I just became the happiest foamer in the country! While out of a short railfanning trip to Gavin Yard, me and my friend Matt saw a few locos we wanted to capture on film. Both were BNSF, but not yet in H1 or H2, they were Cascade Green. Ecstatic as I was to get some shots of them, the engineer saw us poking around trackside, and struck up a conversation. We told him we're railfans, and he asked us if we wanted to ride in one.... You know the answer to that question!!! It turned out the lead loco was BNSF SD40-2 6843, in consist with BNSF 7130, 6199 and 6144, the latter 2 being SD9's fitted for Remote Control! They are dead-in-tow for Interbay in Seattle, WA. BNSF is going the R-C route for almost all yards in the future he told us. He invited us into the cab of the lead SD40-2,a nd we could hardly contain ourselves... It was like a dream! I took a few pics that would prove that it actually happenned, in case I thought I was in fact dreaming.... I have a few for you in my webshots which will be uploaded soon tonite. The engineer was very friendly, and since it was late,a nd no one was working save for the switch crew, we got to ride along on kicking cars around Gavin yard! It was sooooooo cool. I have plenny of pics on the trip, but couldn't think of what to capture inside the cab. Enjoy!!!!!
Jerry, you are indeed a lucky guy Sounds like railfan heaven to me! I look forward to seeng the pics.
You gotta love those cab rides! Cascade green eh, good thing Tina wasn't there BTW Mopar, love the screen name, My Brother-in-law was glad to see a Dodge blow away a Ford in the 2wd truck category at the ATPA tractor pull Sunday Dodge power!
Do you know the engineers name? If you do maybe you could send him a little note...I had a cabride on Local 8 on the UP and I sent the crew each a pocket knife...they appriated being thanked. Just my two cents
I didn't get his last name, but I recall his first name..... The wheels are a-turnin'! Thanks for the idea. Now what to do about it!
Well you could See if you could find another employee and ask him if he knows so and so. Or another way is maybe seeing if they have a list of employees listed somwhere? Hope you can find out who he is.
They way I would do it is as follows: be in the look out for this special engineer, when you find him, thank him for the ride and then present him with the gift. Perhaps he will then ask you if you want to come along for a second time! [ 24. July 2002, 16:30: Message edited by: ROMAFERN ]
Now Why didn't I think of that!! Thats a perfect idea, and you know where he works, you'll catch him again!!
