Northwest Railfans Do Well in Southern California

I enjoy viewing the railfan and rail photographers’ sites that abound on the internet.  I enjoy seeing other parts of the country that I rarely, if at all, get to visit and to “see” the style that each photographer has.  It is also a tremendous source of inspiration and education for me which is one of the reasons why I created ChasingSteel.com myself in hopes of doing the same for others.

One site I have followed regularly, is Dogcaught.com and it has recently undergone a face-lift and it looks great. The site’s creator and designer is Aaron Hockley while Steve Eshom and Adron Hall complete the list of contributors.  These bloggers and photographers are based in the northwest and are talented photographers.  

In particular, Steve Eshom recently  posted 2 blog entries about a recent trip the guys took along BNSF’s Needles Subdivision, one of my favorite haunts.  Their trip was cursed, or blessed, with stormy weather at various times which presented some challenging photo requirements.  As you can see from his posts, the result is spectacular.  The guys made the best of it and captured some real gems.

The site is definitely worth a bookmark and Steve’s recap of their Needles trip is relevant to many of us Socal fans and photographers.  Stop by and give them a shout.

dogcaught: a railroad blog

Two Days at Lavic, Trains Galore

Over the Valentine’s Day weekend last February, Deb and I spent our time out on BNSF’s Needles Subdivision. Yes, Deb was up for it, mostly because it was also a new moon weekend which is ideal for her favorite endeavor of star gazing, but partly because she wants me to be happy! ;-)

We chose the BLM land near the railroad’s curve at Lavic, California as our campground.  We were blessed with great weather and little to no wind.  The trains were plentiful, as is typical along the “BNSF transcon.” Consequently, collectively we shot over 800 photos and 32 videos.

I have done the post processing of the better photos and some of the video footage has been edited as well.  I have added about 80 more photos to my portfolio.  For those of you not familiar with the Needles Sub, here is a sample of the scenery surrounding Lavic:

The rest of the photos from the Lavic trip and all my other photos can be viewed by clicking on my “portfolio” link in the menu bar at the top.  Once there you can view the photos in a slideshow format, rate the photos, and even purchase prints or downloads.  Here is what the portfolio page looks like:

My “Portfolio” page

Six videos have been created so far.  I created the “Trackside” series which can be viewed on Chasing Steel’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/chasingsteel.  I am pleased with how the videos are coming along so far.  Here is what my channel looks like on YouTube:

Chasing Steel’s YouTube Channel

As always, feel free to let me know your thoughts or comments. ;-)

Finally, The Needles Subdivision Again!

Well the holidays finally came and went.  As is typically the case for larger family gatherings, we were the hosts for the holiday activities again this year.  As such, the requisite holiday shopping and decorations coupled with preparing the home for the eventual army of family members consumed the entire first week of my year-ending two week vacation.

Now that the holidays were over and all the “joy” was behind us, my wife and I set out on one of our adventures to seek the peace and quiet of heavy tonnage and 25,000+ horsepower rumbling by at nearly 70 MPH amidst vast open desert landscapes and arduous grades that only the BNSF’s Needles Subdivision could provide.  (OK, I guess the UP’s Yuma Subdivision technically qualifies as well but it just doesn’t have the traffic density that I prefer).

The first night out we found a quiet patch of hillside upon which we planted our rig, and called it “home,” near Cadiz, CA.  The light was already gone at this point so photography was out of the question but we did enjoy witnessing the exchanging of cars between the BNSF and the Arizona & California Railroad which takes place at Cadiz six nights (at least in the winter months) a week.

Day two was all about finding “the spot.”  The spot is the place that I think would be good to camp at and just take photos morning to night for a day or two.  (As I am getting up in age my health seems to go down the other way so I am not as mobile when I railfan as I once was.  Go figure!)  I planned on the area near Ibis, CA for this trip.  As we drove around the area of Ibis, CA and looked for a good location that had the right lighting and was publicly accessible, I just wasn’t feeling it.  We continued on down the road.

Ultimately, we found a cool site that I liked at the southern end of the Dead Mountains range with the railroad name of Java, CA.  At this location the railroad line curves away from Needles and heads towards Klinefelter, CA.  The dogs seemed to enjoy the area as well.  We parked our rig and shot photos throughout the day and most of the next day.

BNSF 796 (GE DASH9-44CW), BNSF 8715 (EMD GP60), BNSF 4915 (GE DASH9-44CW), BNSF 4461 (GE DASH9-44CW), and BNSF 4198 (GE DASH9-44CW) lean into a sharp curve near Klinefelter, CA with an eastbound manifest in tow.Day three found us leaving the hamlet of Java and headed back west.  I had always wanted to fully explore the area around Klondike, CA (Ash Hill) and today I was going to make sure I did.  Near East Ash Hill, CA we found a easily-accessed public plot of land with considerable photographic potential and great winter lighting.  We took more photos.

Due to unforeseen issues at the Rancho de Perry, we had to cut our trip short and head home.  We stopped for the sunset, which was AMAZING, near Lavic, CA and then headed home with good memories and some good shots.

I uploaded some of the photos to my portfolio.  Let me know what you think of the effort.