Reality Check Friday

Railfanning in Vegas is... different. Around town there are some great spots around town. South of town there is one of the coolest spots, Sloan. The old tunnel has been abandoned in favor of the new cut through the side of the hill here. Because of the grade, the trains are easy to pace.

South of Sloan is Erie. This passing siding provides a long trailing or approach shot. Here is looking South at the departing Ringling Brothers Red Circus Train (I saw an elephant).

Looking North at Sloan is a great banked corner with desert landscape all around. I was standing on the shoulder of Las Vegas Blvd. when I took both the Erie shots.

This is Aware country. His tags are everywhere from here to L.A.. I've seen some great shots and am looking forward to more.

Arden Yard: Home of the Vegas SD40Ns. These SD40-2 rebuilds are everywhere and pull all the locals in town. Maybe someday they'll try some more creative paint schemes.

This last shot is how I often see Vegas. This shot summed it up well. It's open, airy and a little on the dirty side. One of the Locals was heading North on Monday. The crew gave a friendly shot with the airhorn, that helped.

 

Vegas is more than the casinos and the lights. It has many faces, and there is one that will match whatever mood you are in, you just have to know where to look.

Railfanning Around Vegas

I explored a little around Vegas today with my lovely wife. I found a few interesting items. I am thinking about building a couple of FreemoN modules to use with the N Land Pacific Freemo group and I think I may have found my muse.
I started the day at the Olin Chlor Alkali plant. This place is huge. It has a couple of swithcers and I was lucky enough to photograph one today. Savage (SVGX) GP9 #8607. This looks like an ex-CP unit. I would love to know its heritage.

North of Vegas is a great spot called Apex. The UP interchanges with the Nevada Industrial Switch there. So far the short line has eluded me, but I did catch a trio of SD40Ns, led by UP 1837 sitting idle between jobs.

One of the industries at Apex in a Portland loadout, right next to the main line. This may end up being a winter modeling project for me (Freemo style of course). Don't worry, my main focus will still be the Skally Line.

One of the cool things is that the UP service road bridges are all made from flatcars in this stretch. Here you can see the one right at the switch to the portland loadout.

All in all it was a nice day. I also got to see a B25 Mitchell, some B-1Bs, A10 Warthogs and a C5A Galaxy getting loaded over at Nellis Air Force Base. There is more to Vegas than the Casinos...