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Where the Iron Horse meets the Carriage Horse |
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Railfanning
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Railfanning is as much a hobby as is model railroading. There is little that can equal the thrill for a rail fan of standing trackside when a steam locomotive starts up, walking though a major city railroad terminal at night time to watch the sounds, lights and even smells of trains at rest, or even being at a famous train watching spot and enjoying the thrill of trains - even as perhaps millions of other fans have done. It still is great fun. The camera is the basic tool of the railfan - the 35mm camera and the movie camera - now it is the digital camera and digital video camera. The result is the same, capturing the railroad beast in its natural habitat. Over the years we have been fortunate to visit many of those "famous" spots as well as many others where trains run. Here is a selection of those photos and locations in hopes that you may enjoy the beauty of the railroad train. Because of the number of photos, I have separated this section into several pages by topic. Check the links at the bottom of the page for the rest of the albums. . NORTHERN ARIZONA LOCATIONS Here are shots in and around Northern Arizona, near home in other words. This first scene is taken at Ash Fork, which was originally the junction for the Santa Fe's Peavine branch to Phoenix (and the line that runs near our house). The original main line traversed 3% grades to climb from 5000 feet here to Williams at a 7000 feet elevation. Williams is located just to the north, or left, of the mountain in the background. In the 60's Santa Fe bypassed Ash Fork with the Crookton relocation which added miles to the main line but reduced the grade to about 1%. The Peavine still takes one of the original tracks from Williams and sees a dozen trains a day to and from Phoenix.
The BNSF has done a fine job of preserving the heritage of its predecessor lines and you can still see Santa Fe warbonet and sometimes blue and yellow locos.
One of our favorite train watching spots is this cut, just east of Seligman. From the top of the low hill you can see trains 20 miles away coming from the west into Seligman and to the east it climbs the grade to the Crookton Overpass. Standing on top of the hill, you are looking literally down onto the train.
Yampai Summit is another of the minor crests the Santa Fe had to cross on its way to California. From here the line is downhill all the way through Crozier Canyon and to the flats east of Kingman.
One of the most famous spots on the Santa Fe as it crossed northern Arizona was the bridge at Canyon Diablo. After crossing 100 miles of flat high desert, the line suddenly found itself at the edge of a 100 foot deep canyon. This is the third of the bridges to cross the canyon and never fails to offer great photo opportunities. Today the trains don't even have to slow from track speed as they cross this magnificent quarter mile long bridge. Unfortunately the BNSF has removed the road crossing so you cannot drive to the neat stone buildings of the ghost town of Canyon Diablo, located on the north side of the tracks.
Winona is the location of a major stone mine in the side of a volcanic mountain east of Flagstaff. It also happens to be part of the anthem song memorializing Route 66. But more important, a convenient road overpass offers superb opportunities for great photography with the San Francisco peaks in the background and a constant stream of BNSF trains on the main line.
Winslow is still a major crew change point on the BNSF, but also the location of one of the finest Fred Harvey hotels, La Posada. Designed by Mary Jane Coulter, it is being beautifully restored and you can stay there and enjoy a great meal in their restaurant. More important, you can enjoy watch the streams of freights entering the Winslow yards. Amtrak still uses the station adjacent to the hotel and you can also watch the daily arrival of the Southwest Chief, here on its early morning eastbound run.
This is the abandoned grade of the original line from Williams to Ash Fork where the Santa Fe had to drop 2000 feet on a 3% grade through beautiful Johnson Canyon. It also contains one of the rare tunnels located in Arizona. You can still walk the roadbed and really feel what it must have been like to try to hold your train in check as you ease it down that grade. Not visible in this shot is the remains of a shack built during WWII for a soldier to guard the entrance to the tunnel to prevent sabotage on this critical line. What a cold and lonesome duty!
Just look at the beautiful stonework of the tunnel construction. This stone work is still evident on many of the bridge abutments remaining from the original line as the Atlantic and Pacific built west across Arizona. Note also the steel plates holding the roof from rock falls.
Here is a Santa Fe publicity photo of the Chief in almost the same location as the upper photo, heading westbound towards Ash Fork. The large fill at the rear of the train was originally a trestle.
It probably is a guy thing, but the inside of a railroad shop offers an exercise in total fascination. Here are our toy trains, but in full size. Things are opened up and you can see the insides, parts are strewn about, just like on our workbenches. The parts yard is no different from our scrap box except in size. We are on a tour of the shops of the Grand Canyon Railroad, hosted by our local chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society. The shop is quite modern, even as it hosts steam loco servicing machines that are approaching 60 and 70 years of age. In the left photo we we #29, an almost 100 year old 2-8-0 steamer, which will see regular service come summer steam season. On the right is the queen of the road, #4960, the ex-Burlington Mikado which was completely rebuilt by the GCR upon its purchase.
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Seligman
is the next town to the west and is on the longest stretch of original
Route 66 in the west. It is located in the basin formed by
the Big Chino Wash, so trains must go uphill in either direction
from there.
The
Grand Canyon Railroad hauls tourists from Williams to the rim of
the Grand Canyon. It leaves from the original Santa Fe station
in Williams and travels to the original log depot at the canyon.
Summer time sees one of three steamers operating while historic
Also FA diesels take the run. It is a great ride with all
historic rolling stock and on board entertainment culminating in
bandits boarding the train as it nears Williams. (The Marshall
always rides to take care of things in case this sort of thing happens)
We
are very fortunate that the GCR is serious about running steam.
The locomotives are immaculately maintained and we have the opportunity
all summer season to get some spectacular shots of working steam
in a great setting. This is GCR #4960, an ex-Burlington Mikado,
the largest of the railroad's steamers heading south towards
Williams after its run to the Canyon.
As there is a limit in the siding length at the Grand Canyon, when trains exceed 15 cars, the GCR runs two trains. The first to go out contains coaches and the second the first class cars. The recent acquisition, upgrading and repainting of an Amtrak FP-40 diesel, allows a brand new look for the first class train. In contrast to the pullman green Alcos, this train looks like a classic streamliner in this handsome paint scheme. Here Train #4 is pulling into a siding to allow Train #2, which you can just see to the left of the rear car, to pass on the main line. As soon as it is by, train #4 will back into the station to begin loading passengers for its 10:30am departure. 
Eagle's
Nest is a lonesome spot deep in the Kaibab National forest between
Williams and Seligman on the Crookton cutoff.
The
original Santa Fe Peavine line cut its way through the Big Black
Mesa, which lies north of our house. The line featured shallow
cuts like this, but also a series of huge trestles as it snaked
its way down Limestone Canyon into the Big Chino Valley. From
there it followed Granite Creek into Prescott but had to climb the
Iron Springs grade to get over the Bradshaw mountains and down to
the desert and Phoenix. This alignment was so expensive to
maintain, it was abandoned in 1895 while the line through Prescott
was bypassed in the 1960's.
Nighttime
heightens the fascination of trains. Whether at a passenger
terminal or on the main line, watching the signals change for an
approaching train. This is Williams Junction where the Peavine
joins the BNSF main line and it was a cold February night when this
was taken.
The
Crookton overpass is located near where the original Santa Fe alignment
is regained on its way west to Seligman. There is a pair of
highway bridges, an old one and the one currently used for Arizona
Route 66. The old one makes a fantastic train watching and
photography location. Normally we shoot trains here, but how
can one resist when something unusual shows up.
This
last photo is an old one, taken in 1962 and is the only one I have
of the ATSF at the Grand Canyon. We stopped there after a
camping trip and caught what turned out to be near the end of Santa
Fe passenger service to the Grand Canyon. Ironically, the
nearest four tracks and the platforms are still in service today
as part of the Grand Canyon Railroad operation.|
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Peter & Mary Jane Atonna
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