Some Pacing shots!

[Santa Fe Sammy]

I went out to the layout yesterday evening and fooled around with the camera attempting some “pacing” shots where the tracks run next to the highway, of course!
Getting acceptable results is much more difficult than it looks! Adding some Photoshop smoke helps to bring a bit more life and speed to the shot.
The location that I’m modeling where these shots were taken is Texico, TX. This is where eastbounders really throttled up from a 30 mph curve to get up to track speed and the westbounders were slowing for the curve and a few highway crossings. The tracks are right next to US Hwy 60 at this point too.

Here’s a GP30 on the point of an eastbound Vehicle train.


A GP20 leads a local back to the yard at Clovis.


A clean Dash 840BW leads the hotshot 991 train east. If all goes well, the 90 mile trip to Amarillo will be nothin' but high greens!

[antlorch]

Those are sweet pictures you have done there... looks like a video clip out of a Pentrex video...

[mountaingoatgreg]

Very impressive Sammy!!!

I would consider sending these in for publication!!!

[mrlfan]

Sammy, they look great but everybody knows that the only railroad to move freight that fast was the BN. The Santa Fe trains were just sitting in the sidings until the mighty BN went past so they wouldn't impead the flow of traffic from going so slow. ;D
your buddy up north

[Santa Fe Sammy]

Greg / Anthony, Thanks a bunch for the kind words!

Oh Hoover, the cold temps must be freezing your brain! The majority of those green sewer pickles never got above 55 until AFTER the merger - that was when they could go out on the ATSF main and blow the carbon deposits out while being towed around by some real power. And I also remember when the ATSF leased a few of those old beat up SD45’s from the Monkeys Running Loose RR, they had to keep em’ under 55 too or the traction motors would lock up!! Try to stay warm up there!

[atsf90]

Those are some great shots.

[DRGW 5398]

Man, that's AWESOME! Gotta love pacing a GP30 at high speed. Great work!

[mrlfan]

Monkeys Running Loose??? You are lucky I wasn't drinking anything when I read this. I would have ruined my keyboard with Pepsi being sprayed out of my mouth. Great shots though even though it was the wrong rail road. Hoover

[icghogger]

Great Photos, Sammy, thanks for sharing!

[RunningExtra]

Those are some great shots Sammy!!

[santafemikie]

Hi Sammy!

Those are some really nice shots! Your RR has lots of nice photo opportunities. Also it helps to have nice loco models to shoot.... For that matter it's a lot of fun to operate also!

You'll just have to accept the fact that Glenn's brain has been frozen and thawed a few times and has been overcome with dementia about how great his sewer pickles were/are? The ATSF locos had to pull a lot of dead weight around besides their trains when the aforementioned pickles were added to the consists. Fortunately for all involved, the green locomoives blended right in at the landfills where they were disposed of properly.

Mean while I would add to the Op Session notes that Frank is from Ft Worth, Lou and Norm are from Bella Vista, Arkansas. Thanks for a great session.

Later, Mike

[mrlfan]

Santa Fe Mikie and Santa Fe Sammy,
you both have this way wrong of course. Sammy just isn't showing us the BN pushers on the back of his trains to save a little face on the net. He knows that if he shows pictures of the BN engines that it will slow down the Diesel Detailer with all of the people on here posting positive comments about how nice they all look. If he post pics of SF stuff he will just get a few comments and wont have to worry about slowing the net down. ;D Now back to the snow shoveling.
Hoover

[Santa Fe Sammy]

Thanks again for the compliments, everyone!

Hey Mike, it’s great to hear from you! Thanks again for the kind words and that was a great op session we had when you were in town with the rest of those nice ATSF guys.

Okay Glenn. I’m not afraid to show a BN pic, in fact I’ll try to make it up to you by showing a pacing shot of a crusty old BN C30-7 leading the C-AMML loaded coal train on my layout.
The rest of the consist was the nice looking ATSF SD40-2 and another worn out BN motor 3rd out. When departing Amarillo. The BN locomotives started giving the crew fits when it was pushed over 40 mph. By the time the train had reached Bovina, TX, the rear BN motor had completely died and the lead C30-7 was on it’s last legs leaving ATSF 5020 to do all the work leading the loaded coal train the 40 miles on to it’s destination. In fact at one point, in protest of being pushed by a superior locomotive, the BN 5509 started spewing oil and shooting flames out of the stack. The 2 dead BN motors were set out at Muleshoe TX and the ATSF unit took the coal loads on to the dumper unassisted and eventually back to Amarillo to be interchanged back to the BN for the trip back to Wyoming. Anyway, I hope you like the pic as much as I enjoyed shooting it for you! ;D ;D



Please Note: No BN units were really harmed, over-weathered, or set on fire in the making of this picture.

[mrlfan]

Man that was good. And you did all of that work for me, I am honored. Long live the green C30-7's. That poor BN unit is producing so much horsepower there is flames shooting from the stack. So cool. I have photos of the real ones doing the same thing somewhere around here.
Glenn

[Freightrain]

I saw an Espee Dash 8-40B leading a freight through my town back in the late 90's that was shooting flame's out the stack (it was run thru power) on the CSX.

Everyone should know that the SF in ATSF stands for Special Forces ;D

I thought that BN loco's were governed to 35 mph ;D

[sd39u]

First off...Sammy, absolutely awesome shots.

As for Glenn Hoover...he appears to be suffering from some serious trauma he experienced as a child. I think he told me once that he fell into a cess pool while playing as a kid and then came back out with a love of sewer pickles (BN Green and Black locos). We've tried to fix him over the years with several good doses of ATSF, but it appears than his condition is terminal. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.

[mrlfan]

Boy Eric, you just join the group and you come out of the box with both guns blazing. It never fails to amaze me on how many people stick up for the Santa Flush paint schemes. I think the surgen general has warnings out for people who model the Santa Flush. I already told Mike that I have plenty of Scalecoat II BN green and I also have a good compressor I can bring up there and help you convert your stuff to the mighty BN scheme. Let me know and I will see if i can fit it in my schedule.
Your friend down south
Hoover

[Santa Fe Sammy]

Eric, thanks for the kind words and it’s nice to have another ATSF fan on here helping to fight the good fight!


Hoover, Hoover, Hoover…….
What are we gonna do with you? I didn’t want to have to break this pic out to show everyone but I feel that it’s past time to show everyone else the truth of the matter that you are, in fact, actually a true ATSF fan deep down to the deepest depths of your soul.

[antlorch]

Well I have to agree I have always though the ATSF had one of the nicest and catchest paint schemes ever......Though I do like the white face BN engines also... Well so much for that...

[mrlfan]

Sammy your photoshop took at least 30 pounds off me(plus my left arm). But all in all that was some funny crap there. It is a good thing I don't know that photoshop stuff(I wonder if my kids do ;D). I will have to think of a good comeback for this one. Like Anthony mentioned lind of LONG LIVE the BN whiteface scheme.
Hoover