Through the passes day ONE part NINE

Rocket Site Rd., Boron, CA

One side, Safetran incandescent lights:

The other side, Safetran incandescent lights:

Look at how long the road goes in a straight line!

After waiting about 15 minutes, the searchlights in the distance go from dark, to yellow(approach), to green(clear).

After waiting 45 minutes, the UP cement local on its return trip back to Monolith approaches!

You know the rest...

This would not be the last time that I would catch this train, though. Stay tuned...

traintalk

As of 7:00 PM central on 8/23/11, Crossing Talk was merged with Traintalk. Now the name is up to you. I have put up a poll, you can decide whether the name changes to Trainstalk, or the name Crossing Talk stays. the poll ends next week.

Through the passes day ONE part EIGHT

As we approached the private crossing that landed in the middle of Boron with signals, I saw something coming around a bend in the distance. Duh, it was a train. But it was far enough away so that I could easily get this picture with about a minute to spare:

The signals go off:

The train approaches at about 70 mph:

Something you don't see every day: a BNSF h1 style locomotive!

The train crosses:

And... wait, what the heck is THIS car???

One year anniversary!

I just realized, last week was the one year anniversary of this blog! Lets keep it going!

Okay...

Okay, here is the deal: I am starting school on Monday, I get bombarded with homework after about two weeks, so I will not post as much.

Some of the stupidity from sport fans

On the Operation Lifesaver California webpage, I noticed a video of the BNSF DAYGO that was switching that was going to leave that evening. There just so happened to be a Padres game that night, and this video shows some of the stupid behavior these Padre fans made(not my video). This is in downtown San Diego.

AND, notice how, at the end of the video, people started crossing without confirming that there may have been a second train on another track???!!! I can't BELIEVE some people have to risk their lives to see a baseball game! It really irritates me!

Funny search term alert part ONE

Okay, funny search term alert: Someone found my blog by searching "Trainz boring" on Google... Very funny.

If someone finds the blog with a funny (or stupid) search term, then expect it to be posted here.

Through the passes day ONE part SEVEN

After a great Mexican lunch, we headed back on the road for more crossings!

Boron Rd., the only crossing on the poll that I did not see a train at!

The full crossing from the north side:

A shot of the northern signal in all its glory:

Overview from the south side(the FJ Cruiser is ours):

The south signal in all its glory:

Now, if you followed the "Up the Tehachapi Grade" series last year, then you probably remember the accident that occurred back in 2006. Where a girl sacrificed her life to save one of her friends. I did not take a picture of the sign this trip though, as the scanner was going bananas for a train that I would see at the next crossing, stay tuned...

Through the passes Day ONE part SIX

Welcome to Domingo's Mexican restaurant, the only place in Boron!

Yes, people from Edward's AFB eat here. Here is my review:

We got there, first thing I noticed was the decent atmosphere. It is run by the mayor of Boron, but he had to go do something, so he was not there when we were there. We ordered our drinks, but they were doing it at a WAY too fast of a pace. Not even a "how are you doing" from the waiter. The service gets three stars. So we get our chips with the drinks. The salsa may have been the best salsa I have ever had. You could see chunks of tomatoes, onions, and herbs in there. And it was mildly spicy, but I have had worse. The reviews that I read made me get the carnitas tacos, and I was glad they did. It came out, and normally, I don't like tons of condiments on my food, but these were the right condiments with the right taste.The carnitas, which is fried, fajita-style pork, stuck out on the taste, and my two favorite Mexican condiments, guacamole and salsa, were the condiments on the taco. I was sad that I only ordered two, because they were so GOOD. Even though the service was three stars, the food made up for it, that is why my overall rating for the restaurant is 4 1/2 stars.

Oklahoma part 3: Ada on 7/21

This is where the good stuff kicks in:

Okay, so we have been paralleling this 12-train-a-day line for over an hour, and no luck, so as we approach Ada, I see headlights in the distance. We pull over. The signals go off two minutes before the train crosses:

Then, a big treat emerged from the curve. The only things on this entire consist were two locomotives, but great ones:

Leading it was ATSF 3791, one of the few remaining ATSF C30-7s in the world:

Then, Burlington Northern 1524 (sadly, patched)GP20M IS AN Operation Lifesaver locomotive!!! :):):)

This was great, at first I thought it would be the best catch of the trip, but boy was I wrong. Stay tuned for some amazing stuff.

Oklahoma part TWO: Nowhere on 7/21

Well, there you have it. :)

Oklahoma part 1: Ardmore on 7/21

First of all, at this crossing, this a "double crossing" setup. It is where there are four signals, two for each crossing, and regardless of which track the train is on, the two outer signals go off and the gates go down at the same time, but, the only inner signal that goes off is the one on the crossing that the train is on. And then, that inner signal's gate goes down five to ten seconds after the outer gates begin going down

Main Street: The signals going off for a train that would take 30 minutes to cross

The Norfolk Southern triple crown roadrailer approaches:

The train crossing:

Some of da good stuff

I am posting this from Oklahoma. Crossing-wise, I have seen some interesting things, such as a bell that there is a few of left in the country. Here are some pictures:




To me, every day is April fools day. Expect pictures to start coming tomorrow.

Through the passes 2011 day ONE part FIVE

With my birthday being in the past week, I got a gift that I can not get off of. I, though, thought that I should not leave you guys hangin'. No, not every part has to be about signals. ;D

Welcome to Boron!

...And Kern county!

There is a crow on top of the sign!

Through the passes 2011 day 1 part 4

I continued a couple of minutes down US 58, I promised that I would not stop at this crossing. Promise broken

An overview of the crossing. If you look closely at the signal to the left, you will see that there is a broken gate light. It was reported on the scanner the next day:

I did not wait at this crossing for two reasons:
1. I was hungry
2. The road is busy.

I sort of chuckled when I saw this sign:

A rear view of the signal with the broken gate light.

Due to both the highway and the track being busy, there are advance warning signs with lights that flash yellow whenever a train comes by.

New poll

Actual polls are back! No, you do not need to refer to another post for this one! It expires on 7/28/11 at 9:37 Central time. If you need an example of what one of these signals looks like, then don't be afraid to shoot me a comment, and I will be more that happy to post a picture of that signal.

failroadtracks.com Salt Lake City webcam

1.No, "Failroadtracks" is not a typo

2.Yet another webcam with sound! Here is the link:www.failroadtracks.com. And, below the cam, which is at the very top, there are multiple videos, hilarious videos, showing why the website is called "failroadtracks". A lesson: slow down when you cross railroad tracks. The primary carrier at this crossing is Union Pacific, although two Amtrak California Zephyrs come by a day. Unfortunately, this crossing is in a quiet zone(trains can't blow their horns, because the people who live there can't deal with it). Just one more thing, the sound on the cam is a bit off, for example, when the third car of a slow train just passes the cam, you can hear the locomotives go past the cam. The bells at this crossing are quiet, however, you can hear them quite well still.

Enjoy!

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!