Trials and tribulations of a railfan videographer

Sedona again

2011-12-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

A December 2011 trip to Sedona to hopefully catch snow was mildly disappointing due to no snow. I've actually started reading my camera manual, since I seem to have forgotten most of what I learned all those years ago. I'm trying to improve the technical quality of my shots.

Kings Mountain National Park

2011-11-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

A 2009 Anniversary visit to Kings Mountain and Sequoia National Parks produced the following images.

Sedona

2011-11-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

A Veterans Day weekend took Margie & me out to chase the 844 from Wilcox to Sibley & Mescal before setting out to Sedona for the weekend, it being our 39th anniversary on Veterans Day. I'd never seen the 844 before in person, on video of course, but not live. What a good looking engine! She was visiting Arizona for the the Arizona statehood centennial next year. The weather in Sedona could have been a whole lot better, Friday was weak (very weak) sun through a white overcast. Saturday was better, with sunny periods. We drove the Shnebley Hill Road, which was pretty rough in places, but didn't trouble the Trailblazer. I shot a good deal of video, with some time lapse, and we had a stunning sunset! Sunday was wet with very low clouds, so instead of taking the scenic route home, we just came home on Interstate 17. The wet highway took some of the mud off the car!

Java

2011-11-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

In August, 2007, I joined a FarRail (Bernd Seilor, Berlin, Germany) tour of Java, Indonesia to see surviving steam in the sugar cane fields. The group met at Jakarta airport, from where we took an internal flight, then a bus, spent our first night in an hotel in a small town, then more bus to near Mount Bromo, an active volcano. We got up at some obscene hour (4am) to take a jeep ride to a nearby mountain to see the sun rise over the volcano. From here we carried on to visit a variety of Sugar Mills, with a wide variety of exotic, elderly little locomotives. Some of the mills were still powered by their original steam engines, and we were permitted to wander around and take pictures. Altogether an entertaining trip!

Durango

2011-09-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

An August trip to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Railfest gave little time for photography, as I was too busy shooting video. I had two days with the Eureka, a day on the photographers special with the K-28, and a day with the Galloping Goose. Excellent event!

Hawaii

2011-08-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

In 2008 we visited Maui. This was my last trip using a point and shoot. Frustration led me to the Canon 40D.

Keystone, West Virginia

2011-07-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

In July I set off on what turned out to be an almost 5200 mile road trip. First was the grandkids in Ohio, then Chris & I went to Bluefield, West Virginia to have a look at part of Norfolk Southern's Pocahontas district. This is coal country, and small towns nestle in the valleys. It's beautiful country, but very poor, and the little towns are full of abandoned homes and businesses. This is my take on Keystone, on a suitably dismal day.

Death Valley

2011-06-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Several Christmas's ago, we visited Death Valley, the driest place in North America!

India 2004

2011-06-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

In 2004 I went to India with FarRail of Berlin, Germany. The group was to meet in Calcutta, so I went a week early to have a look at the trams and the trains. I flew with Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, not somewhere to doze off at the gate, as they don't make boarding announcements. From HK I flew to Delhi, arriving at something like 4 am. It was a bit of a shock to walk around the corner on the way to the domestic terminal and have a sub machine gun pointed at me and to be told "show ticket". It was a pitch black bus ride around the airport perimeter, and the domestic terminal didn't inspire confidence! I was met at Calcutta by a guide and driver and was taken to my hotel, then off we went to look at the trams. A very long day! To finish it, my guide took me to a local restaurant for dinner, then took me in a rickshaw back to the hotel. The major obstacle was a large rotary/roundabout, traffic in Calcutta is totally insane, demented busses, lunatic taxis, kids on motorbikes, goats, bicycles, pedestrians and us. Quite an experience, much emphasis is given to horns!

My ride to Hong Kong is pulled in to the gate at LAX.

The trams are quite elderly, as are the tracks, and upkeep seems to be hit or miss. And the traffic is lunatic.

My guide found me a good spot off the end of the platforms at Howrah station. India has had terrorism problems with Bangladesh and Pakistan, and there were armed guards everywhere. I would have been run off the station in short order, but here nobody bothered me, and after my guide had explained to the MOW workers that I wasn't a journalist, just a crazy foreigner, everybody was quite friendly. Calcutta was quite an experience, I was happy to move on!

The Darjeeling-Himalayan railway was just fantastic. Once out of Siliguri, another frenetic Indian city, things calmed down. FarRail had chartered a steam train, and we had some excellent days on the railway.

Our final location was the sugar mill at Riga, in Bihar Province. Bihar is the poorest province in India, and conditions for the locals were appalling. The meter gauge main line was being converted to standard gauge, and the mill railway had a very limited future.

My last night in India was in Delhi, and a taxi picked me up at 4am and took me out to the airport for the long, long ride home. I was more than pleased to get on the plane, and it was certainly an interesting experience, but I'm not sure I'd want to repeat it.

Meridian Speedway

2011-04-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

At the end of March I set off to pick up a friend from the UK at DFW, so we could have a look at KCS's Meridian Speedway, it having been almost 15 years since I was last there. His plane, remarkably, was early, and on the drive from DFW to Shreveport, Louisiana, we encountered some of the heaviest rain I've ever been out in. We spent the night in a motel near Shreveport airport that was, to be charitable, average. Finding good reviews for a pub on a phone app, we went downtown, only be asked for ID, which Graham didn't have with him. We're both 60 something and don't remotely look like a 20 year old, but no ID, no entry. So we went to a steakhouse in a nearby casino, which was good, but hugely expensive! In the morning we had a look at Deramus yard, and shot 4 trains in the downtown(-ish) Shreveport area, which were the only trains we saw all day, except for the Louisiana Midland, which somehow escaped us after 1 shot. KCS was not nearly as busy as I expected, or even remembered. On a couple of days we saw only two trains, one day we saw 5, 3 UP, 1 NS and 1 KCS. The L&NW F units were (long) gone, as were the famous stop signs. A couple of diamonds, Tallulah and Newton were gone, and a number of grade crossings had gone with the upgrade of the speedway. The whole trip was a major culture shock for my friend, who had never been in the south before. We spent an interesting couple of hours in Edwards, east of Vicksburg. The weatherman promised us tornados by the dozen, nasty weather all round and bucket loads of rain. It didn't look bad, we knew the NS pig train was behind us, Edwards looked good, so we sat and waited. and watched the black move in from the west. then the rain started, it got dark, the town lights came on, then the sirens started. We didn't really know what to do, so we sat in the car, and watched the west. Lightning and thunder all around, the city lights went out, and we sat and watched. Eventually the rain calmed down, it got lighter, and our train showed up. Fortunately, I'd put a big umbrella in the car. Interesting trip, I remembered very little from the 1995 trip, but we saw enough for me to get enough footage for a program.

Japan & China 3/2011

2011-03-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of March, 2011, I set off for Tokyo to have a look at East Japan Rail's Yamanote line, which runs in a circle around Tokyo, the ride being about an hour. The drivers compartment on the electric multiple units has large windows and I wanted to tape the ride, something I'd meant to do the last time I was in Japan but didn't get around to. Fortunately I had splendid weather, if very cold and managed the entire ride in one take. I had a look at several locations along the route and caught lots of trains, including the high speed Shinkansen, though not going very fast.

Southwest Airlines over Southern California, my ride to LAX.

From Tokyo I flew to Chengdu, China, via Beijing, to join a small party led by John Raby, who was my room mate on the trip to Eritrea. Fortunately I left Tokyo a few days before the big disaster, although the day I travelled left a great deal to be desired. The bus from my hotel in Shinagawa could only get me to Narita Airport for 8am, for a 9am flight. The hotel told me the wrong terminal, so by the time I got to the correct terminal, Air China was making announcements for last call for flight 422. Check in was a long way down the terminal, and I was hot and bothered by the time I got there. Then I had to go through immigration, and security, who decided to check me out, and of course my flight left from the very end of the terminal building. My flight was boarding by the time I got there, so I sat on the plane thoroughly hot and sweaty. We had to go through immigration in Beijing, and I managed to leave my Kindle on the plane, which was cleaned and my Kindle was missing when I got back to my seat. Air China went out of their way to find it, and knew where it was as we were taxiing. I was met at the gate at Chengdu, and taken to lost and found, where all details were taken, and I was told to call the next day. Since I had to meet the group at the airport the following day, I stopped by, and Beijing had sent my Kindle in a suitcase, so we were re-united! Thank You! Air China! The city of Chengdu, it seemed, had emptied their asylums and made all the inmates taxi drivers. The criminally insane had been sent to the airport. After the group met, we had a 2-3 hour bus ride to Shibanxi, one end of a short (19.5 km) narrow gauge steam railway.

Our hotel was in Sanjin, next door was a construction site, which worked until 1 or 2 am. The first morning was quite misty, with the big cranes lighting up the fog.

We walked the entire line, some of it twice, the only access to a lot of the line is by train and it's difficult to photograph the trains if you are riding them. Everybody seemed friendly, this is not an area where many Europeans are seen, so we were stared at a good deal, and in the towns we had lots of photos of us taken and many requests to have photos taken with us.

The railway is owned by a coal mine, there were a number of mines in the area, but most are closed now. The section of railway from Sanjin to Shibanxi is electrified, and sees shuttle trains between the mine and washery and a power station. The little villages in the area housed miners, and the primary means of transportation is still the train, with 4 round trip passenger trains a day, although many of the younger people have motorcycles, which they ride along the tracks. The area is starting to develop as a tourist area for the city of Chengdu, and the railway runs a number of tourist trains, especially at weekends. There is another open mine, with better quality coal, and up to 4 round trips are made most days.

My ride home, Shanghai to San Francisco. The roughest ride I've ever had!

We overtake Delta, somewhere over the Pacific, towards dawn.

Altogether, a great group, and an excellent trip on a totally charming little railway. Thanks, John!

Kingman Canyon Pumpkin Parade

2011-02-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Feb. 20th I set off at the crack of doom for Kingman, Arizona, to spend a few days shooting trains in the canyon. Just as I was approaching Kingman, on Interstate 40, it started to snow, and got quite heavy. As I passed over BNSF, there were headlights to the east, and I got in to position to catch it in heavy snow. A little while later another westbound showed up, and as the power was going out of the frame to the west, eastbound power came in to the frame, a perfect meet! The snow didn't last long, and was gone off the ground quite quickly. A good day, I saw 32 trains in 7 hours. Next day wasn't quite as busy, and the weather wasn't as good, but still a busy day. I did see some westbounds on the normally eastbound number two track though. Next day saw single track working through the canyon, the dispatcher would send 4 or 5 westbounds, then 4 or 5 eastbounds. Another busy day! Most of the power was from GE, I only saw 5 EMD's, plus a pair of GP60M's, still in (shabby) warbonnet on the local out to the steel plant just west of the canyon. Altogether a decent trip!

Back to the Nubble

2011-02-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

I go to New England for the last week in January every year to take part in the big railroad show in West Springfield, Massachusetts. When we first moved to Arizona I drove up, but it's a 3 day drive each way, so now I fly. I went on line to check in, and found I'd missed my flight! The airline cheerfully rescheduled me to the date I thought I was going, judging by the invoice that appeared in my inbox they needed a new airplane! I stay with friends in Epping, New Hampshire either side of the show, and one of the things that Bill and I do is drive up the seacoast, ending up at the Nubble light in Maine, then we head back to Epping, stopping on the way for a beer and a chowder. The day I was due to come home, what the media called an "historic storm" rolled through, 13,000 flights, including mine, were cancelled, and I got to stay in New England for an extra couple of days.

Monument Valley

2011-01-03T17:40:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas Margie & I set off for Monument Valley, it's something we've wanted to do for years, but with elderly parents we feel we should be around. I was going to have us go to the UK, spend Christmas with mother, who is 87, but the air fares were truly appalling! Margie's dad is 86, but is busy with poker, bridge, pinochle, shuffle board etc, and seemed to be quite happy to spend New Years Eve alone, so off we went. It's 425 miles from the house to the View Hotel, on the Arizona/Utah border, we set off at 7:00 am and were there by just after 2:00 pm. Check in, it seemed, was 4:00 pm, so we sat in the car park and looked at the view. My video camera does time lapse, so I set up to catch dancing shadows, and wandered around and took some stills. Monday morning I was up early for the dawn shots (dawn was 7:30 am!) then we took the 17 mile drive around the monuments. In the afternoon we went for a drive, and ended up going through Valley of the Gods, a 19 mile drive on rough dirt roads. Quite spectacular, though. I drive a mid size SUV 4x4 with good ground clearance, I'm not sure I would have driven a sedan down that road! Tuesday we drove the 130 miles up in to Utah to Arches National Park, which was interesting, but maybe not as spectacular as I as expecting. The National Weather Service promised us a winter storm and 10-20 inches of snow on Wednesday and Thursday, so I cancelled the hotel in Canyon de Chelle and extended our stay in Monument Valley. We didn't get that much, but the local roads were closed, as were interstate highway's 40 and 17 around Flagstaff, so we really couldn't have either gone to Canyon de Chelle, or home. Anyway, it was a good week, I shot 605 photo's, quite a lot of video and read 4 books, and I didn't go into my office!!

The view from our room. Nice hotel, Navajo Nation owned, highly recommended.

Panama

2010-11-25T17:42:00.000-08:00

We went to Panama in early November, to have a look at the canal with the object of shooting a program. We went with AA via DFW & MIA to Panama City. The flight from MIA was delayed due to a problem with the airplane, (broken rubber band?) so we ended up arriving at 10:30 pm or so. After a fairly lengthy delay in passport control, we ended up having an, ah, interesting taxi ride to our hotel on the far side of Panama City. Speed limit? Stop signs? Staying in lane? Not, it seems, in Panama. We arrived at the hotel pretty close to midnight, happily they were expecting us, and we had a very nice room overlooking the Pacific, the Canal and the Bridge of the America's. When I woke up I could hear bird calls, so I went out on to our balcony to see my first exotic bids. Great tailed grackles, which I see in my back yard!

We did the Panama Canal tour, going through Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks on a small boat, then went out and visited Gatun locks and Miraflores locks to shoot the ships passing through, and the electric locomotives, called mules, which keep ships in the center of the lock. We both found it to be interesting, the big ships have little clearance, and when a ship doesn't take up all the lock, they cram in as many smaller ships, tugs etc as they can. Lots of pelicans and magnificent frigatebirds.

We also visited Casco Viejo, the old part of Panama City. The taxi driver told us to walk this way, not that way, it seems that parts of the old city are dangerous. Seemed like there were a lot of building shells, some were being renovated at, I can only assume, enormous cost. The presidents palace was here, we were searched before being allowed along the street in front of it. We were told later by somebody who had stayed at a hotel in the old part of the city that they were advised to be off the streets by 4 pm, as that's when the kids get out of school and go out to prey on the tourists.

After six days in the hotel at Amador, by the canal, we moved to Canopy Towers, a converted US radar installation on the top of a hill in the jungle outside Panama City. We went here for the birds, it's in the top 100 birding locations in the world, and we had guided bird walks every morning and afternoon. The guides were excellent, we wouldn't have seen half the birds we did, and probably wouldn't have been able to identify half of them, either, without them. The world is getting smaller, one of our fellow guests grew up 20 miles from where I grew up, and another had just visited Hollingworth Lake in Rochdale to see an American grebe! Neat place, we enjoyed the lodge very much. Panama is tropical, and covered, for the most part, in rain forest. I don't recommend visiting in the wettest month of the rainy season, it rains. Hard. A lot. Putting on damp clothes every morning wears a bit thin after a while. After the Towers we drove to El Valle de Anton, a 2 1/2 hour drive from the city. The town is located in the bottom of a volcanic crater, but since it was the rainy season, there wasn't much to do, and the town rolled up the sidewalks at sunset. It rained here, too. quite a lot.

We did enjoy Panama, although it was a relief to come home and be dry again. We saw 2 kinds of sloth, 3 kinds of monkey, cotamundis, kinkajous and 175 species of birds. While we were there, black vultures were migrating through, we must have seen tens of thousands of them. Altogether, an enjoyable experience, but one that would have been much better without all the rain.

Sand Patch and the Western Maryland Scenic

2010-11-24T22:48:00.000-08:00

In mid October I flew out to Baltimore to join a Carl Franz photo freight on the Western Maryland Scenic with the 734. I went out a few days early for a cab ride and some shots of the passenger train. A couple of days before I left I called Carl to check on things, and the 734 had problems. Since the airlines are not known for their generosity these days, I had to go anyway. So I had a few days on Sand Patch. It's 18 years since I did "Sand Patch Weekend" so it was about time to have another look. The first time I went, C40-8W's were new, as was the "Bright Future" paint scheme. B&O, Chessie, stealth, Seaboard, big C boats, SD40-2's, all gone except for the -2's, now it's big GE's and "Dark Future" paint. Still, I had decent weather and a reasonable amount of traffic, and met some interesting people. Not a lot of time for photography, but here are some odds and ends.

I'd never been on one of Carl's trips before, very well done, and lots of runby's!

New England

2010-10-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Every year, at the end of January, I do the Amhurst Railway Society show in West Springfield, Massachusetts. I used to drive when we first moved to Arizona, but it's 2700 miles and 3 days each way, so now I fly. Southwest goes from Tucson to Chicago Midway and then to Manchester, New Hampshire. I spend a few days with friends from Epping, and then do the show, then back to Epping for a couple of days then home.

My friend Bill and I always drive up the seacoast, have a chowder and a beer (or two) and have a look at the Nubble light. These are a few images from last year, with a very co-operative herring gull.

This year I went up in the fall, to have a look at Guilford Transportation, it's 18 years since I last had a look at them, and a lot has changed. Of course Bill and I went and had a look at the Nubble, astonishingly we forgot our chowder! Unbelievable! So we had dinner in Portsmouth instead.

I haven't seen a New England fall since we moved to Arizona in 1997, so it was interesting. There was little color when i got there, but a cold front went through and you could almost watch the foliage turn. Then it poured, and a lot of leaves were stripped. Bill has the Lamprey River behind the house, so I wandered around and took some photo's.

Eventually I had to go do some shooting, and set off for Ayer, Massachusetts, about an hour away. Ayer has the MBTA as well as the ST. The NS pig train is usually on duty about noon, and the train sets off for East Deerfield to meet it's eastbound counterpart to change crews. I caught the train at Shirley and chased it west. Lots has changed along Route 2, and I didn't see much I recognized. I ended up catching the pig train and a coal train at East Deerfield, from the railfan bridge, which I did remember. Last time I shot from the bridge I'd taken a day off work, and gone out with my VHS camcorder in my MGBGT, so it had to be early 1988! My hotel was in nearby Greenfield, and there was (is?) a 99 restaurant next door. Normally I hate eating along and usually end up with a MacCr*p burger in the hotel. But I was able to sit at the bar, have a meal and a beer and watch a ball game on TV. Much better than sitting in a hotel room. It was a good trip, despite Guilford's lack of traffic. For a couple of days everything I touched turned to gold, and a number of people helped out, both by showing me around, and texting train locations. Matt Baj, Arthur Martin, Bill Markowski and Tim Stockwell, take a bow. Your help is much appreciated! After running around Massachusetts, Vermont and New York, I had another couple of days with Bill and Kathy in Epping, and then came home with Southwest. Jay Lenno makes lots of jokes about Southwest, but I have to say that there is more legroom than on many international flights I've been on.

A few video frames from the program.

Sadly, or should I say, expensively, I backed the rental car (Kia Sportage) into a concrete block hiding in the grass. My insurance company asked if there was any damage to the block!

A TRIP TO SAINT LOUIS

2010-08-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

I set off for Saint Louis in late July, to do some shooting around the city, and meet Chris for a few days. Since I don't really like 1,000 mile days much anymore, I set off at noon on Friday for a Sunday afternoon arrival. Since I had a little spare time, stopped on the way to shoot a few cloud pictures. I got as far as Socorro, NM, 400 miles the first night, the second night was spent another 875 miles away, in Miami, OK, just a few miles south of the MO border and somewhere I've stayed several times before, in fact I lost my phone there last year. Next morning I drove the 200 miles or so to Kirkwood, MO, about 15 miles west of the STL center.

There is a nice park on the south side of the Amtrak station, commemorating several council members and police officers who lost their lives in a shooting at city hall. I was approached by a police officer, but she was just interested and wondering if I was getting any good pictures. Chris arrived after 4 trains, and we sat around and waited for Amtrak, by which time the light was getting off the tracks, so we looked around town and found a new location, seeing about 8 more trains before it was time to head off to the motel in Collinsville, IL. My satnav lost it's mind, and had to be rebooted, which I found annoying, since it's brand new.

At the top of my wish list was the TRRA's new, ex UP GP38's in their nice new paint scheme. Our first full day was spent at Granite City, and eventually, in the midst of all NS's locals, along came a pair, and proceeded to block the grade crossing for half an hour. An NS cop stopped to say hello, he was just interested.

The late afternoon found us along the river front, ducking up and down side roads, we eventually found the old Cotton Belt freight house, long since abandoned, and a freight. We spent time at Lacledes Landing until the light went, with no train, and adjourned to a nearby brewpub for dinner.

Next morning we went and found the big MacArthur Bridge across the Mississippi, my camera decided it didn't like the humidity (appalling!) and decided not to function. So I sat in the car with the heater on full, holding the camera over a vent until it dried out. Nice busy morning, then we went off to an overpass near the Amtrak station and baked our brains. late afternoon found us back at Lacledes Landing, where we were told by a parking lot security guard we could not use recording devices, despite the fact that there was a public observation area on the roof. He spent a long time trying to get somebody in authority to say yes or no, in the meantime a train came, we got our shot and went away. After the light went, we headed off

down the interstate to find a brewpub that had been recommended. Sadly, the beer wasn't cold, and my prime rib was put in front of me in about 5 minutes, I've never even had soup in 5 minutes in a restaurant before! Plus it was expensive!

Chris had to set off for home on Wednesday, but we found 20th Street in East Saint Louis. the light was all wrong, so we went to the other end of Gateway Yard and found a spot where we weren't trespassing. we got to meet an Alton & Southern cop, who told us the area wasn't safe, and recommended a couple of places safer. So we went back to 20th Street, and Chris had to go. the light still wasn't right, so I went to the other place the cop had suggested, and had a good two or three hours before heading back to 20th St. I'd no sooner parked when another A&S cop showed up, he just wanted to make sure I was OK, recommended that I keep the aircon on, windows up and doors locked! The neighborhood looked pretty rough (well, really rough) but the road I was on beside the yard dead ended, and nobody came near me. Thursday morning the alarm didn't go off, so I ended up on Grand Boulevard later than I intended. I set up, UP, BNSF & Metro (light rail) all come together here. Before long a voice wanted to know what I thought I was doing. Turned out to be an armed Metro security guard. Told him I was waiting for freight trains. He said it was illegal to take pictures of Metro trains or property without permission, and to go away. which I declined to do, since I was on public property and he had no authority there, nor did I believe I needed permission. Next he wanted ID, which I also declined to give him. So he called a cop. Who told me to go away, and demanded ID, which I did give him. I also told him he was exceeding his authority, that I had every right to take pictures, and told him, and the security guard I was being deprived of my rights and was going to file formal complaints, and took names. The cop was getting quite disgruntled by this time, so I decided that I was about to get tazed or arrested, and went away. I called Metro, who seemed quite surprised by the whole thing, since I was on public property, told me that of course I didn't need permission and would call security. So I set off back to the Metro station to have words with security, and discovered I'd locked my keys in the car. Of course this was the trip I'd forgotten my spare! While waiting for AAA, I called the Saint Louis County PD, the captain wasn't available, so I talked to the dispatcher. Metro had called, everybody knew all about me, and to go back and take my pictures, very sorry! Which I did, AAA having taken about 30 seconds to get into my car. I got the hairy eyeball from a variety of Metro security & cops, and from several members of the STL County PD, but nobody bothered me.

I know I've ranted and raved about graffiti, but there is a flood control wall down by the MacArthur bridge that has some serious stuff on it, sadly the usual moron taggers have defaced a lot of it.

Friday I set off for Columbus, Ohio, to pick up my wife so we could spend the weekend with Chris & Megan and the grandkids. Which we did, and had a very nice time.

On Monday I dropped my wife back off at the airport and set off for Saint Louis to get a few more shots. Tuesday I had a look at the other big bridge, the humidity was just appalling, the heat index was 117, and I was soaked in sweat. On Wednesday, when I woke up it was dark gray and nasty, thunderstorms promised, and the heat index was going to be 125, so I came home. It was an interesting trip, less rail traffic than we were expecting, and STL seems to be quite a gritty kind of town. East Saint Louis was something else, all the railfan websites say how dangerous it can be, and not to fan alone or display expensive equipment. No problems though, although at 20th St/Valley Junction I did take the A&S cop's advice, just popping out of the car for my shots, and keeping a wary eye out for problems.

All in all, not a bad trip, a total of about 4500 miles. Great to see Chris & Megan and their kids again!

Saguaro National Park West

2010-07-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

It's monsoon season here in Arizona, when we hope to get most of our rain, this year to date about 6.5 inches. The cumulus clouds build up over the Santa Catalina Mountains in the afternoon, and since I like to include cloud formations in my videos, I had a couple of hours with my digital still camera in Saguaro National Park West, which is perhaps half an hour from the house. We're in the Sonora desert, which is the only place in the world that these cacti grow. So any western type cowboy movies with this cacti in them were shot in this part of the world.

Canada & The Columbia River

2010-07-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

In late June I set off for Seattle to pick up Graham, who was flying in from the UK for a couple of weeks of train chasing. I took my time getting up there, and stopped for a shot of a train near Dunsmuir, California. and since Mount Shasta was still covered in snow, I took an hour to wander around looking for a photo site. After all this, and 1650 miles on the road, I arrived at the airport about an hour before his flight was due in, and wonder of wonders, it was early!

From Seattle we headed up Interstate 5, which was quite busy, to Hope, British Columbia and a hotel for a couple of nights. Canadian immigration was interested in our journey in search of trains, and asked if we'd seen the Thompson & Fraser canyons, which was where we were headed! After checking in to the hotel, we set off to look for a train or two. We found one crawling slowly in to a siding, and the engineer came over and asked if I'd mind going to get his conductor, they had been knocked down by a detector, and the train was better than 9500 feet long. So off I went, but the conductor was nowhere to be found. I went back to the head end, and told the engineer that the people at the crossing had said the conductor was on the other side of the train. Since the train was blocking the crossing, he dragged it forward to clear, and I went back for the conductor. Who was grateful for the offer, but needed to find the problem, and would quite likely be a long time. So I picked up Graham, and we went off to find something to eat, since it was getting quite late.

Chris and I had been on the Thompson and Fraser Rivers in 1997, I recognized a few places, but mostly we shot in places that were new to me. After the first couple of days the weather cleared, and we had some excellent days, with only one cloudy afternoon. There were osprey all over the place, and lots of bald eagles too.

After a week in Canada, we'd about covered the Thompson & Fraser. Traffic on CN was quite sparse, but I shot enough for a nice program, so we set off for the Columbia River. we ended up in Cascade Locks for a couple of nights. Since it was prime tourist season in both BC & Oregon, I was blown away by the price of hotel rooms. We had superb weather on the Columbia River, but train traffic was a bit weird. BNSF had a MofW window for a couple of days, and UP was quite sparse, good in the early morning and evening, but long waits in the afternoon. And of course the traffic on the opposite side of the river to us was usually quite heavy! we had 50 mph winds one day, which made shooting quite difficult, the tripod and camera wanting to get airborn! On the Monday afternoon, the day before Graham had to leave for home, my Trailblazer's power steering went, so the following morning I had to take it in to the dealer, which was fortunately next door to our hotel in The Dalles. The nearest power steering pump was in Portland, and there were no rental cars to be had, so poor Graham had to take a very expensive taxi to Portland airport. Which was only the start of his problems getting home, the flight from Chicago was late, then had to turn back and land in Chicago (with a full fuel load) after having electrical problems. He finally got away more than five hours late. I spent that day and the next morning sitting in the hotel room, then dragged all my luggage over to the dealers and sat there. They tried quite hard to sell me a Subaru Forester! I finally got the car back at 4 pm and set off for home. I made it to the Oregon/Idaho border, where I spent the night in a somewhat, how shall I put it, less than average motel. Next day I made it to Flagstaff, which was a VERY long day, then got in to home late the next morning. All in all, it was an excellent trip, covering about 5500 miles.

A northern Arizona sunset, only 400 miles from home!

South Africa for Steam

2010-06-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

I went to South Africa in May to join a Geoff Cooke steam tour. The last time I went it was a 19 hour ride to Johannesburg from Atlanta, and I had to spend the night in Atlanta, so this time I chose to go via Amsterdam with KLM, figuring a 9 hour ride and an 11 hour ride with a couple of hours break would be better than being stuffed in steerage for 19 hours. Since I don't have any miles with KLM, I got to sit in the back in steerage, which wasn't a great deal of fun, there not being much leg room. I must say though, I got to see more movies than I ever dreamed of! I set off from Tucson with a 7:20 am flight to Atlanta and got in to bed at about 11:00 pm the following night in Jo'berg, it's quite a long way.

Delta A-330 Atlanta to Amsterdam

KLM B-777 somewhere over the Sahara

Since I'd taken the wrong power adaptor, I spent part of our first morning at the airport with Geoff, who was waiting for morning arrivals for the tour, looking for an adaptor. The airport was having power cuts, so it got to be quite entertaining! Eventually we all set off for a transport museum, which I didn't much care for, so I had an entertaining hour in the park next door looking at birds. After that we went off and looked at South Africa's national collection, which is dumped in fields and looking pretty bad, rotting with lots of parts missing. I saw my first big Garratt looking very sad, the entire collection is just rotting away.

The next morning we set off before dawn for Friends of the Rail. We were supposed to have a charter train with a 15F, but South African Railways were, and for all I know, still are, on strike, so we couldn't run the train. FOR put on a fantastic day for us, with the 15F, a 19D and a 24 in steam. I even got a cab ride on the 15F, so it can't be bad. My bid deal of the trip was to see a 25NC, but the 15F is probably even prettier, a big 4-8-2.

The next day we set off quite early for Reefsteamers in Pretoria, where we were supposed to have a charter train with a 25NC. Reefsteamers put on an excellent show for us, with a 25NC, a 15F and a 12AR in steam. My tripod bit the dust, again, and Steve from Reefsteamers took me out and found a camera shop that could repair the tripod in short order. We had some more runby's in the afternoon, then a barbeque and some night shooting.

We were supposed to spend the next morning with Reefsteamers, but instead set off for Sandstone Estates, who have a magnificent narrow gauge collection, and spent the afternoon with a German tank engine. Next day was a pair of NGG16 Garratts, just magnificent, in splendid weather, from pre dawn to post sunset. South Africa was in late fall, so mornings were frosty, which made for some great steam shots. Next day was a pair of 4-4-0 Lawley's, and the next day a NG15. The last morning we had an NG4, then set off for Creighton.

At Creighton we stayed on Sisonke Stimela's luxury train, and very nice it was, too. Our first day we went off to the Patons Country Railway, where we had a day with an NGG11 Garratt. This was one of the few less than perfect weather days we had in South Africa. At Carisbrook the group went off to look at a sugar cane engine, and I stayed behind to catch the 11 switching it's cars. Which was a fortunate thing, the previous night's curry caught up with me.....One of the group, Keith, rode the cab to the first runby location, then I got on, and what a ride it was. A light rain had fallen, so the track was slippery and the little engine kept loosing it's feet, so when the rear engine, just under the cab, slipped, it felt like the engine was going to fall apart. We couldn't make the summit, and the engine ran out of water, so the crew had to dump the fire, and our bus had to come and get us. That was quite a ride!

Next day we took a 19D and some of our coaches out for runby's, and in the afternoon we took a big GMAM Garratt out. The following morning we were out before dawn, as usual, to catch the big GMAM being prepared for the days runby's. The countryside is dotted with Zulu homes, the traditional round huts, and these made splendid backgrounds for the big Garratt. I've always wanted to see one, and just to make it extra special I got to ride the cab from Donnybrook all the way back to Creighton. Sadly, my tripod had fallen apart again, so I wasn't able to take any photo's as I was concentrating on keeping everything together. That night, another member of the group and I fixed my tripod, for the third time this trip, with a screwdriver, allen key, some tape and a big pair of pliers, very useful as a hammer!

From Creighton it was a full day bus ride to Port Elizabeth, from where we were to join the Apple Valley. After our usual crack of doom start, we had one of Sandstone's Lawley's and an NG15. The little Lawley, restricted to 25kph had the ride of it's life! It had been trucked down to PE, we were going to have an NGG16, but it wasn't finished in time, so Apple Valley borrowed the Lawley. After dropping the Lawley off (limited water) we had a very nice couple of days with the NG15. Then it was time to come home. We were up at 6:00 am for the bus ride to Port Elizabeth, and plane ride to Jo'berg, 9 hours at the airport, an 11 flight to Amsterdam, 3 hours in Amsterdam then a 9 hour ride to Atlanta, where I cleared immigration and customs. 2 1/2 hours in Atlanta, followed by a 3 1/2 hour ride home. All in all, I was 49 hours from bed to bed. The last flight from Atlanta got to be quite tedious!

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, apart from tripod and camera problems, and I got some terrific footage. I saw some truly impressive engines, and managed 5 cab rides. I'd wanted to go on Geoff's South African narrow gauge tour last year, but had a previous commitment, so I jumped at the opportunity to go this year. South African Railways being on strike didn't help, but both Friends of the Rail and Reefsteamers did their very best for us and put on splendid shows. Sandstone was everything I had hoped for, just awesome, and as for the GMAM, words fail me. Fantastic!

Almost home!

Poland again!

2010-06-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

I set off for England again in early April, and used more airline miles to go first class again. The aircraft from Chicago to Manchester had changed from a 767 to a 757, for some reason, but again the service was excellent. They had an excellent Reisling, and I eventually had to stop them from filling my glass! Mother was OK and in good shape and after 4 days in the UK I set off for Warsaw. Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then Warsaw. Sadly I had to travel steerage, but not bad, the aircraft was a 737, and the service was quite good. I chose the Polonia Palace Hotel on the internet, due to it's location almost opposite Central Station and because it had less appalling prices than some other central hotels. Turns out to be one of Warsaw's better hotels.

I found Warsaw to be a bit intimidating. I didn't speak a word of Polish when I got there (now I can ask for a beer and say "thank you" ) and I find it virtually unpronounceable! I found the railway system to be a bit confusing too, so the first couple of days I took taxi's. Central Station is completely underground, and since it was the week of the plane crash there was heavy security everywhere, and I decided it might be counter productive to try shooting there. so I went to Warsaw West, where I had an excellent day, except my tripod decided to break, and dumped the camera on the ground, breaking off the accessory shoe and mount that holds the microphone. So I spent the afternoon trying to find a camera store and get the tripod fixed. Which I did, quite inexpensively, apart from the numerous taxi fares! Next day I went off to Warsaw East, again I had a good day, and no tripod problems. The following day I went off to Central Station, and checked out my train to Poznan, since it was an intercity Express and I had to have a reservation. Found out where my coach was, and decided to spend more time at Warsaw West. Where I got to meet 4 policemen, 2 in SWAT gear. Who made telephone calls about me, then made me go away. So I went back to the hotel and sat in the bar! Next morning I caught the train to Poznan, and from there on to Wolsztyn, where I was met by Howard of the Wolsztyn Experience and taken to their guest house. The trains left when they were supposed to and arrived on time. Amazing! My first day I caught the train to Leszno, where I shot more trains, but sadly little freight, since Poland had virtually shut down for the weekend funerals of the president and top officials. However, I did see a number of white storks on their nesting poles, and a lot of deer, so that was quite pleasing. Next day I went off by train to Sbyszyn to shoot more trains, and caught some private owner units as well as freight. the following day Howard had arranged cab rides for me from Poznan to Szczecin and back, a distance of about 120 miles. The locomotives were 300v overhead electrics, EP 07 class, the first in traditional green and the return in the newer red and cream scheme. Both drivers were very friendly, but didn't speak English, so conversation in the cab was rather limited. The driver for the return trip showed me round the interior of his locomotive and explained everything to me. Although not understanding a word, I was mostly able to grasp what everything was. A fun day! The following day was my ride to Poznan and back on the steam engine. I didn't want to run it, I was perfectly happy just shooting the ride and enjoying being on a working steam engine. Another excellent day. Next day I set off back to Warsaw and the Polonia Palace, since I was meeting a group with Bernd Seilor of FarRail for a week on the narrow gauge. The morning we were to meet at Central Station I had plenty of time, so went off to Warsaw East with my SLR to get some shots to use as a cover for "Warsaw's Colorful Trains". Naturally I stayed longer than I should have and had to hurry back to the hotel, check out and drag all my stuff to the meeting place. Almost there it dawned on me that I had left my passport and all my money in the hotel safe! So by the time I got back to the station I was hot and sweaty, and waited and waited at the wrong location! Finally I asked which way was north, and trotted off to the right location, where I was delighted to find the group still there, a flight had been delayed and the bus was late getting to the meeting point. A lucky break for me, although Bernd knew I was in Warsaw and might have sent a search party out. We had a really excellent week on the narrow gauge, including a couple of cab rides. One on a diesel, after I'd taken a few shots I was perfectly happy to lean out of the window and watch the world go by. At one point we had a race with a guy on a bicycle, who eventually won!! The tour ended in Krakow, and I flew with Air Berlin to Berlin and then Frankfurt, where I spent the night. My ride to Dallas was on a 777, and since I was in business class it was all very pleasant. I have to say I was quite impressed with Polish Railways, they seemed to have very good service, were quite inexpensive, and had lots of interesting power.

Poland and Steam!

2010-03-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

In October, 2009 I went to Poland for a Plandampf, a steam event, arranged by the Wolsztyn Experience. I flew to Frankfurt, Germany, by way of Dallas Fort Worth, and met Graham, a friend from England. We drove out to Wolstzyn, in retrospect an error, we could have flown to Poznan and saved a day's driving. The rental car was a 1 series BMW, and since I like cars and had never driven a BMW, it wasn't all bad, though we did get ourselves lost trying to find our way out of the airport and getting going in the right direction. I have to say that an 800+ mile drive after being in an airplane all night might not be the smartest thing to do, but we made it OK. On the way, Graham, navigator in chief, found us a narrow gauge railway in Germany, just off the autobahn. As luck would have it, a train was due in a few minutes, so we stayed to watch it.

Wolstzyn seemed like quite a pleasant town, nicer than some of the villages along the railroad. Poland was under Soviet rule for many years, and some of the villages were quite bleak. However, our hotel was very nice, if a trifle odd, and the beer was excellent. We ate in several places around town and found the food to be very good. I actually gained four pounds over the course of the trip.

The Polish railway company allows access to the engine terminal, for a small fee, so we could wander around and soak up the atmosphere.

Chasing the train was interesting. The Poles have only recently been able to afford cars, the roads were perhaps not up to US standards and the standard of driving was appalling. High speeds, overtaking anywhere, never mind if somebody was coming the other way, or there was a bend. But we survived, although on the day before we left, I actually read the rental car agreement ( I must have been bored) and discovered that we were not allowed to take the car in to Poland. We left for Frankfurt the day before Grahams flight back to the UK, and went along back roads for part of the way, see a bit more of the country. We spent the night somewhere in Germany, in a very expensive hotel, and had a very nice, very expensive dinner. sadly, it was my turn to pay! We set off next morning, took the car back, Graham caught his flight, and I spent the night in a hotel near the airport. Dinner and a couple of beers in the bar and an early night. The flight home was uneventful, no screaming kids and I ending up back home in the late evening.

FIRST CLASS AIR!

2009-12-01T08:33:00.001-08:00

The last weekend in August was Pete Lerro's Berkshire photo freight, and since I'd never seen the big Berks, I decided to go. A trip to the UK was also needed since I hadn't seen mother, who is 86, for some time. So I decided to use my air miles and go first class. Tucson to DFW and on to Detroit was on Super 80's, and I have to say that first class is considerably better than cattle class up at the back! Hot nuts, a hot breakfast, hot towels, attentive service, what an eye opener. I set off from Detroit in the rental car, and eventually stopped at a rest area to find out where Owosso had disappeared to. Turning round, I drove back the 45 miles I'd overshot the exit, and eventually found my way to the hotel. The event was quite entertaining, the big engines certainly put on an amazing show, especially the 765. Well worth doing. I flew from Detroit to Chicago on a regional jet, so no first class, and I had to surrender my camera bag, which is one of the reasons I avoid regional jets wherever possible, I've seen the way luggage gets treated. The camera of course come out of the bag! Chicago to Manchester was on the usual 767, but what a difference sitting up front makes. I could really get used to travelling in style. Except of course I can't afford to, but I still have a lot of miles left, so hopefully I can do it again. The ride home from Manchester to Chicago was on the same 767, then Chicago to DFW to Tucson was on Super 80's again. Manchester I was sent upstairs to BA's first class lounge. Free breakfast, the bar was open (9 am!), newspapers, magazines, TV, quiet. Very nice!

Since I seem to be incapable of going anywhere without getting a program out of it, and to indulge my new found passion for narrow gauge steam, I visited the Welshpool & Llanfair railway in Wales. I stayed in a pub, which was interesting, to say the least. My room was over the bar, which stayed open until about 2 am, the following two nights (I checked out early!) they hosted stag parties, the first night went on until 4 am, the second a Saturday night, went on until 5 am. The likelyhood of me staying in a pub again is small! The railway was a lot of fun, although access is a bit limited. I was given a cab ride on an 0-6-2 tank engine from Sierra Leone when the driver found out how far I'd come to see the railway. I've always liked the look of The Earl and The Countess, they were around when I was a kid, and I finally got to see them, they are even nicer in real life than they are in pictures.

I grew up in Rochdale, near Manchester, in England. Rochdale was a cotton town until everything went overseas, and the mills have either gone, or been converted to other uses. The town dates back to Roman times, there are remains of Roman roads in the hills behind the town, and it's mentioned in the Doomsday book. The town hall is pretty impressive, dominating the town center, and on the hill behind is the parish church, dating back to the 10th century. Mother still lives there, so I get to go and visit three or four times a year, see if she needs locking up yet!

TEXAS HUMIDITY

2009-11-28T14:10:00.001-08:00

In June I set off for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to document some of the railroads there. My first afternoon was spent on an overpass just south of Tower 55, which is now off limits and patrolled. Eventually a police car pulled up and a lady officer, who seemed to think it was funny, told me that I'd been reported as a suspicious character and a probably threat to Homeland Security. We chatted about what I was up to, the patrol car mostly blocking traffic, then she asked if the white SUV was mine, which it was. She told me the area was not really nice, the cops called it crack alley and I perhaps might like to consider not being there after dark. So after considering it, I went and found a motel and considered the next day. After more Tower 55 I ended up in Saginaw, 7 or 8 miles north of downtown Fort Worth. Watching TV that night I was, ah, interested, to find that I was in the tornado warning area! Sitting trackside at Saginaw the next day I couldn't see across the tracks for the rain, and the day was mostly worthless. After the storm moved through, it heated up again and the humidity became almost intolerable. After driving to Dallas and finding the Trinity River bridge, I got set up and discovered that my camera declined to function due to condensation. So I spent the next hour in the car with the heater on full trying to dry it out. Late afternoon the storm clouds showed up, so I packed up and set off back to the motel in Saginaw. It took two hours on the freeway to cover the 34 miles! All in all, it was reasonably interesting, but oh, the humidity!

From Dallas I set off to Columbus, Ohio to pick up my wife at the airport for a visit with our oldest son and his wife, and of course our grandchildren. I got to spend an hour on top of the parking garage watching the planes until my wife arrived, then off we went to see our grandson for the first time, and I got to practice child photography with my new camera. After the visit I dropped my wife off at Columbus International and went to Marion, a couple of hours north of Columbus. Chris joined me the next morning, and went home the following morning, and I set off home the morning after. Marion was interesting, decent amount of traffic and variety, and only a two day drive home. I got to Socorro, New Mexico the first day, and from there it's only 400 miles home!

Fort Worth & Dallas, Texas

Marion, Ohio

Grandkids

A TRIP TO NORTH DAKOTA

2009-11-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

We had to attend the wedding of our niece at the International Peace Gardens between Manitoba and North Dakota at the beginning of July, 2009. Since it was our niece, my wife flew up to Minot to help her sister get ready, and I, being too cheap just to go anywhere, set off to shoot BNSF on the old Northern Pacific line across North Dakota. After leaving Tucson about 6 am, I spent the first night 850+ miles later in Castle Rock, just south of Denver, Colorado. I have made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming (1005 miles) in a day, but I guess age is creeping up on me and I don't really feel like doing that any more. I set off for Glendive, Montana, the start of BNSF's Dickinson Sub, next morning and arrived early afternoon after driving up through the Powder River coal fields, seeing a reasonable number of trains on the way. I spent a couple of weeks shooting my way across the state, ending up at Casselton, west of Fargo and the end of the Jamestown Sub. The Badlands were interesting, and I got to meet a couple of BNSF MoW employees, the first being somewhat aggressive! I'm quite entertained (after the fact) that they seem to know to an inch where the property line is (your tripod is trespassing). This one told me, in addition the the usual Department of Homeland Security, need permission to take pictures of trains, trespassing etc, that I was obviously up to no good since my car doesn't have plates! Arizona is a one plate state and thus no plate on the front. So he walked over to my car and put the tailgate down to check if I had a rear plate. A while later his supervisor showed up to check me out, but was a good deal more polite. Otherwise there were no problems on the trip, mostly excellent weather and my car didn't do anything it shouldn't. We had a good time at the wedding, catching up with a number of in-laws and nieces and nephews. I did get stopped for speeding on the way back to the hotel after the wedding, and got to sit in the front of a state trooper's car while he checked me out. Since I was well dressed, sober and polite, and have a clean record, I got off with a warning. After dropping my daughter off at Minot airport at 4 am, I set off for home. I didn't realize it until well in to the drive home, but the big Sturgis bike festival was going on and North Dakota was FULL of motor bikes. I made it to Castle Rock again, and was home the next day.

California

2009-09-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

My friend Graham came over from the UK in May, I met him at LAX and we had a few days on Cajon Pass. As usual I was too busy shooting video to take many stills, but did manage a few. The new track is open, traffic seemed a bit down, but there was enough so that we didn't get bored. I was concerned over security, and I'd heard that the inside of Sullivan's Curve belonged to BNSF. However, there were signs near the crossing at Cajon that seemed to indicate that it was actually Forest Service property, so we went and had a look. Security was out and about over the pass, on the new double track, but I made sure the car was well away from the rails, and so were we, and we weren't bothered. Somebody in a pickup was racing around the inside of Sullivan's while we were up on the SP side, and somebody in a Jeep came along, crossed the SP track and sat on the retaining wall alongside the BNSF track, which I thought was perhaps a little foolish. The access road up at Summit is used by dirt bikes and ATV's, so I'm not sure what the trespass situation is there, I figured it was perhaps best not to find out!

After Cajon we set off for the Feather. Satnav and I disagreed, I would have gone down to I10 and up 5, satnav and Graham wanted me to go over Tehachapi and up through Sacramento that way, so since I really didn't think LA would be too much fun during the rush hour, I took their advice. Nothing moving over Tehachapi, but there was probably a good deal less traffic, so it all worked out well. On arrival at Oroville, we checked in to the hotel and then went exploring. After we got over the bridge at Pulga, the car felt odd, and it turned out that we had a flat. It's a royal pain getting the spare out from under the Trailblazer, so we were both filthy by the time it got done. On the way back we found an eastbound, and managed to get a glint shot at James. Dinner was at the brewpub in the Oroville depot, and very nice it was too. Next morning it was off to the tire store, where I had to buy a new tire, since mine had split. I think it was this day that I tripped getting over the crash barrier at the side of the road and landed, hard, on my face. Good thing my glasses are plastic, otherwise I might be blind in my right eye now. Knocked me out for a few seconds, and gave me a good road rash on the side of my face. Gave me a bit of a headache, too. My doctor says that one looses one's abilty to quickly regain balance after tripping as one gets older, had I been 30 years younger it would probably have just been a stumble.

It had been ten years since I was on the Feather the first time, and the trees have not stopped growing (surprise!). The shot at Keddie is going away, and there is some construction at Clio, which together with new growth is taking that shot away. Some of the shots in the canyon are going away too. Traffic counts are fairly low, but chasing is easy, and we had perfect weather, so we got enough footage for a nice program. After running around, we had a look at the museum in Portola, then set off for Sacramento, where I left Graham, he had a flight to LAX and on to London. Satnav had me take the central route down to Tehachapi and then to Victorville, I would, again, have gone down I5 to LA and on to I10. I spent the night in Banning, and was home by noon the next day.

NEW ZEALAND

2009-08-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

My wife and I took a trip to New Zealand at the beginning of April, 2009. It didn't start off particularly well, Southwest was two hours late in departing Tucson, which cut our time in Los Angeles way down, then our luggage took forever to get to the carousel. Then we had to change terminals, and while there was no line at the Air New Zealand check-in counter, there was a good line at security. We were held downstairs for long enough for minor panic to set in, then the line was allowed upstairs, where the x-ray machines are. We were within a dozen or so people from the machine when a teenager with a high school band decided to be clever and made a run for it. X-ray immediately shut down, every security person in range took off after him, and cops by the gross showed up, the terminal was completely shut down. After about an hour things started to move, I have to assume they caught the kid, and I sincerely trust he didn't make his flight! By the time we got to the gate, boarding was just starting, so we got to walk straight on to the plane.

The flight was uneventful, and we arrived in Auckland at 7:30 am, and eventually took a taxi in to the city to our hotel. Our room wasn't, apparently, ready, but we were able to upgrade and check in! Nice room, we unpacked and went for a walk, then in the afternoon, lying on the bed, we were disconcerted to see a body flying down past our window. Our room was overlooking the Sky Tower, and for a fee you can strap on a harness and plummet 900+ feet down. Or walk around a 3 foot wide walkway with no handrails (but wearing a harness). Late afternoon, getting ready to change and go find some dinner, I discovered I hadn't packed any underwear, so we had to rush off and find a department store! Next day, my birthday, we set off to see Silver & Ballard, a company marketing my programs in New Zealand. We had lunch with all the employees, then Geoff, the manager took us to see the sights. Auckland seems like a very nice place, quite scenic, and we were very impressed with S&B!

Next morning we flew to Christchurch on the South Island. Geoff had suggested we take a look at a couple of the tourist railways, so I'd made some calls, and everybody concerned was very nice to us. I got to ride the engine on the Tranz Alpine Express from Christchurch to Greymouth, except through the Otira tunnel. Then I got to ride back! Margie and I rode the train, I shot from the open generator car, then I spent a couple of days driving out and shooting scenery and trains over Arthur's Pass. We had, I think, four days in Christchurch, I'm not much of a note taker. There was a very nice pub just around the corner from the hotel, and we enjoyed several meals there. Very nice steak and ale pie, and we discovered Tui beer. A tui is one of New Zealand's endemic birds, we saw a couple in Auckland.

From Christchurch we drove down to Dunedin, and stayed at a delightful bed and breakfast. Our accommodation was in a converted sheep shearing barn, and very nice it was too. The Grants, who own the place, live in the other end of the ex barn. There was a real barn on the property, and it was the home of a little owl, who obligingly let us have a look at him. He wasn't overly enthusiastic, but did stay put. The morning after we arrived, I drove in to town and went to see the folks at the Taeri Gorge Railway, who said "Oh yes, we have you down to ride the engine this afternoon". So I had to shoot off back to the farm, pick up the camera and get myself back in to town in time for the train. Because the first part of the railway is on trackage rights over the national railway, I rode the train until the first stop on the Taeri Gorge, then transfered to the cab. The engine crew were very hospitable, so I got to ride the engine back to just before Kiwi Rail's tracks. Next day Margie and I rode out to Middlemarch on a beautiful day. I shot from the rear vestibule through the spectacular gorge. At the end of the line I took my wife down to have a look at the engine, it was the same driver, so he invited me to ride the engine back down again. Of course I accepted (after getting permission from my wife!). Next day I drove out to get a couple of shots of the train and some scenery, sadly the railway runs through remote, inaccessible country.

I had the next day off, and we went out and did tourist stuff, eventually going on a tour to try to find yellow eyed penguins. We did see a couple, and lots of fur seals, close to a Royal Albatross colony. Good tour!

From Dunedin we drove to Te Anau, the rest of the trip was vacation. We drove down to Milford, stopping at all the scenic bits. To my surprise, the famous view of Mitre Peak is right off the beach. The highlight for us was on the way back, just outside Milford tunnel, where a couple of Kea, New Zealand's alpine parrots, were entertaining the crowds. We took a cruise on Doubtful Sound, hoping for Fiordland crested penguins, but sadly the only one to be seen appeared just after we'd gone inside out of the cold and wet. While in the area, we took some walks in the woods, and took a drive up to Cooktown to check out some "Lord of the Rings" filming locations. From Te Anau we drove up to Twizle (honest!) for the ride out to Mount Cook. We drove down the 50k access road in the afternoon and were rewarded with spectacular views of the mountain, next morning when we drove out it was, as is often the case, covered in cloud. From Twizle we drove to Christchurch, had our last meal in the pub, and next morning flew to Auckland for the long ride home. We enjoyed New Zealand, felt quite at home, and of course cab rides are not to be sneezed at! The beer wasn't bad, either. My thanks to all concerned.

On the way to Mount Cook

Mount Cook

On the way back from Mount Cook

Eritrea

2009-08-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

In March, 2009 I went to Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa, to join a group organized by FarRail of Germany on a chartered steam photographers special. Since mother is in the UK, I flew to Manchester via Chicago (6 hour wait) to check up on her and to do some shopping for her. Then Lufthansa took me to Frankfurt, and Egypt Air to Cairo on a brand new B737-800. It was easy to tell who the group were, mostly in the bar! Egypt Air again to Asmara, where we arrived about 3 am. Customs didn't like my binoculars, digital SLR or my video camera, but eventually let me go. We had to declare all our currency, and fill out bits of paper showing what we had. Eventually, we all got on our bus, with another for all the luggage, and went to the hotel. A little sleep, then it was off to the station and engine sheds. Eventually we set of to Arbaroba and met the tourist train, which we followed up the mountain. The engines are nice little Italian built 0-4-4-0T Mallets, and are a bit, to be charitable, tired. Despite this, lousy coal, small water capacity and the need to stop frequently to build up steam, we all had a good time, with lots of run-by's and on the whole decent weather.

Home under the viaduct at Arbaroba

Eritrea is in the Horn of Africa, and has a port on the Red Sea. Neighbors are Sudan, Ethiopia and Djbouti. The railway was destroyed in the civil war for independence from Ethiopia, and rebuilt post war by the government. There is no commercial traffic, an occasional tourist train, and the odd railfan charter. The line runs from sea level at the port of Massawa, through the desert, then climbs up through the mountains to the capital of Asmara at 7874 feet. Despite being dirt scrabble poor, the people were interested in what the crazy camera toting foreigners were doing, and as usual, the kids were great!

Reasonably typical home.

The whole trip really was a lot of fun, despite there being perhaps too many of us. The train crews really were very good, though I'm not at all sure they understood what the attraction of steam was. It's very difficult, for me anyway, to shoot both video and stills. My primary reason for being there was to shoot video, but I took the opportunity to shoot stills where I could, usually during stops to make steam.

And when it was all over, we set off for the airport for a 5 am flight back to Europe, via Cairo. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the bit of paper showing the currency transactions. Which they didn't like at all, and I was taken away for the third degree. Eventually they got tired of stupid foreigners, and I was sent away, much to my relief. Four hours in Cairo, and it was off to Frankfurt, and I got to see the pyramids shortly after take off. Since US flights leave in the morning, I got to spend the night in Frankfurt, and when I got to DFW, American had cancelled my flight to Tucson, so I got to spend the night there as well. I enjoyed the trip, but it was certainly a relief to be back home!