And just like that, the year is almost over. Wow! Let's see your favorites! Here's one of my favs from this year, a hot Z blisters the ballast at Des Lacs, ND with Amtrak 8 hot on its markers, at sunset: Another favorite, from 2004, westbound coal empties crest the 2% at Moffat Tunnel from the old DNW&P Rollins Pass grade:
I think my favorite was from 06/10/2023 at Simpson, SC. The combination of a very late 12R and a setting sun at the summer solstice offered a rare opportunity with nice light.
My favorites that I posted in Weekend Proto Fun this year. I narrowed it down to four. I hope it's not too many.
My hands down favorite was PM 1225 passing the Woodard furniture plant, but since that was last week's offering, I'm not going to repost it. Beyond that, I've got a couple of favorites: Huron and Eastern is still a colorful railroad. 3509, 3036 and rat rod 2028 rest at Marlette waiting for a crew. Rat rod on a lonely ol' night
I'd have to say this one: Paparazzi shot of the CFQG yard near home (former CP Sainte-Thérèse West yard, used to serve the nearby GM auto plant too) back in July while I was on vacation. Some good-looking classic candy-corn EMD Geeps waiting for their next assignments. CP RS18s used to roam here.
That set is great! Where was the CP shot (British Columbia?) and the one with the big aspen stand (Colorado/California Zephyr?) taken? I know I have seen the last one before, but do you think I can place it? Nooooope....
Yes, the CP one is along the Fraser River in British Columbia east of Vancouver while the CZ shot is along the Fraser River north west of Fraser, Colorado.
I suspect you may like this photo for some of the same reasons I do. It's a door to the wayback machine for sure. The old depot with its bare framework from the old passenger shelter and a buried track tell a story of once bustling passenger traffic, and the old mansard roofed mill across the tracks tells another, even older story. This place cries out to be brought back to its former glory. As modelers, we have a unique power to do just that. It's not that hard to picture a coat of paint and full length chimney on the old mill, a spur running alongside the loading doors. a roof over the platform and a K4 or a set of E units stopped on the now barely visible platform track while passengers board and baggage and mail are exchanged. Then as quickly as it arrived, the passenger train is gone. leaving the place quiet perhaps with a solitary boxcar sitting on the mill spur until the next event. OK, my mind is going back to Michigan now before I start down a dangerous rabbit hole. It's a downright tasty mental picture.
Your story made me hungry too. What sates that kind of hunger is zero fat, zero carbs, zero calories. 100% brain candy.
