A Geologist went on the Railway

 A friend announced they were getting married - great news.  Same friend saying they were getting married in Ireland - even better news.  We had never been there so what more excuse did we need? We booked a flight, bought the guidebook and planned the trip to bookend the wedding.  The flight was less than great as we flew Canada 3000 which was a discount airline.  It had what were some of the most uncomfortable seats I have ever sat in on an airplane - which is saying something since I had flown in many 3rd world countries.   We survived the flight and tooled around Ireland for 3 weeks.  We started in Dublin, went to the west coast, Dingle Penninsula, down through Cork (where the wedding was) and back up to Dublin for the trip home.  Highlights include the usual sights and sounds of the country, copious amounts of Guinness and other tasty Irish beers, and the people.   We were in one bar in Dublin one night watching a live show and ...

How I wish this builders plate was in my collection...  While visiting the Iberian peninsula (a fancy way of saying Spain and Portugal) my then girlfriend (now wife) and I decided to take an overnight train from Madrid to Lisbon to take in the sights and sounds of that part of the world.  In truth my ulterior motive was to see the streetcars in Lisbon and see if in fact the reported existence of RSC-3 in commuter service was correct. The train ride was very comfortable and I slept well on the trip with the train pulled by a 333 class locomotive, basically an export cowl version SD40-2 for Spanish service.  The equipment rode on wheels designed to work on both Spanish and Portuguese railways as the two had slightly different gauges.  This was a relict of the European approach of every country having different gauged track to slow down their invasion by foreign forces.  Somewhere between Madrid and Lisbon we swapped locomotives and we arrived in Lisbon behind a CP...

My friend Roman H. came to Vancouver in August 1999 to visit family.  While he was in the lower mainland we went out for a day of railfanning.  We caught several trains including the inbound Amtrak passenger train to Vancouver.   On our way back from White Rock we decided to stop in at Brownsville in Surrey BC to see what was lurking there.  A set of BNSF SD40-2 still in full BN paint were waiting to head south, and there seemed to be more activity in the Fraser Surrey Docks area so we headed down there.  This was prior to all the additional security that was put in place post 9/11, so you were free to wander through the area so long as you didn't trespass or cause problems.   We stopped outside the fence around FSD and shot some of the action through the fence, and tried to do the best we could to get photos of the ex CP RS23 that was on the property.  The re-engined S-2 was in use that day, so we shot it while it switched.   The l...

 Southbound out of Holbrook Arizona - C420-C424-C420-C424: What a great sound it was Work took me to Arizona in June 2005.  Thanks to the schedule I had a day off so I drove to Snowflake Arizona to see what was happening on the Apache Railway .  The Apache was an all Alco operation hauling traffic from the mill at Snowflake to the BNSF interchange at Holbrook.  They operated a fleet of RS11 and RS36 (since retired) along with C420 and C424 (ex CP), all kept in excellent condition by the shop forces.  How could an Alcophile not pay a visit?  I arrived at the shop complex in Snowflake just as the dayshift ended.  Unfortunately that meant that there was no one to give me a tour of the shops.  However the lady in the office said I was free to photograph things from the road that ran along the tracks.  This was fine as there was plenty to shoot there.   The mortal remains of an ex SP RS11 behind the shops RS36 700, 900 and 800 hanging ou...