Our effort to see the beast paid off!
We did manage to get into position to catch the Union Pacific’s longest freight train ever ran near Niland, CA. Using all means of tracking the trains we were able to establish where we wanted the chase to begin. Turns out, after factoring in the sunrise, our position and that of the train, the location would be near Bombay Beach, CA.
I heard the train before I could see it. I think that had to do with the fact that the train noise was echoing off of the higher elevation behind it. I climbed atop my Lance Camper to see if I could see anything. Holy Smokes!!!! There it is. The train was MASSIVE! It stretched out far beyond what my naked eyes could see. I believe that haze and distance from the train where against me.
The time seemed to stand still as it closed the distance between us. Finally I was able to see, through the camera lense, what I thought was the entire train. I snapped this photo:
;)
My Whole Train Shot. (Click to open full-size version)
The train was quickly passing me up now and I was shocked at the speed at which it was moving! Clearly it was doing timetable speed. Quick snap a couple more:
The head end of the IDILBF-08: UP 7454, UP 7419, UP 7462 - all GEVOs
The Union Pacific’s Longest Train Curving towards East Bertram, CA next to the Salton Sea
We jump into the truck and race off to the west. As we round the bend towards East Bertram, CA the train is NOWHERE in sight. She was clearly gonna make us work to see her again. I was up for the challenge but the traffic and speed limits were not in my favor.
I mashed the accelerator, I wanted more shots. More to follow…