This is the Amtrak Cascade" train at Kalama Wa. last summer. The trains are very smooth riding and speed up quick. Thanks Ken for the help
The first time ever saw one of these in action, I was very surprised by how quickly they got out of town.
Spending some time in Yuma, AZ for a couple of days and went to the Yuma Territorial Prison. There's a cool old iron bridge (right beside the old prison) crossing the Colorado River and I got a shot of this container train headed across into California. I grabbed this shot from the prison yard. Here's another shot of the bridge taken from the guard tower.
The painted bridge is for automobile traffic. I don't know why the railroad bridge is left unpainted. Hmm.
Seems to be a railroad tradition. It makes modeling more interesting and challenging. I hope I can do nearly as good a job weathering my bridges.
It wasn't always that way. The Santa Fe bridge over the Brazos near my house was painted regularly until the 60s. Then deferred maintenance kicked in and it slowly rusted away till they had to replace it a few years ago.
I was going to suggest the cost may have been the deciding factor.. usually is , as paint is pretty spendy. Great shot of the Amtrak and I could swear I could hear Johnny singing Folsom Prison blues coming out of your foto of the Yuma prison.....