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.

5,000

As of yesterday,  this blog reached 5,000 pageviews! Although this is a much slower rate than that of between 3,000 and 4,000...

In other news:
The fall stat update is just around the corner!

YouTube

Say hi to My new YouTube account! At this time, I am uploading a video from the Houston Aeros hockey game I went to showing the intro when the players came out. Also, until I can work out a deal, comments will be disabled on the video. The name of the account is "CrossingTalkAdmin". Because i am not only into trains, but also football, hockey, and trainz, I will post videos of those, too.

Just for fun...

...here is a picture of some bison on our trip to Oklahoma...

Our weekly outing

Friday, we made our weekly outing to BW3(Buffalo Wild Wings for those of you that do not know). On the way back, we came up to the closest crossing to our house, and sure enough, a train!

My trip to Liberty

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Liberty, TX, which is about 30 minutes from where I live. After waiting for 90 minutes, we finally got a train:

It's time...

To reveal to you parts two and three of my December trip!

Part two: Carlsbad. Yes, the Carlsbad Village Coaster station. I don't know exactly how it will go beyond the start, mainly how security will be that day, but I still have three months to plan for that. Also, I may Coaster down to Encinitas, but that will be a game time decision.

Part three: Fullerton. Yes, Fullerton, the giant trash can. But when you see the videos from Fullerton I am about to post, you will see how good of a train-watching place it is. There are Amtraks, Metrolinks, and BNSF that go through here. We will take the Metrolink to there. Plus, there, I have a good chance of meeting up with some other railfans.

Here are some videos of both stations:
Carlsbad Village:

Fullerton:

Note: In the Carlsbad video, there is a freight train. There are normally four that only go through during the night. On a VERY, VERY rare occasion, something will pop up so that causes one to go through in daylight. As you can tell, it it night time when it passes through, so everything is normal there.

Just a reminder...

Three more days until I reveal parts two and three of my December trip. Here is another hint:

One will involve a car ride, one a one hour long Metrolink ride. They are both stations, but one of them is a NOT a Metrolink station.

AND... There will be two more long polls, one for each part.

Trains in Montana

My grandparents are currently on their way home from Montana, but a few days ago, my grandfather went out to the Marias Pass(not sure of the location, that was not provided) and shot some pics of a crossing. He caught a grain train, and sent me some pictures.

The relay case:

The sigs go off:

A BNSF C44-9W leads this grain train:

Many thanks to my grandfather for going out in the morning and catching this!

Trainztalk is back!!!

Yup, Trainztalk is back! And it should stay for a while!

1st out of a few of the long polls!

Remember how in my behind the scenes post I said that a big event would be revealed in the next few weeks?

1. It will be revealed September 14th
2. I have put up the first of the few long polls! This will have to do with part one, and this would be the most basic and shortest outing, just to get my tripod and "horn ears" going for parts 2 and 3.
3. Here are some videos shot from both stations(neither of them are mine).

Riverside Downtown:

Riverside La Sierra(he's filming from the bridge)