Poland and Steam!

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!

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

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

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.