Through the passes day 1 part 3

I purposely blew a UP crossing on the way to Kramer Junction(I was currently on US 395) because I was so eager to get to the crossing that won the Boron Poll(the US 395 crossing). After 30 minutes of what felt like riding on a roller coaster, I finally reached this:

I finally made it to the Mojave Sub. And the crossing that won the poll.
The relay case:

(haha, Milepost 777.7)

After 45 minutes of waiting, and nothing, I was worried that there was trackwork somewhere. But, I did not hear any mention of this area, and the Union Pacific defect detectors on that portion of the sub were active, so I did not stress that. Maybe traffic was light? After 15 minutes of going bananas on Google trying to find an answer, I saw a
 distant light. I was so unprepared at the time, I sprinted out of the car at the same time as I took this picture:

Enjoy the rest!

Oh, yeah, I forgot  to mention, this crossing is one of the few to have the gates with completely vertical stripes on it!

And, this crossing has a problem of people blowing the gate:

The train finishes soon after:

Then, I picked on some watermelon, then I continued onwards...

Question poll over

...And... if you looked closely... you would have found the bell right underneath the left light. Too late to change the vote, though!

Trainztalk

If you are interested in this blog, then check out Trainztalk(click the word"trainztalk, or this, for the link). Trainztalk is devoted to screenshots of fake trains from my train simulator, Trainz. There is also an active (quiz)poll on Trainztalk. If you are interested, then check it out!

Another hint

As I said in my reply to the Family Curator's comment, look for a cylinder on that signal. The placement is unique to Union Pacific, and very few crossings have that bell placement. The bell type is General Signals.

A teaser

Hint: The bell is NOT on top of the signal like it is most commonly found. The placement of the bell is starting to become a Union Pacific(UP) staple. The answer will be released when it expires.

Nice blog run by a signal maintainer

He only posted in August/July of last year, but this is a great blog. Thanks to Amy Coffin for referring this blog to me. This blog is run by a signal maintainer. He posted some posts of crossings, some of defect detectors, which are my two favorite things of railroads. Click here for the link. The blog is called "Photos from a Signal Maintainer", and it is run by Bill Cundiff.

Vote!!!!!

I see that the poll has three days left, and there is only one vote... I am very sure that there is more than one viewer that understands English that reads this blog. I hate having to direct you to the poll over and over again. If you view this blog, please vote! The poll is the first thing from the top on the sidebar.

Google

It appears that every search term used to find this blog this past week had to do with the fireworks show in Fostoria, OH.

Through the passes 2011 day 1 part 2

After 45 minutes of no luck at the busy Devore, I migrated to Swarthout Canyon Rd., which is also on the very busy Cajon Pass.

The signal with the 20" backgrounds:

A blurry overview of the crossing:

The relay case:

And now, it is time for a Through the passes extra! Guess what happened right after I left the Swarthout Canyon crossing? This picture should tell you most of the story:

Oh, but wait, that train appears to be on the 12 train a day UP track instead of the 95 train a day BNSF track... And I had been camping out at the BNSF track for a full hour... hmmm...

Fostoria, OH fireworks!

With the location of the fireworks and the angle of the cam, we should be able to see them! They are tonight at dusk Eastern time.

Through the passes 2011 part 1

Last year's series was called  "Up the Tehachapi Grade 2010". This year's is called "Through the passes 2011". I changed the name because I got shots of the Union Pacific(UP) tracks south of Mojave, and of stuff at Cajon Pass. If you want more updates, go to Traintalk. Anyhow, for this part, crossings are the only thing, as I battled the winds in Devore, CA:

Note: I did not get any shots of the BNSF crossing, just the BNSF relay case. If you want to see both crossings clearly, then click here(the closest crossing is the BNSF crossing)

A terrible, wind-battling view of the UP crossing:

The UP relay case:

The BNSF relay case:

A good view of the UP signal furthest away from me:

Now, I am going to start a poll. It will be a Yes/No question. Check the sidebar to see it! 

Sorry...

Sorry for the inactivity lately... I can't seem to remember to get my camera with all of the Mojave Sub pictures on it out of the car... I will get it out this afternoon. ;)

Fostoria, OH cam #1

This is the same cam as a few months ago, but that link does not work anymore. Click this sentence for the new link. BONUS: If you view it right now, then you will see crews working on the Norfolk Southern side of the crossing!

Vacation

I'm on vacation. I will be back this weekend.

I am sorry

I am very sorry that I could not deliver the promise of the live updates. At first, we could not figure out the netbook, and when we did, we were already on the way back.=/ Although I am going to clean up the posts(except for the post with the Boron pics.), the follow by email tool is still up. I will also keep the expired Boron Poll below the labels tool until July, which is when the next poll will start.

A few things...

First of all, do not forget to check Traintalk for more updates than that of on here.

Second of all, this blog just reached 4,000 pageviews!

Third of all, I am at the hotel in Tehachapi.

Fourth of all, both devices go crazy whenever I try to post a live update, so hopes for that are shattered.

Fifth of all, here is a recap of all of my trains in Boron from yesterday.

US 395:

North American Chemical Co.(aka: some private crossing that landed in the middle of Boron with signals)

Rocket Site Rd.

Wa wa wa...

I just stopped by at Cajon Pass, but I saw no trains.
Unfortunately, the IPad is having a big stink about uploading images, so I will get to the netbook once I have time.

Poll Closed!!!

US 395 wins! However, if the weather and conditions are correct, then I will try to stop at all four of them... At the beginning, I told you that there was one crossing that I would have stopped at no matter what. That was Rocket Site Rd.

4 hours!

We are in a close race, the poll is not 80 days anymore! 4 hours!!!!! VOTE if you have not!

A few new features...

• Along with the other two "talk" blogs, which got this first, is a new +1 system, at the bottom of each post, in which you can +1 a post if you like it. Notice: You must have a valid Google account to give a +1.
• I am testing another new feature with this blog, which is the "reactions system, which is also at the bottom of each post, on which you can rate your reaction of the post. Funny, interesting, informative, and who cares are the four choices.