Friday, February 19, 2010

Railfan trip to Nevada and Utah, 2/10 - 4

Hi, Having spent the night in Evanston, WY we headed out to photograph in Echo Canyon. Our first stop was Castle Rock, UT. After a short wait an eastbound showed up,

followed shortly by a westbound. Note that the tracks here are grade separated with the eastbound track being the north track, shown above, and the westbound the south track, shown below. Between here and Wahsatch, UT, to the east, the tracks will cross one another in tunnels so that by the time they get back to the road again at Wahsatch the trains will be running right handed.
We followed the westbound down to Emory, UT where we encountered an eastbound stack train which we chased back up to Castle Rock.

We then headed west through the Echo Canyon looking for another eastbound which we found at Echo, UT. Echo is the location where the former Park City Branch left the main. All that is left is a short stub which crosses I-80 and ends; used as a siding. The rest of the branch is a trail. This is the same coal train we photographed at Soldier Summit on 2/9.

We photographed the train a number of times, including this shot off the side road in Echo Canyon.

At Emory, UT the side road crosses the tracks and ends at an entrance to I-80. The entrance is eastbound only and there is an westbound only exit here from I-80 onto the side road. The bridge is an excellent place to shoot in either direction. Below is a westbound merchandise train taken from the bridge. This the point where the grade separation mentioned earlier begins.

Looking west now, the DPUs on the train shown above are about to pass an eastbound.


We then headed east and beat the Soldier Summit coal train to Evanston, WY. The building at the far left is the former UP depot while the building in the upper right I think was an engine house and is now a tank car servicing and repair business.

We shot the helpers from the abutment of the bridge I stood on for the photo above.

On our way west we stopped at Castle Rock to shoot another westbound,

and then chased it through Echo Canyon on I-80.


This photograph is just west of Echo, UT, again off I-80.

There are 2 exits marked Henefer, UT. This is the train above at the easternmost exit.

After spending the night in Evanston we headed back to Echo Canyon. We quickly found 2 eastbounds, this being the second one at Wahsatch. A cut for the westbound track can be seen directly above the pole to the right and rear of the lead locomotive.

Here are the DPUs on the train shown above from a slightly different location.

Then it was back into Echo Canyon. We spent most of the rest of the day working off the side road between Echo and Emory.




Finally, as the time had come to head west, we followed the train shown above and photographed a second time at the westernmost Henefer exit,

and in Uintah at the western end of Weber Canyon. We ran out of time and were unable to do any photography in Weber Canyon.

On our way to Salt Lake City for the evening we passed through Ogden, UT where we encountered a set of Utah Rwy 4-axle power.

We then headed to the transportation center for some additional Front Runner photos. The former SP/UP station, now a Museum, is shown in the background.


After getting a couple of Front Runner trains in Ogden we left for Salt Lake City and dinner with friends Jim and Sue Allen. I had not seen them in a few years and it was good to be able to get together. I hope you enjoyed the photos.

2 comments:

John Fuller said...

Spectacular shots, Bob, with just enough snow to dress up a scene without becoming a nuisance to the photographer ;-)

Alley Keosheyan said...

Enjoying your story and photos! We visited Evanston Wyoming last year and hope to go back again soon. Thanks for sharing