I had to work over the weekend making it kind
of gloomy. However two bright spots came in for my rescue.
IRFCA member Shikhar Parjan from Portland, OR,
visited me on Friday, August 11 and I had few hours window on Saturday, August
12 for rail fanning. I called Saquib, another IRFCA member from Phoenix, AZ
area and he agreed to join me.
Shikhar and I visited Amtrak Depot in Maricopa
on Friday afternoon but could not capture action on film. However, on Saturday,
Saquib and I were ready with camcorders, tripods and cameras.
Weather was typical Arizona type in summer,
hot and nothing but hot. To add salt, it rained previous nights raising
humidity. The end result was 105° F with
50+% humidity.
Fortunately, Amtrak depot is open during daytime (even though only two trains
stop at Maricopa, one at 1:30 AM and the other at 10:30 PM), offering air-conditioned
waiting room, water fountain and restroom.
It also offers outside seating area with canopy. No Paan stains anywhere.
Amtrak Depot in Maricopa houses California Zephyr's Silver
Horizon dome car. The interior is inaccessible (as it has not been restored).
Although walkway is built, one cannot see interiors.
Remains of steam era, huge water tank. The freight train in hole is headed for
Los Angeles. I feel pity of Engineers because she was on hole for almost two
hours meeting four other train heading towards Tucson. With weather being hot
and cab is not air-conditioned, it certainly was not the best time to relax.
Container trains are common, so are the freights with hoppers, chemicals, autos,
etc.
Saquib and his camcorder.
20,000 Plus horses are pulling her.
When train is about ¾ miles away from RR crossing, alarm goes on, lights start
flashing, giving 45 seconds time before she reaches the crossing.
.
She is at RR crossing now.
End is nowhere in the view yet.
Front end is little over a quarter mile away. Trains longer than a mile running
at 60 Miles/hour is norm here. Frequency is lesser than Flagstaff that has
double tracks but load is bigger.
The blast from train kept my lens cap bouncing on
and off. Both Saquib and me were standing outside the fence behind platform.
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