Railway Historical

Landmark

This is an eastbound Amtrak Southwest Chief splitting the signals at Levy, New Mexico. These semaphores have been coming down incrementally over the last couple of years which has caused the signals to be some of the most photographed railroad subjects in recent memory. This view, pointing my camera compass southward, provides a great view of Wagon Mound—an important landmark for those traveling the Santa Fe Trail prior to the coming of the railroad. One image by Richard Koenig; taken April 28th 2023.

Semaphores’ Last Stand (3 of 3)

Finally, the last of three posts on the ancient semaphores of the Santa Fe. Once again we see an eastbound Amtrak Southwest Chief rolling between the distinctive signals, this time at the ghost town of Colmor, New Mexico. And once again I’ll cut and paste some history on the content here...

This was my final train on this historic line this trip—I hope to make it back out before the signals are extinct entirely.

Five images by Richard Koenig: taken April 29th 2023.

Levy

Just one of my favorite spots on earth—Levy, New Mexico. One image by Richard Koenig; taken April 28th 2023.

Semaphores’ Last Stand (2 of 3)

To follow up on an earlier post, this is the eastbound Amtrak Southwest Chief splitting the signals at Levy, New Mexico. I’ll repeat some information here on the subject at hand...

This view, pointing my camera compass southward, is fabulous in that we get a great view of Wagon Mound. Also stated before, this was an important landmark for those traveling the Santa Fe Trail in the time period prior to the coming of the railroad.

Five images by Richard Koenig: taken April 28th 2023.

Generations

Here’s a couple more shots from Dalhart, Texas—two aging EMD units, of the first and second generations, built in La Grange, Illinois. The locomotives rest along the former Colorado & Southern Railway.

Burlington Northern 2899 was built as a GP35 in 1965 while BNSF 1609 is an SD40-2 from 1979.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken April 27th 2023.

Elevators

Exploring the panhandle of Texas, I took a few shots in Dalhart. These two elevators were close to where the C&S, which ran between Denver and Fort Worth, crossed the Rock Island line down to Tucumcari, New Mexico, where it met the Southern Pacific. Of course the lines are now BNSF and Union Pacific respectively.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken April 27th 2023.

Dawn on the C&S

Some more images taken along the former Colorado & Southern at Mt. Dora, New Mexico. The sun has finally risen for the final image.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken April 27th 2023.

Color Light Signal on the C&S

While these older color light signals are close to the contemporary modular type prevalent today (from an operational standpoint), I very much prefer these. Without the hulking “Darth Vader” snow/sun cover, these have a much more elegant appearance.

The rail line seen here is the former Colorado & Southern Railway in northeast New Mexico, at a place called Mt. Dora. Here’s a link to my previous post that contains a bit of history of the line.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken near just prior to dawn, April 27th 2023.

A Sense of Scale While I sat watching—and shooting—the stack train across the Columbia River on the SP&S (see previous post), a westbound local job showed on the Union Pacific. In the second image then, we see two westbound trains, one in Oregon and one in Washington.

I zoomed in the on the stack train for the last shot, as it makes its way between those splendid living rock formations near the Catherine Creek Recreation Area. Three images by Richard Koenig; taken March 20th 2023.

Four Tunnels

While I was hanging out at Memaloose State Park, I was able to see a couple more trains, the first being a westbound stack across the river, on the former SP&S, later Burlington Northern, and now BNSF.

I have to say I really was surprised by the scale of the train: this sequence of shots is not what I imagined it would be as I sat waiting for a train. There’s four tunnels here in a short stretch, though my images only show three of them.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken March 20th 2023.

Inspection Train Within minutes of seeing the Portland section of Amtrak's Empire Builder, this inspection train followed. As in my earlier post of the passenger train, this job is headed westward along the Columbia River between Lyle and Bingen, Washington. The line here is the former Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway—later Burlington Northern and now BNSF. One image by Richard Koenig; taken March 20th 2023.

Columbia River Gorge

Here is a color version of what I posted nearly two weeks ago...

This is the Portland section of Amtrak Empire Builder. It is headed westward along the Columbia River between Lyle and Bingen, Washington. It will soon make its station stop at the latter.

The line here is the former Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway—later Burlington Northern and now BNSF. The diminutive train, made up of four Superliner cars, is powered by a single, relatively new, Siemens ALC-42 locomotive. The tugboat pushing a barge upriver in the first image is the Sundial, built 1982.

The Columbia River Gorge is an area super rich in history, including, perhaps most famously, the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Corps of Discovery would have passed this way in 1805 and returned, after wintering on the coast, in 1806.

One thing I didn’t say on the earlier post: to get to the shooting location here I utilized the Catherine Creek Recreation Area. There’s a nice parking area on Highway 14 and some very nice, well-maintained trails to reach the cliff from which I shot.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken March 20th 2023.

Maryhill Meet, Part Two

Following up on an earlier post: the eastbound train of autos is still waiting at Maryhill, Washington. We now see the second, westward train roll by—one of oil cans. Immediately afterwards, our patient trains pulls out onto the main and heads east. The rail line here is the former SP&S, later BN, now BNSF.

The span one sees crossing the Columbia River in the background is the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge. While Sam Hill, an early proponent for roads, died in 1931, this bridge did not open until much later: 1962.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken March 19th 2023.

Maryhill Meet, Part One

Here we see an eastbound train of autos waiting at Maryhill, Washington. It will have to sit to allow two westbound trains roll by. First up: a long coal train with three sets of power: beginning, middle, end. The rail line here is the former SP&S, later BN, now BNSF.

The span one sees crossing the Columbia River in the background is the Sam Hill Memorial Bridge. While Sam Hill, an early proponent for roads, died in 1931, this bridge did not open until much later: 1962.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken March 19th 2023.

Modes of Travel

Here’s an image with two modes of travel evident, along with the river for a barge, though one did not happen by for my photograph.

The westbound train, along the Columbia River, is Amtrak’s Portland section of the Empire Builder. It’s on the former SP&S, now BNSF. In the distance is the Hood River Bridge, between its namesake town in Oregon and Bingen on the Washington side.

The span is quite old: it opened in 1924 but was substantially rebuilt in 1938 to accommodate higher water levels due to the building of the Bonneville Dam downriver (source). Having driven across it, I can say that it’s a narrow two lanes, with the speed limit being 15 MPH.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken March 18th 2023.

In the Gorge

This is an eastbound train of oil cans on the former SP&S, later Burlington Northern, now BNSF. The location is between mileposts 68 and 69, about six miles west of Bingen, Washington.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken March 18th 2023.

Columbia River Gorge

This is the Portland section of Amtrak Empire Builder. It is headed westward along the Columbia River between Lyle and Bingen, Washington. It will make its station stop at the latter.

The line here is the former Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway—later Burlington Northern and now BNSF. The diminutive train, made up of four Superliner cars, is powered by a single, relatively new, Siemens ALC-42 locomotive. The tugboat pushing a barge upriver in the first image is the Sundial, built in 1982.

The Columbia River Gorge is an area super rich in history, including, perhaps most famously, the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Corps of Discovery would have passed this way in 1805 and returned, after wintering on the coast, in 1806.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken March 20th 2023.