RailroadPhotoEssays

Typical Winter day in the Gorge

PMPete

I finally have been able to get away for a day of shooting. I have been busier than usual with OT at work and College. Seeing a forecast for a sunny day and high 50s in the Columbia River Gorge I decided to go for it…. (more)

In search of the eponymous Brewer, Illinois

Photographic adventures of a young railfan

Glen Brewer

When I was a young boy, and of course typically not very interested in such things, my father mention to me one evening that there was a place in Illinois named for our family. He knew our branch of the Brewer family had pioneered near Danville at a very early date. Father went on to tell me that this place was located somewhere near the north side of Danville along the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad. He didn’t think it was actually a town….  (more)

Doubling Heavies

Martin Burwash

This past summer, with the advent of longer, heavier DPU powered coal and grain trains, the Montana Rail Link opted to split these trains into two sections for the trip over Mullan Pass. Trains were broken apart in Helena, with Rail Link power fore and aft on the first and longer section. That movement was closely followed by the smaller section section, handled by the road power and rear DPU’s… (more)

Is this any way to run a railroad museum?

A non-railfan’s plans for revitalizing the Colorado Railroad Museumn

Glenn Brewer

I always assumed that the executive director of one of the nation’s major railroad museums would be a railfan. Certainly, Bob Richardson, the founder and the long time director of the Colorado Railroad Museum, was the consummate fan. But things have changed at the CRRM… (more)

CR Gorge with SD14

PMPete

As some of you know I have been playing with a new type of camera this summer. I had yet to get out into my favorite backyard playground when the weather was nice. Friday 29 August proved to be exceptionally good… (more)

That other narrow gauge

Three-foot gauge steam in Eastern Oregon

Glenn Brewer

The Sumpter Valley Railway of eastern Oregon was closely associated with the Oregon Lumber Company. David S. Eccles of Ogden, Utah created both companies. The line is probably best remembered for operating the two largest locomotives ever to run on a three-foot gauge railway in North America. … (more)

Boxcab Daze

Martin Burwash

When locomotive 10217A emerged from General Electric’s shops in Erie, Pennsylvania, men from the United States were preparing to march through the streets of their hometowns, bound for Europe to fight “Kaiser Bill”. The world hoped it would be “the war to end all wars”. The year was 1916… (more)

Milwaukee Road’s Columbia River Bridge

DWHonan

On an early spring morning last year, I visited Beverly and the Milwaukee Road’s Columbia River crossing. Standing on the bank with the cold water slowly sliding past my toes, I gazed up at the bridge and imagined I could hear a westbound train approaching, charging hard in advance of the climb to Boylston… (more)