Rail Vision 2020

By Bob Campbell

After only a couple months of trains in Vancouver, Washington - with multiple trips up-and-down the Columbia River Gorge - there's new regions in and around Eastern Washington, with heavy BNSF emphasis on the Pasco and Connell areas. Although there's still color on the rails with CBRW (Columbia Basin Railroad), the Union Pacific, plus a smattering of other letters: CP, MRL, NS, and even a TCRY and NP. (Canadian Pacific, Montana Rail Link, Norfolk-Southern, Tri-Cities Railway, Northern Pacific (Rest in peace))
We traded trees and rain for sage and sun in this collection of high resolution pictures of railroading and railways in the year 2020. Designed to be enjoyed as a visual break from your day-to-day routine as a little jolt of steel rail happiness, or read through as a random collection of modern railroad notes and discoveries - this book tries to pack a lot of visual punch between the virtual covers. Plus bonus bits and the option to use the book as your very own key to joining in with the cool kids in identifying specific power genres, makes, and models plying the rails.
Snag a copy and see what you might have missed while hiding behind a mask or locked in a cubicle being forced to work for a living. (Not saying that wearing a mask into a bank so you don't have to work for a living wasn't necessarily a good idea during 2020... I swear, it was the first year it wasn't just socially acceptable to do so, but at certain times, a state mandate. Who would've thought while growing up and thinking it'd be cool to wear a desperado mask into a place with a giant safe and money for the taking, horse calmly awaiting outside for a fast getaway... you'd ever get a chance to "live the dream" in adult life. It was a year to take your pleasure any way you could get it. And you can't tell me I was the only one wearing a cowboy hat with my mask during the year.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bob Campbell
• Release date: Feb 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005396299

Bob Campbell

The short of it: over-educated, unemployed, and annoying with a camera. Quite possibly a dangerous combination.The long of it:I've been snapping pictures for over a quarter-of-a-century on equipment ranging from a Pentax k1000 to Canon SX700hs - but nothing fancier. In fact, after they retired my Kodachrome 64 film, I hung up the 'real cameras' and settled for "digital pocket snappers." It seems ninety percent of the challenge to taking pictures is to remember your camera (would seem obvious, wouldn't it? But look around at the folks with large, fancy cameras - no wonder they claim the phone-based lens will be the death of real photography). So I do my part and pack it almost everywhere.I was a latecomer to photography, though, so I had time to grow up in many different parts of the country with my formative stage in the South, but junior high and onward in the Pacific Northwest. The last set of initials after my name tacked on by the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine - making the 'highest degree attained' line of the survey read Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.I still live in the state of Washington with my lovely wife of over two decades who continues to be an invaluable accomplice. For any hazard I manage to avoid, our son does his best to ensure we'll see an early grave.Having spent a little time teaching, I've grown to miss a captive audience to inflict my photography upon, so thank you Smashwords for providing me a forum for dispersing my imagery pain to be loosed upon the world.

Book preview

Introduction

Oh my, Toto, it looks like we're not in Vancouver any more. At least not for the start of the train year 2020. (ATSF 177907 - ATSF 177512 two different sizes of open hopper maintenance of way rail cars below mostly sunny mid-afternoon skies in the Connell ladder yards, January 1, 2020, Connell, WA.)

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January

Jan 1: Start of 2020... talk about action. Yup, shouldda taken it as a sign. Between this and the emptiness of Connell, it's all the windblown sage hills would have to offer in the way of railroad action. Foreshadow possibly of the year to come. Portent of discontent. And all that. Who would've thought a virus brewing over somewhere else would really change the world. (Nothing but a handful of Maintenance of Way (MOW) cars as far as the eye can see on this cool, snowless afternoon in Connell to start the new year. ATSF177907-ATSF177512, south end of the Connell ladder yard, potentially soon to be replaced in the near future with a likely yard south of the town and away from the double at-grade crossings that foul with any movement or exchange between BNSF single-track main and the start of the local passing lane (the background tracks under the signal tree) extending north of town and the CBRW (Columbia Basin Railroad) connection (rails immediately behind the large stack of replaced cross-tie timbers). January 1, 2020, Connell, WA.)

But a few days later, back 'home' in Vancouver, the rains still fell, the engines still idled. All was relatively normal in the world. (It looks cold, wet, and dark... because it is. BNSF 1973 sitting by herself south of a large pack of road-locomotives stacked two to three deep in the holding tracks to her stern, January 5, 2020, Vancouver, WA.)

Normal - for that the word would mean something drastically different in the months (and years) to come, even as darkness fell. Yup, who would of thunk that D rail warning sign would have meant anything at all for the world in general. (BNSF 2935 1:1 scale DCC (remote control) yard engine works the bottom end of the north sort-and-holding yard in Vancouver on a Sunday afternoon. In the dark. And rain. And wind... and cold... and Visit Wonderful, Vibrant Vancouver! January 12, 2020, Vancouver, WA.) {D circle signs show a derailing device has been applied to the rail / train track, usually as a safety device where any errant trains or railcars going beyond it would be better off ploughed into the gravel and roadbed than allowed to proceed.}

Yet as of January and start of the year 2020, there were still places to go, things to see, and wonderful yard engines plying the rail to view. Ever the optimist the best was sure to come. (Proof that it is dry in Vancouver and not raining... below the overpass and inside vehicles. Otherwise, we've had two weeks of non-stop rain. BNSF 1599 - BNSF 1779 yard pair slipping out of the holding area and road-readiness lanes to duck below the roadway overpass for a brief relief from incessant rain before breaking into the throat of the north ladder yard of Vancouver center and back out into the wet weather, January 12, 2020, Vancouver, WA.)

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February

The best was still to come. Although it certainly still seemed dark and dreary. At least around the Vancouver BNSF yards. (BNSF 2603 begging the question, How dark do winter afternoons get in and around Vancouver? February 1, 2020, Vancouver, WA.)

A touch north and a day later: still sort of dark and stormy. At least a shot didn't ring out and a maid didn't scream. (Apologies to Charles Schulz and the great American novel by Snoopy.) (BNSF 5858 front double northbound container unit train passing the southern at-grade crossing leading down into the moorage under the hazy blue light of another cloudy afternoon/evening in what remains of daylight in mid- to late-afternoon, February 2, 2020, Ridgefield, WA.)

At least there was still activity on the other side of the river running up and down the Columbia River. (UP 8754 leading CP 8036 (and a BNSF unit, of all things, behind them) with an eastbound covered hopper unit train under breaking skies - rain and heavier rain to the west, clearing skies to blue skies to the east, February 17, 2020, Biggs, OR.)

And good ol' Connell over on the east side of the state was back to providing some action. (BNSF 634 pulling the local exchange through the north ladder yard entrance out of the mainline track in preparation for the hand-off to Columbia Basin Railroad local (the set of lumpy rails leading up and away from the foreground exiting to the northwest-left of frame, February 21, 2020, Connell, WA.)

Even if it seemed like I was always somewhat out of position, a dollar short, and a day late. No matter, there was some railroad action. (BNSF 5531 at the front of southbound trio hauling a mile of double-stack container well cars quickly under the Connell signal tree headed toward the first of the town's paired 'silent' (but deadly) at-grade crossings under nearly cloudless skies, February 23, 2020, Connell, WA.)

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March

Back in Vancouver, away from the sunny east side of the state, things remained comfortably normal: wet and cool. And unfortunately with the photographer still out of position it would seem. Although the steamy and foggy background across the middle yard isn't all bad. And it was normal. All was right in the world: it was raining in Vancouver. (Marching into the third month of 2020, we were headed into what would be a completely weird and mixed up world where a virus would dictate a whole new vocabulary as what was originally a really nasty infectious disease in a foreign country blossomed into a worldwide pandemic. Although the dreary Pacific Northwest skies just looked miserable. BNSF 7349 aimed north in the power holding lanes exit/entrance to the sanding/fueling/road readiness tracks, March 2, 2020, Vancouver, WA.)

Oh, what evils have been wrought upon the world? Something dreadful this way comes, because the world turned upside down: less than forty-eight hours from the previous shot... the sun came out, the ground dried, and it warmed up. In Vancouver. Obviously the world was coming to an end. At least as we know it with the first cases appearing in the United States... here in Washington state just a few hours north of us. (Although there were sporadic breaks of sun suggesting better weather was on the way. At least if you ignore that giant green swatch of mold and mildew on the ground between the gate shadows and the tracks. BNSF 6572 SPU / lone pusher on a northbound unit train of covered hoppers holding in the west passing lane at the north end of Vancouver center, March 4, 2020, Vancouver, WA.)

Even if Vancouver was providing some interesting variation to rail traffic, it was time to get out of Dodge and head back east in the very near future. (Sneaking out of the brush against what I swear appear to be almost blue skies and headed north... possibly trying to get out of the State of Washington while the getting is good. We're just about completely shut down with all public and government offices closing in the next few days, including schools which would have spring break start early... only to never return to school for the 2019/2020 school year, having been in class barely half the year. CP 8733 trailing third unit on a northbound covered hopper unit train, March 16, 2020, Vancouver Lake on the other side of the cotton wood trees, Vancouver, WA.)

So back up through the land of the Union Pacific on the 'safe' side of the river. (Eastbound front units coming out of the damp west side, rounding the bend of the Columbia River Gorge now firmly on dry rail. UP 5910 - UP 6482 front pair of four or five road units that appear to be a possible power shuffle with just some mixed freight to make them look busy, March 13, 2020 near Biggs Junction, OR.)

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April

Of course, 'safe' is a relative term. Soon on the east side of the state, now trying to settle into the Pasco region, it seems the virus was coming down from the northwest - but the world was set ablaze everywhere south, southwest, and west of us with smoke and 'hazardous' breathing conditions outside. Somewhere above the gathering smoke was supposedly sun. (Rounding the bend for final approach into Pasco, BNSF 7962 - BNSF 3845 double-header with southbound covered hopper unit train, April 11, 2020, Pasco, WA.)

Then again, if you can't have sun, at least we had trains. Lots of trains. Or at least engines. Even if they were all piled in the same consist. (Heading north, a bit of horsepower - fast-math says over 30,000 horses - on a northbound mixed freight on