Day 9: Soldier Summit Railfanning

Woke up and prepared to move out for a day of railfanning on Soldier Summit. The Pillow Talk motel where I'd been staying had some fairly cryptic advertising on their highway sign, including "Y5", for "wifi". Took me a long time to work that one out.

Went to start he car and saw some amazing frost flakes on the windscreen…

Checked in at Helper but nothing was happening. Checked in at the Utah Railway yards, but again nothing was happening. And there was nothing at the Savage load out when I drove past. But Helper itself was looking quaint as usual:

 

Started driving up the hill, got behind a truck towing a truck towing a truck towing a car… and the car was on a trailer.

On the way up the hill I say the DPU of a westbound manifest, so jumped on the gas and powered up the hill to intercept him at Soldier Summit. There was a track crew working up the end of the siding, so as the train crested the summit it did little double toots every so often to alert any workers. The echo here was amazing, a pure echo several seconds after each toot. And slowly over the summit he came. By the time the DPU passed he was in full dynamics, screaming away.

I cruised down the hil to Gilluly Curve and clambered up the hill bit to get a photo. Soon the train came round the curve and click click…

However before the DPU had made it under the road he went into emergency (all brakes go to 100%, usually caused by a brake fault) and the train ground to a halt. The poor conductor had to walk the entire train, and back again, and with the warm spell that Utah has been having, the ground has melted and turned into an inch thick later of grease. With every foot step I picked up what felt like a kilo of mud, and then of course I slipped and slid all over the place. What a mess!

I got down off the hill and continued on my way. I waited for the train for a bit but he wasn't moving in a hurry. I went down the hill further to a spot I wanted to stake out. I'd only been there quarter of an hour of so before I heard a train coming round the corner. However just as the train was approaching, I noticed a pickup truck and trailer backing down rather wildly, on the wrong side of the highway, and then I noticed his engine wasn't running. Uh?! Then he managed to catch the corner of his trailer on the very corner of the bollard that was protecting the rest area, pinning him there. He tried starting his truck but it wasn't even turning over. Oh dear. I could see he was stuck so said as soon as the train had passed I'd give him a push or a tow or whatever.

I got my train pic, though it'd look a lot better with a decent coating of snow and correct lighting, but oh well.

I returned and he'd managed to get his truck & trailer off the road. I asked if he needed a ride down to Provo since there was no cellphone coverage up here (isn't that always the way) and he said that'd be fantastic. So he jumped in and as I was trying to get out (he'd parked pretty close behind me), I backed into a ditch! Bang! The back fender was sitting on the far side of the ditch, and the back wheels were high and dry. Was fairly obvious we weren't going anywhere.

He had a rummage in his truck but he had nothing , just two lumps of wood and some tie down strops, which obviously wouldn't hold the weight of a car. No tow rope, no cables, nothing. I was rather surprised to be honest. After a few unsuccessful attempts we hitched a ride with a chain smoking cowboy down to the bottom of the hill. I wasn't too concerned, but Mark, my new friend, was pretty stressed out about this faulty pickup. Frankly I was just glad I wasn't alone.

He phone up his girlfriend, she picked us up, we dropped her back at work, we went past his brother's place and got all manner of cables, hooks, ropes, etc. He was very well stocked. Went back up the hill and pulled me out in one quick move and I was shortly back on my way, albeit very muddy. What an adventure!

Also I saw someone moving a house over Soldier Summit…

Back in Helper there were again no trains. The train that'd gone into emergency earlier had passed us several hours later while we were trying to get a ride down the hill, so I hadn't missed too much. I went up the Utah Railway yards and again quiet, so I explored up the road a little further.

I found lots of deer hanging out on the road, they seemed surprised to see me. I soon found a locked gate, so turned around and went back down. Sun was setting now and the Book Cliffs were looking quite pretty.

Checked into the Helper Motel and got a very nice room with couch, kitchen, separate bedroom, kitchen table, etc. I believe Mark had actually let me one of the apartments; pays to know people I guess.

Mucked around for a bit, then caught the Utah Railway helpers coming off the hill, and shortly after the Amtrak Cal Zephyr speeding through, but with a nasty horn.

Had a lovely dinner down at the Balance Rock Eatery of a beef stroganoff sandwich/burger thing that was immensely filling but very tasty. Wandered back and on the way heard a coal train approaching, and then sure enough the Utah Railway IPPX coal train roared past me, 5 SD50/MK50-3 helpers on the front, and 6 more in the middle! The noise was amazing, and they were moving at a good 40/50mph it seemed. The Utah Railway know how to put on a good show!

Back at the motel I settled in for yet more photo processing, and tried to plan the next phase of my journey. I had till Saturday to make it to Minnesota, a journey of at least 1200 miles!