Pre-Digital Railfan

  • Closer To Home – April 1989 Where the BN and UP follow the Columbia River. Starting in Camas, WA (MP 24.5), let’s follow the former Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway upriver as we chase Burlington Northern train #696 led by…

  • Closer To Home – March and April 1989 Funky, crunchy, oochie switchers and the vanishing caboose. “Critters” in railfan parlance refers to an older switch engine, usually not manufactured by EMD. CLICK HERE to see additional examples of this ancient…

  • Closer To Home – February 1989 MRSR #5 visits the Centennial Games in Wenatchee. Washington celebrated 100 years of Statehood in 1989. TWO steam locomotives were invited to travel on the Burlington Northern (ex-Great Northern) mainline from Seattle to Wenatchee…

  • Closer To Home – February 1989 Southern Pacific 4449 visits the Centennial Games in Wenatchee. Washington celebrated 100 years of Statehood in 1989. TWO steam locomotives were invited to travel on the Burlington Northern (ex-Great Northern) mainline from Seattle to…

  • Closer To Home – February 1989 Portland’s Fabulous 4-8-4 visits the Emerald City. Seattle’s King Street Station hosted a special visitor from the Rose City in mid-February 1989. Southern Pacific #4449, a GS-4 class Daylight steam locomotive and passenger rolling…

  • Closer To Home – December 1988 – January 1989 Canada’s only EMD GP30s and a day trip to Eugene. Part 1. North being Port Coquitlam, BC. My favorite second generation locomotive, was the EMD GP30. Those cab “shoulders” and skyline…

  • Expanding Horizons – November 1988 Railfanning Conrail’s ex-Pennsy mainline. Visiting Horseshoe Curve and (briefly) riding Pittsburgh’s T. Here is yours truly (1988) at the “World-Famous Horseshoe Curve“! This was quite the engineering feat, especially for 1854, with only a grade…

  • Expanding Horizons – November 1988 Railfanning Conrail’s ex-Pennsy mainline. Conway Yard to Gallitzin, PA The details from my notes on this trip were a little hazy. I believe it involved a TWA red-eye flight from Seattle to St. Louis to…

  • Expanding Horizons – June 1988 Railfanning the Canadian Rockies by car. Canadian National, Jasper and Yellowhead Pass Before leaving Jasper, I decided to cancel my motel reservation for Kamloops and drive straight through to Vancouver. 548 miles in about 9…

  • Expanding Horizons – June 1988 Railfanning the Canadian Rockies by car. Canadian National, Jasper and Yellowhead Pass Jasper was cloudy. But that’s no excuse not to take pictures. Let’s Roll. Canadian National’s Jasper Yard had a quartet of Caboose, (or…

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