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Day 23 - Needles CA to Barstow CA

Ahhh the desert! It's been a while since I've been out here to railfan, so I was pretty keen to explore some more and cover some ground that I'd glossed over previously; and chief amongst that was Goffs Rd. So I headed off and soon found the right exit for Goffs. I'd spied a grain train leaving while I was filling up my car with the hideously expensive California gas (nearly $5/gallon, vs just over $3/gallon in Wyoming) and soon saw it again sitting at the signals. Further on I spied a stationary stack & trailers train and found a road in to explore. Not much to see, other than some guys sitting in a van (presumably) watching it.

Driving out I saw an opposing train approaching so snapped a shot of that, but it wasn't anything amazing.

Soon the train that'd been waiting was moving out so now I had somehing to follow. Found a familiar S curve and snapped away, the distant mountains looming large.

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Day 22 - Jean NV to Needles CA

I wake up just on sunrise to hear a train approaching. There have only been 2 trains in the night, and one train the entire period yesterday. However I was in a very deep sleep and by the time I fight my way through the fog of unconsciousness I am only just in time to see the most perfect shot varishing past me at 60mph. Soon after another train arrives and this time I am awake enough to grab my camera, discover the wrong lens is on it, it has no battery, and the settings are all wrong! It is also very cold outside, so I, very guiltily, run my car briefly to warm things up.

I promptly fall asleep again and only wake up when the sun is beaming in and it's now almost too hot in the car! A quick leg stretch and wander around, brush my teeth and I head off. With only 5 trains in 24 hours I'm in no hurry to stick around for more trainless trainspotting, so hit the highway and head for Cima Hill.

Cima Hill is a long solid hill on the Los Angeles – Salt Lake line, w...

Day 21 - Las Vegas NV to Jean NV

Woke up to a fine sunny day in my beautiful hookers & drugs motel. Looked up the maps a bit and then headed off towards Jean, just outside of Vegas. Took the back roads and after a while found a bit of a dirt road leading under the tracks and over a small hill. Stopped here and climbed up to the top of the hill and made a little nest under the rocks where I had a good view of the tracks. Got out my book and waited for the trains.

And waited.

And then saw a chopper…

And lots of gliders being launched…

Eventually, at 4pm, a train came past. By now I was well and truely on the wrong sides of the tracks to get the good light, but oh well.

And then it was gone again.

It was all pretty quiet, with nothing much happening. I15 roared away as always. Other...

Day 20 - Salt Lake City UT to Las Vegas NV

I woke up and checked outside to see if it was still raining.

Hmm. No rain. Just four inches of snow on the car! Already though the streets had been plowed and even the car park here was clear. I pocketed the two complimentary L Ron Hubbard books, one being a pulp fiction detective novel, the other a "non religiously biased guide to happiness". L Ron Hubbard is a US fiction author who went on to become the founder Scientology, so these books probably have magical powers. I was surprised to see that the standard Gideon bible was in the room, but no Book of Mormon; surely in SLC of all places the room should include the Book of Mormon?? I checked out and had an utterly pathetic complimentary breakfast. I cleared my car and headed off for Temple Square. Got there in time, found a free car park and headed off to the tabernacle. Why? It was Sunday morning and I was there to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

Went in and chose a seat ...

Day 19 - Helper UT to Salt Lake City UT

After a few days rest it is time to move onwards and start heading back west. I load up and head off over Soldier Summit. I had a look around and was shocked at the lack of snow; in previous years it's been so thick up there I had trouble finding the road down! This year there were bare patches.

I continued on to Salt Lake City, enjoying the roadworks of I15 as usual. The locals don't seem to care, happily doing 120kmh through the construction zones. Since I had a lot of ground to cover I wasn't arguing and happily spent an hour living in the fast lane.

Arrived in SLC and after a short argument with the GPS was heading for Temple Square. Found my way into their underground carpark and was soon walking towads Temple Square. First stop was a UTA Trax light rail/tram.

Then it was into Temple Square itself, the centre of the Mormon faith.

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Day 18 - Helper UT

I was feeling very lazy today and spent a lot of the day reading my book and lying in bed. Holidaying is hard work! Or rather, constantly deciding on destinations, what you're going to see, trying to work out train schedules and patterns, looking out for photo spots, choosing accommodation and where to eat, can be hard work. So it was nice to do nothing for a day. Sides it was overcast and windy and apart from a flurry in the morning the tracks had been very quiet.

Later in the day I headed off to find a geocache, and after being fooled by the roads a few times I eventually got the right road and snaked up to Bull Mesa. A mesa is a raised plateau of land with steep cliffs around it. Utah is full of them. Here are a couple, viewed from Bull Mesa.

And here you can see the Book Cliffs that ring Helper and most of Carbon County.

I parked at the end of the sealed road and hiked in. I ...

Day 17 - Helper UT

5:00am and I gradually become aware of an almight noise outside. Not a soothing noise like a train might be either. No, it's a car engine being revved like there is no tomorrow. It goes on and on and on. I prise myself out of bed and to the window and see it's the vehicle next to mine. Eventually, after what feels like an eternity it drops to an idle, revs once more and drives off. Talk about respect for your fellow lodgers!

So I tried drifting back to sleep but lay there half dreaming about law enforcement officials chasing me around town. Eventually I did get to sleep, and had a good sleep in.

When I finally emerged it was a most magnificent day outside. Gloriously sunny! Balance Rock stood basking in the sun, watching over Helper.

And to think yesterday it'd been snowing! Now there was almost no sign of the snow and it was almost shorts and tee shirt weather.

I didn't have any plan for the day and there hadn...

Day 16 - Rawlins WY to Helper UT

Took me a while to wake up this morning. That's the problem with a good book; they can keep you up far too late! Bundled into the car, fueled up and set off. Hit the freeway, and that was as exciting as it got for the next few hours. Cruise control across Wyoming. 600km. I passed about four trains, all Union Pacific. That's right, I'm back in UP country now, land of the interesting loco. BNSF trains can be very smart, but they're very homoenous with little variety. UP trains tend to be far more interesting with all sorts of curious power lash ups present, and the chance of old paint schemes.

I stopped at Echo, just inside the Utah border, to see if anything interesting was around. Nope, just some stale grain cars.

I was curious to see the motel actually showing signs of life. I headed onto the 80, then US40, then US189. Stopped for supplies. Looked like there could be some snow in the distance.

...

Day 15 - Gillette WY to Rawlins WY

Good morning Wyoming, and time to go visit the Powder River Basic. I fueled up and headed off for the drive down. Didn't see much for a good hour or so, as it takes a while to get into the coal fields. This is real miner country, and the previous night while looking for a restaurant I witnessed the locals drag racing their pickup trucks at the lights. These aren't so much boy racers, as cowboy racers. Gillette is very much a mining town where you're more likely to find a CAT dealer than a car dealer. The impression I get is there are a lot of young single males working on remote coal, gas and oil fields, getting paid a lot and with nothing much to spend it on. So you end up with everyone driving around in souped up pickup trucks.

Anyway, I cruised along for a while, before trying to find some railroad action. From last time I remembered I had to veer off the main highway so I picked a side road at random and went hunting. The signs at the entrance were confusing, saying NO ...

Day 14 - Livingston MT to Gillette WY

There is something about a grain train slogging its guts out right outside my window that makes an excellent alarm clock! In fact the room was shaking a little from all the noise. So that was my 7am wakeup call, but I decided it was a bit too early and had another hour of sleep before the same routine woke me up. This time I decided that I would chase this train up the hill, after all what is the point in staying in Livingston if I don't chase trains over Bozeman Pass???

It was a doozy of a train with an interesting CN/BNSF GE/EMD theme going. I've seen a couple of CN trains up here, which is odd since CN stands for Canadian National and last I checked I wasn't in Canadia. I jumped in the car, fuelled up and roared up the pass. Caught him at all the good spots and got some video too. It was snowing a little too which was exciting.

At the top he slowed down and I was lucky enough to catch the previous helpers returning.