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random thoughts on railroad photography, railfanning, technology, and such

Entries from March 1, 2011 - March 31, 2011

Friday
Mar252011

Living, Barely - Cima Sub Shots - Part 5 of 5

After the day’s events and considering I was content with the shots I had taken already, I decided to head home. As I left the Ivanpah, California grade crossing, I knew of two trains on the normally sparsely populated Cima Subdivision of the Union Pacific Railroad. One was the eastbound vehicle train that kept me company while we both waited for the westbound manifest train at Ivanpah. The vehicle train was now well on its way to Nipton, California and east towards Las Vegas, Nevada. The manifest train was out in front of me somewhere between Ivanpah and Kelso, California by now…

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Tuesday
Mar222011

Living Lucky - Cima Sub Shots - Part 4 of 5

Up until this point my truck was soldiering on, doing it’s climbing the mountain thing when came that point that most, if not all, four-wheelers have felt at some time or another. My truck had lost the forward progress and it started to wiggle and began a worrisome and very discernible slide towards the right side of the road. “Shit, sand,” I exclaimed. Normally I would not want to stop my truck at this point because any forward progress works in my favor to get beyond whatever sand trap I might be in. However, my forward progress had ceased and I worried about the sideways slide that my truck was in. I stomped on the brakes…

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Sunday
Mar202011

Living Large - Cima Sub Shots - Part 3 of 5

Eventually my frozen fingers thawed and I proceeded along my route towards Ivanpah, CA. I would have to go through Cima, CA in the process and I thought perhaps I should stop for the night and tackle Ivanpah in the morning with fresh light and fresh legs…

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Thursday
Mar172011

Down at the Depot - Cima Sub Shots - Part 2 of 5

After getting my fill of grade crossing shots and as the sun sank below the horizon I turned my attention to the Kelso Depot. It was past closing time so I had the exterior of the depot and it’s grounds all to myself which is nice because it came be a quite busy place during the day considering it’s remote location…

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Sunday
Mar132011

Better Late Than Never - Cima Sub Shots - Part 1 of 5

It was the Sunday before President’s Day and I had hoped to arrive mid-afternoon with plenty of time to find a nice spot to set-up camp. I know that I am getting older because I just don’t do things as fast as I once did - especially when it comes to physical chores such as prepping the camper and the truck for a trip. I left later than I wanted so I had to adapt my plans accordingly. My destination was the Union Pacific’s Cima Subdivision. In particular, I was targetting the area around Cima itself. By my calculations, if I hustled, and drove straight through, I might be able to catch some good light at the Kelso Depot. I headed out in haste…

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Thursday
Mar102011

A Moment Alone - One of My Favorite Photos

I thought I would share a photo that I took in June last year that is one of my personal favorites because it is where I am in spirit, always:…

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Sunday
Mar062011

Two Trains and Me

…Besides working on “real world” activities, I have been working on enhancing my post-processing and graphic design skills. As an exercise towards that end, I wanted to combine two images into one “if only” image. I decided to merge a shot of a BNSF intermodal with a shot of a Union Pacific vehicle train…

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