had just shut off the water for the season a few days prior, leaving the canal less than photogenic.  I tweaked this one with some electronic post processing, and I think the colors are a little stronger than I wanted them, but any less saturation and the image would be really flat.  Come spring, I will try to take this shot again with the canal full and, hopefully, with better lighting.

On one of my few ventures into the Palouse this year, I had a chance to chase Union Pacific's Fairfield Turn.  Just up the line from Rockford WA I found this short trestle over Mica Creek, so I waited a few minutes for the approaching train and then snapped this image.

On a rare Sunday visit to Marshall WA, I found the UP train inching down the connecting track between the former NP mainline on the floor of the valley, and the former SP&S route on the raised fill.  UP has rights to use the SP&S tracks between Fish Lake and here, so it can get onto the NP line, which is usually reserved for eastbounds entering Spokane.  After waiting at the signal for several minutes, the BNSF grainer came up from behind on the NP line, allowing me to shoot this image of both railroads' trains.

The Lions Club excursion trains on the Pend Oreille Valley railroad have been a Northeast Washington institution for over 35 years - I was able to ride them the first year they were offered.  This year, POVA announced they could no longer maintain the tracks north of Usk solely for use by the excursions when there is no freight traffic on the line.  This would be the last year for the excursions, at least on this scenic part of the line.  Fortunately, they were running two trains each day, so I dragged my family up there on a Saturday in September.  Thanks to their understanding why Dad wanted to leave so early for the trip, we managed to be at this scenic overlook to photograph the earlier train crossing the Pend Oreille River at Box Canyon Dam.  With the photos saved on my SD card, we then rode the later train and enjoyed the view from another angle.

Despite several trips to Utah this year, I had precious few opportunities to chase trains.  Fortunately, this particular early morning shot, taken in April at Honeyville UT, turned out well.  I especially like the GRS signal mast in the background.

This is a shot I've been wanting to take for several years now.  The daily CBRW train passing the brick former NP depot at Grandview WA.  The whole chase from Whitstran to Sunnyside that day resulted in several favorite images, this is just one of them. 

From another field trip in April, I got a chance to follow an Eastern Washington Gateway train led by Montana Rail Link's ex Great Northern SDP-40.  Again, a lot of great shots resulted from this trip, but this was one of the better with the train crawling up out of Deep Creek on its way toward Reardan.