Date: 02/03/05 Nostalgic PLA Equipment Move
Part 9 - Hearst
Happenings Author: espeeboy After the PLA train arrived at
Hearst Siding on UP's Oakland Sub
(halfway between Sunol and Pleasanton), the black widow/WP Geep light
power made a run-around and shove move for us railfans. Sun came out a
many times but also went away a few times with some light drizzle here
and there. This actually entertained us there at Hearst for a good hour
all while the Niles Canyon Railway crew was slowing but steadily
plucking its PLA members' cars from UP track to museum track. Made for
an interesting operation, kind of like model railroading.
After running around their
museum train on the main from the east
end of Hearst to the west end, the three unit power set pulled the
museum train back clear of the interchange stub track and handed things
over to the museum crew. Finally, Engineer Lou and crew switched ends
to make the SP5623 black widow as the lead unit for the short light
power move west to Shinn in Fremont to pick up the three PLA steam
locmotives. We'll pick up the steam towing action in parts 10 and 11.
~~~
Caught in the run-around move,
SP5623 is leading for the first time
of the day. Light power is heading back to the west end of Hearst to
shove the rear of the train into the Museum interchange stub track.
Uncoupling
the front three units from the train. A time when the sun
took a you-know-what on us. Man those are some pretty spooky looking
trees.
Same
shot but zoomed in a little more and redone after I stomped out
that distracting trackside weed in the previous photo - no joke, this
was not a photoshop job.
Perhaps
my favorite shot of the day with railfans in the way. Seen in
the shot are PLA member George Childs, Jesus "josiahrr" Peña and
son
Josiah, Richard Barnes Jr (who drove up with father Barnes Senior 5+
hours from Oxnard, CA) Harry "tracktime" Wong and Keith Ode.
The view of the PLA trian at Hearst
with the black widows and WP Geep missing... Starting to make the move back
around the train at West Hearst after a getting the signal to proceed
east on the main... Close-up. The landmark Hearst rockcut cast
its shadows on the light power.
Back
on the West end, this random wig-wag loving dude walked up and
finally discovered what that vibrating sensation was in his pocket
;)
(That is our very own "Bondo" Dan Furtado) Lotta Trainorders.com member
railfan vehicles parked along the road.
Shot
of the power coming out on the caboose end of the train
in order to make the shove move into the short Museum stub siding at
Hearst.
I
had something sprout up in front of my shot too... My foot just
wasn't big enough to stomp this one out, and I don't think Photoshop
could save it either... ;)
(Dan Furtado photo)
Some more sun on the west end of
Hearst. Shoving back in to Hearst siding
via the Museum stub interchange. Dead Baldwin OTR101 shoves across
Pleasanton Sunol Road on the NCRY Museum - UP interchange track. "Stop, in the name of love!"
Restored
NW-2 SP1423 serves as the point unit to pull the museum hospital train
equipment back to the Museum yard.
View of the interchange track
recently put in by the museum and UP last year...
Ready
to see some vintage SP diesel locomotives race on their own
mainline through the Canyon? Didn't exactly happen but would be nice.
Last
shot of this ninth series. Light power with SP5623 as the point
unit is finally about to depart Hearst for the westward move to Shinn.
Well known East Bay foaming buddies Richard Silagi and Ben Wang succumb
to force of the dark side due to the overpowering forces of Black Widow.