L.A. to Phoenix to L.A.

G'day all,
                From Tehachapi, Bob dropped me off at Lancaster, the last stop for the Metro line out of LA. Once a busy railroad town, it's now home to a large correctional facility and huge wind farms in the surrounding area. The tip into LA was through some nice landscape and interesting track work. On arriving in LA it was a 4hr wait to board the Texas Eagle to Maricopa, where Vinny and Diana, another 2 generous you-tubers , picked me up and after some early morning railfanning , headed back to Phoenix. Vinny has a N scale layout which is modelled on his local area, and he has built many buildings and structures representing  the business's that the local trains switch in and out of. After a fun day of operating on Vinny's "Peavine" Sub layout, we all headed up to the nice town of Flagstaff, for a days rail fanning and to drop me off for my next train , the Southwest Chief, back to LA.  A big thank you to Vinny and Diana for showing me around and Vinny for letting me stay and for the Peavine Sub OP's session!

It was then back on the train for my trip back into L.A and a run down the famous Cajon Pass!

Hooroo for now!
                            Gregg.

Tehachapi Loop and Pass.

G'day all,
                After Sacramento, it was on the train to Bakersfield, where I was picked by another you-tube friend and Tehachapi local, Bob (Longshadow Model trees) and taken back to my hotel in the small town with the name of the famous railway spiral! Bob has lived in Tehachapi for many years and knows the track from Rowen , all the way up the pass , round the loop and to Summit , like the back of his hand! The scenery is amazing and how the line snakes it's way up the pass is a testament to the surveyors and construction crews of the day. It is interesting to note , that many of the Chinese workers who forged the railroad over Donner Pass, came down to California and built the Tehachapi Pass as well, with equal success! Bob spent four days showing me all the known spots and some not so , but the curse of the track closure followed me again, so trains were a bit slow during the day, but we still managed to get quite a few trains on the loop and at the famous horseshoe curve at Caliente. It was fantastic to see BNSF and UP trains crawl around the loop in person and to finally be there was a  highlight of the trip.

Bob also showed me around the restored Tehachapi depot and museum, which features a large collection of signals from the old SP line on the Pass, from a former rail worker who recently passed away. I  was then treated to lunch with Bob and his wife Sylvia, at the very popular german Bakery next door to the old depot. Bob and I had a great time and had lots of laughs and I can't thank him enough for his generous hospitality!! Cheers mate!

After reluctantly leaving Tehachapi, it was back on the train for a 4hr ride into L.A.

Hooroo for now.

Cheers Gregg.

Over the Sierra's to Sacramento.

G'day all,
                 After departing Truckee on the California Zephyr, we climb up the East side of Donner Pass and through the "Big Hole", the tunnel that replaced the older route over the Summit and through all the famous snow sheds. Emerging on the West Coast, but still a long way up and the trip down to Colfax is an amazing ride, and eventually ending up in California's capitol, Sacramento.
Home of the Central Pacific railroad, and the starting point for the west coast assault on the Sierra's
and the the Trans-continental railroad. Old Town is on the river and still has many original buildings that were there back in the 1860's. It's also home to the famous California State Railroad museum, a must see of course! The museum is world class and has a fantastic display of the history of the trans continental story, and is home to the only surviving Southern Pacific "Cab Forward" steam locomotive. Designed by the "SP", the cab forward was the answer to train crews being asphyxiated while in the long tunnels and snow sheds on Donner Pass by smoke in the cab, and placed them at the front of the boiler and smoke stack,and was a huge success and they were used throughout the SP system right up to the end of steam traction.

I was also shown around the local rail fanning hotspots by Matt, a local and fellow model railroader .
Now while I have had many very generous people give up their time to show me their town and railroad sites, Matt made a huge effort due to not being all that well at the moment, so a big thanks to you sir and get well soon!

After two big train days in Sacramento , it was on the train again to Bakersfield, where I was picked up buy yet another you-tuber, Bob, and taken through to the famous rail fanning town of Tehachapi, but thats in the next blog!

Hooroo for now.
Cheers Gregg.

Truckee, Tornado's and tired!!

G'day all from beautiful Truckee,

                                                      The last four days have been spent in the ski town of Truckee,which receives the most snow (usually) in the US, and sits on the Eastern side of the Sierra Mountains and the famous "Donner Pass". Truckee was a depot of sorts during the building of the Transcontinental railroad in the 1860's , and supplies were shipped by horse and cart to help the Central Pacific cut it's way over and through the pass. The Union Pacific still uses most of that original route today, but the famous snow sheds at the summit are now a fantastic walking trail. To give my fellow Aussie's an idea of how high Truckee is, at 5817 ft it is 1000 ft more than the highest town in Australia and about 5500 ft more than my home town of Brisbane!! At this altitude ,  hard physical work is very difficult, and even walking up a slight grade leaves the lowland person like me, gasping for breath! But I do admit, since I have been at high altitude for a while now( Denver is at 4600 ft) , I am a bit better , so I decided to hire a bike and do some exploring and rail fanning!

Now, I have a tip, if you haven't been on a pushbike for about 25 yrs, taking one up Donner Pass road to the Summit is not a good idea..LOL. The ride past Donner Lake is beautiful and level, then , the 6km climb starts, with a steep grade towards the Summit at 7056 ft, thats a rise of about 1200 feet, a big climb for anyone , let alone someone who hasn't cycled for 2 decades!! After about 8 breaks and taking nearly 3 hrs, with a few photo stops included, I finally crawled my way up and over the pass.
Having run out of water, I decided to push on down the East side and find a shop..........well, most things are closed because it's summer and up there, it's all ski resorts, so I had to go down to the small town of Soda Springs, which meant another climb back towards the summit. The reward was a nail biting ride back down the pass towards Donner Lake and home to Truckee. Now , the ride up took 3hrs, and the ride down was done in 10 minutes..LOL..what a ride. I saw many pro cyclists pass me on the way up, even a lady who did it twice in a row!!, and she advised me to go easy on the brakes, as riders have blown tires due to heat build up! After making it home safely, I rested my legs and bum, and decided to do some more sedate riding today!

The old part of Truckee has some original buildings still in use and is a very busy tourist town, even in summer thanks to spectacular trails to hike and bike. It is also the headquarters for snow fighting on the railroad, and an old Rotary snow plough sits on a siding in the yard, there is usually a modern one here as well, but recent mild winters have not need it's use, and normal ploughs are used.

It appears I'm leaving some nasty weather in my wake, my train from Denver to Truckee was 14hrs late, due to a Tornado blowing trees onto the track and hitting a freight train in Iowa, and then two days ago, Denver was hit with a Tornado with major flooding .  The weather in Truckee is fine and hot ....for now! Not many trains during the day, more track work can you believe it, and the good spots require a car and some hiking, a great excuse to come back!! Tomorrow I head for Sacramento and one of the best Railroad museums in the country.

Hooroo for now.
                          Cheers Gregg

Omaha and Denver.

G'day Trendsetters!
                             
                                Next stop on the tour was Omaha, home of the Union Pacific Railroad! Bob, another very generous You-Tube friend and railfan, took some days off to show me around his home town, and drive us 4hrs to UP's "Bailey Yard", the largest rail yard in the world! Omaha's once bustling Union Station is now a Museum, with a good collection of trains and local history, and a magnificent hall restored to how it was in the golden age of rail travel. The city is also home to a pair of railroad legends, the "Big Boy" and the DD-40-x, both being the largest steam and diesel locomotives ever built!. They are both on static display on the hill next to the Botanical gardens.and to stand next to a 4000 class steam loco is an awe inspiring experience, and the DD40-x is no baby either! Bob then took us both to North Platte and Bailey yard, to view the enormous facility from the "Golden Spike" tower. Here's a few facts about Bailey Yard....2850 Acres, 13km long and 3.2 km wide, it features 2 humps and sees over 14000 freight cars and 130 trains a day!

We spent the last day visiting some local rail fanning spots to shoot some video before I left for Denver. A huge thank you to Bob and his wife Kim for sharing their home with me , thanks heaps you two!.

The last 3 days have been in Colorado's capital of Denver, and another very generous You Tube friend, Bill "the track planer" picked me up and took me to the incredible HO Scale layout at the Colorado Model Railroad Museum. This layout was designed and built by a local business
 man who did very well in the town of Greeley, and to give back to the community , he built , with lots of help, this huge and very well detailed layout. Bill then surprised me with a special treat, a private tour of one of my favourite , and I say one of the best , HO  Scale layouts around! BNSF "Fall River" is something special to say the least, and to be invited into the owners home to see this incredible feat of modelling was very special. Thank you very much Bill for your hospitality and for the bonus visit!! I had a great day and thank JP again for me.

Today I rode the light rail  (which is great and easy and cheap to use) around Denver and the suburbs , out to "Caboose Hobbies", the largest model railroad shop in the US, lots to see and I had a long chat to one of the guys and we shared a few modelling stories. Tempting as it was, I left empty handed as space is limited in my bags and I have a long way to go yet!! Denver is a nice city and a good size and lots of rail action which I will have to catch up on next time.
I leave Denver tomorrow aboard the California Zephyr, and head to Truckee, on the east side of Donner Pass.
Hooroo for now!

Gregg.:-)

Sweet home, Chicago !!

G'day trendsetters,

                                I have just spent 3 days in the windy city, and though it looked a bit scary on the way in on the Empire Builder, after 2 days walking and riding on the Metra trains, it's not that bad at all!!  I walked from Union station down to the Metra electric line, about 10 blocks I think, and it was a nice walk and I saw the elevated rail that the city is known for. Remember the scene from the Blues Bros as the race down under the girders that support the tracks over the streets, well, I was there and I couldn't stop thinking of Jake and Elwood screaming past..LOL

The guys and girls who work on the Metra were fantastic, the conductors are friendly, helpful and have loads of personality and made the trips so easy, especially for an "alien" from down under! I didn't make it out to the train watching platform at Rochelle, too far without a car , so maybe next time? Spent yesterday at the Science and Industry Museum, a wonderful place that really needs more than a day to see properly, but I saw their massive HO scale layout with some impressive scenery and a great model of Chicago city! 

 Off to Omaha today on the "California Zephyr" to meet up with another you-tuber to show me around and take me to Bailey yard in North Platte! 

Hooroo for now Groovers!

                                           Gregg.