6,000 views!

Party!

Poll

Well, after a disappointing poll with only four votes, Beaumont won. I might give Rosenberg a second chance, though...

Fullerton, AGAIN!

New poll: YOU decide my next trip!

Yep! You decide my next day/multi-day trip coming up here in March!

Choice A: Beaumont, TX: I have never been here, I don't know what to tell you ,I just know that there has to be a busy interchange because many tracks spike out of Beaumont.

Choice B: Rosenberg, TX: Long-term readers of my blog know that I railfanned and took videos of trains at Richmond, TX. Well, here is the city where that BNSF line and a UP line meet!

Choice C: Spring, TX: I threw this in with an "Oh, what the heck" attitude. I don't think this would be the best trip, but this is the place I know the most about.

Choice D: Saginaw, TX: This puts the "multi" in multi-day trip. We live near 300+ miles from Fort Worth. Saginaw is about two or three miles north. However, Saginaw is also where the complete BNSF headquarters lies. When we went to the headquarters, I was hoping for a tour or more of a guest-type museum. We got a museum, but a very small one. I got myself a hat at the gift shop, though. Also, Saginaw is THE best bet if you need to catch a train to live.

Any more questions? Google it, or if it is small, ask me! The poll will run for 1 1/2 weeks starting tonight. It will end Wednesday, March 6th.

Through the passes Day ONE part 11

Getting back to that, yeah

Cameron Canyon Rd., Cameron

The relay box

A signal with a Western Cullen Hayes electronic bell

Fullerton!!!

Finally, a long video from Fullerton is ready for you!

La Mirada local in Fullerton

Watch the video in YouTube for the description.

Inactivity

Sorry for the lack of posting... I have not been really into making videos lately.

Last one from Hill 582

Last one before Fullerton!

A few from Hill 582

The first two trains we saw, including the M-BARWAT:

And a few more, including the Christmas officer special, and a 3-way meet. The clip I play the first 14 seconds of the video is actually the intro I will use on the rest of my December trip videos.

Here it is!

Just as I promised! My first December trip video just finished uploading! Taken from part one: Cajon Pass in Devore:

Long and slow I know.

Blogging while railfanning

I will try to post live updates WITHOUT pictures, as that failed in June. I will try to post once every two hours. I may not be able to post from Hill 582, as it is on a dirt access road in the middle of the Mojave Desert. I will be able to post at the station platforms, though, as they are all in towns. Here is a sample

Title: 2:00 P.M. Fullerton update.
Last posted at: 12:02 P.M.(all times Pacific).
# of freights since last update: 9
# of Amtraks since last update: 4
# of Metrolinks since last update: 1

The posts will look kind of like that. I will make updates at every even hour. That means that I will post at 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, and 10:00.

This is the last post I will make before Hill 582 on Monday, and I would like to say thanks to any railfans who are willing to join me on my trips, and I wish everyone a safe and happy holidays!

Changes

I completely forgot we will be going to a family dinner Wednesday night, so Hill 582 will be Monday, Riverside will be Wednesday.

Final Roster for December trip

Yep, here it is:

1.Riverside: I found an extra spot so we can do this on a weekday instead of that Sunday.
2.Fullerton: Yep, I bumped Fullerton up to part 2 instead of 3. And it is still on the day I want also(that Tuesday).
3.Hill 582: On Cajon Pass, that hill gives great vantage point.
4.Carlsbad: This does not seem like the grand finale type of trip, but I decided to make it the same day my grandfather gets the Christmas turkey. We will also leave at around 5:00 or so, to watch the Texans on Thursday night football(go Texans!).

As always, it will stay this way unless something sudden happens, such as an illness or my flight getting cancelled. If something does happen, they will go away in this order:
1.Riverside
2.Hill 582
3.Carlsbad
4.Fullerton

If I could use paint, I would try to make a logo for this... oh well...

By the way, the Riverside poll ends next week... just saying.

Hill 582 part 2

I do not live in California, so I was therefore not in this picture...

My grandfather met the person who made the hill it is today, Don Toles. He is the one who came up with the ideas of planting exotic trees, setting up memorials, etc. In this picture, my grandfather is on the left, Don is on the middle, and some random guy, whose name I will put down when I get his name, is on the right. Mains 1 and 2 can be seen to the left of them:

More to come...

Hill 582

As most of you all know, my big December trip is just around the corner. As I was about to secure the 3 parts, I found a decent part four, Hill 582. I was watching a Cajon Pass DVD I had gotten from a train show that came to Houston last week, and it showed trains from all parts, Devore, Blue Cut, Sullivan's Curve, Stein's Hill, and much more. But one spot that really stood out was this Hill 582. With a park bench, bird feeders, rocks, exotic trees, ranging from eucalyptus to locust, and memorials of past railfans, this seemed like a great spot. I looked up "Hill 582" on Google, and, first site, was a site by the guy that made the hill the way it is today, Don E. Toles. Click on this sentence for the site. It instantly popped out at me. There was also two more slots for parts. I decided we could add one more. So last week when the UP 844 steam train came through Southern California, my grandfather went to Cajon Pass to catch it. He decided to follow the directions on the site I gave him to Hill 582. He made it there. It overlooks four tracks, three owned by BNSF, one by Union Pacific. BNSF mains 1 & 2 are literally right next to the hill. BNSF main 3, which is in the pictures I am about to show you, well, you have to turn around to see it. The UP track is atop a hill from mains 1 and 2. It is called the Palmdale Cut-off.

So, for some reason, this UP stacktrain decided to take BNSF main 3 instead of where it belongs:

A close-up of the details, with the train still going to the right:

There is much, much more to this, but I am tired of typing, maybe more tomorrow.

Videos from Richmond, TX

As most of you know, Yesterday I railfanned Richmond, TX.

Train 1: I'm very sorry at how shaky it is... it is much steadier in the second video...
SD70MAC 8861 and ES44DC ???? lead a coal train. On the rear is two former BN heritage units.

Train 2: This video is much steadier. Leading this train is ES44C4( a newer General Electric locomotive for those who don't know) 6632 and C44-9W 4748. The DPU(rear, remember that) unit is ES44DC 7540. Nice K5HLL(horn) on this train!

Wednesday testing of the account

Wednesday will be the real test, I will railfan Pearland, TX, and, if I happen to catch multiple trains, it will be a good time to test out the video editor to put videos together, and,  my YouTube account.

Through the passes day ONE part TEN

Through the Passes series is well back, my friends!

After a quick pit stop at Carl's JR, we drove about a half mile to see that the grain train that we saw back at Boron approaching us yet again!

We found Arroyo Drive, which we missed last year, and caught it there:

hey all

Hey, sorry, but I don't have real much to post at the time. I will need some more pictures for that to happen. That is the cause of the inactivity.