Jim and April's Roadtrips

2024 California Railfan Trip to the Tehachapi’s and Cajon Pass

November 13, 2024 Jim Pearson Comments 0 Comment

*September 18th, 2024, BNSF 8057, NS 8068 and BNSF 5177 lead an eastbound train through the famous Tehachapi Loop on the Union Pacific Mojave Subdivision at Keene, California.*

The flight out was fairly un eventful other than TAS cutting the lock off one of my bags to see what was inside it! Of course it was my small tripod that had them concerned as I’m figuring with it collapsed it looked very concerning to them on the x-rays of the bag. In the past before 911 it would have never raised concern, but times are different.

My good friend Jose picked me up from the Ontario Airport and I spent the next 10 days staying and traveling with him around southern California and had a great time! He lives up around Crestline, California up in the mountains and it was a great jumping off spot to all the places we wanted to visit. While Jose isn’t as much of a railfan as me, he does enjoy photographing trains and other types of landscape photography. My visit also gave him a good excuse to get away from his volunteer work with the local water company, which takes way too much of his time (his words) and I gave him a good excuse to get out and take pictures!! Now he plans to take a week or two off every few months as the result of my latest visit. I hope he sticks to it and get out to do more of what he loves! Jose and I pretty much followed each other around the world on assignments while we were both photojournalists with Combat Camera.

It was a great visit and I’ll add some pictures here from the trip. I did goof up and let my drone takeoff without setting the home point on a flight, which resulted in loosing it somewhere out in the Cajon Pass when it dropped behind a rocky point and I lost contact with it from the controller. By not setting the home point, the drone landed somewhere out there and after a two hour search we gave up on finding it. Not a mistake I’ll make again!!

Our Combat Camera reunion was held in Studio City, CA at our past boss’s and good friend’s home, Ken Hackman. We used to have big versions of these reunions that went over a weekend, but since COVID we’ve been doing mini versions where we’ve been gathering at Ken’s home for a day of fellowship and good food. It’s great seeing everyone and we had probably around 30-40 people or more attend! I’ll add a few pictures from that part of the trip as well!

Here’s a few more from the train part of the trip…

A few from the Combat Camera Reunion

Jose’s cat Nicky guards the door way while he works in the kitchen.

Steve McGill and Mike Daniels visits with others.

Jose Lopez Jr., Left, visits with others during the reunion.

Lance Cheung interviews Ken Hackman and others.

Ken Hackman being inducted into the American Legion during the reunion.

Me and Jessi Ross, we roomed together atone of my first assignements.

Chattanooga Trip with Jim

May 29, 2024 Jim Pearson Comments 0 Comment

Well, I guess it’s about time I posted something on my 5 day train chasing trip to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum at Chattanooga, TN and points between!

I’ve been trying to do this trip for a couple months now, but due to the museum having issues with getting their Southern Railway 630 locomotive up and running for the new season, it didn’t happen when I had planned, so the trip got postponed a few times. I finally hit the road on April 26th and got back home to Kentucky on April 30th. I caught a lot of steam action on SR 630 and also on the CSX Chattanooga Subdivision and the Norfolk Southern CNO&TP District. I’ve not really railfanned the Chattanooga Sub much at all and never done so on the CNO&TP District so both were pretty much new territory for me!

On day one I spent making my way from Nashville to Chattanooga, TN on the Chattanooga Sub and thanks to the help of Reed Redding on spots to check out I was able to catch several photos of the line that I’m very happy with. Below are a couple of my favorites from this stretch of the trip. If you’d like to see more from this subdivision then visit this link to my photography website.

Loaded Coal train CSX 904 passes the old Spanish style depot at Bridgeport, Alabama as it heads south on the CSX Chattanooga Subdivision, on April26th, 2024.

Loaded Coal train CSX 904 passes the old depot at Tullahoma, Tennessee, as it heads south on the CSX Chattanooga Subdivision, on April 26th, 2024.

Then for two days, with fellow railfans Bryan Burton and Dak Dillon, I spent chasing the Southern Railway Steam locomotive 630 and Thomas the Tank Engine on many runs between Grand Junction in West Chattanooga to East Chattanooga and back. It’s not really a very long run, but there’s several good spots to capture these trains in operation, which you can see from the photos below. Here’s also another link where you can view other images from this and past trips to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, which I highly recommend!

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s steam locomotive Southern Railway 630 departs Grand Junction at West Chattanooga as it heads to East Chattanooga, Tennessee with the daily local, on April 27th, 2024.

The Iconic Thomas the Tank Engine leads a passenger train over the Chickamauga Creek Bridge as it heads to Grand Junction at West Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 27th, 2024.

Now, the last part of my trip was along the Norfolk Southern CNO&TP District and this was pretty much all new territory for me. It was a very successful trip thanks to the help of two fellow railfans, Andrew Stephenson and Matt Murphy!

For this leg of the trip I started out on the afternoon of April 28th and railfanned the district till the evening of April 30th, when I made my way home! I think this trip was one of the most successful 3 days of railfanning on Norfolk Southern that I’ve had in a long time, if not forever! An outstanding trip and caught a lot of action in interesting locations! Below are again a couple of my favorites and here’s a link to more!

A trio of Norfolk Southern engines lead NS 168 as they make their way across the New River Bridge northbound on the NS CNO&TP (Rathole) Subdivision at New River, Tennessee. On April 29th, 2024.

Norfolk Southern 890 passes the old mine loadout at Revilo outside Sterns, Kentucky as they head southbound with a load of coal on the NS CNO&TP (Rathole) Subdivision, on April 29th, 2024. The coal was picked up at Warrior Coal mine on the Paducah and Louisville Railway, outside of Nebo, Kentucky and is headed for the TVA power plant at Kingston, Ky under stormy skies.

So, what’s coming up for me down the road? My next planned trip is to southern California to visit friends in September and my plan is to revisit my old stomping grounds in the Cajon Pass and Tehachapi mountains in the central part of the state. Stay tuned!

Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225

March 22, 2024 Jim Pearson Comments 0 Comment

The weekend of December 16th, 2023 I spent time chasing the Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 with fellow railfan Bryan Burton, Dak Dillon and Brian Caswell, along with many others on their last weekend of the season running this great locomotive! It was their version of a Polar Express train and while this wasn’t a photo charter like my Colorado trip, we still had plenty of opportunities to capture it in action. It was a quick, but great trip and below are a few of my favorite images from the weekend. Click here to see more!

Pere Marquette 1225 prepares to pull onto the turntable to start their day North Pole Express excursions between Owosso and the Village of Ashley Country Christmas in Michigan, on December 17th, 2023. While I’d normally shoot this scene as a RAW file on my Nikon D810, on this day I was concentrating on video and drone shots. Still, I think my iPhone 14 Pro held up pretty good, all things considered!

Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 pulls off the turntable at Owosso, Michigan, as it prepares for a day of pulling the North Pole Express to Ashley, Michigan on December 16th, 2023.

Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 passes the Carland Elevator at Carland, Michigan, as they run their last North Pole Express passenger train between Owosso and to the Village of Ashley, Michigan, for their Ashley Country Christmas, on December 17th, 2023. This is considered one of the top locations to photograph the train and thanks to Scott Shields, who set up his lights, we were able to capture the scene at night! The only thing missing was the snow!

An early morning view of Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 as it sits on the turntable at Owosso, Michigan. It was being serviced by crews before it backed up to the ash pit in preparation for another day of pulling the North Pole Express between Owosso and Ashley, Michigan, along the Great Lakes Railroad on December 17th, 2023.

An early morning top-down view of Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 1225 as it sits on the turntable at Owosso, Michigan. It was being serviced by crews before it backed up to the ash pit in preparation for another day of pulling the North Pole Express between Owosso and Ashley, Michigan, along the Great Lakes Railroad.

Here’s a video for your viewing pleasure as well!

Ten days chasing steam in Colorado!

March 22, 2024 Jim Pearson Comments 0 Comment

Man, where to begin with this post? Last October 2023 I spent almost two weeks with friend Bryan Burton and several others on two different steam train charters in Colorado and part of New Mexico. I’ve railfanned the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad before, but not on the end of the line between Antonito and Osier, Colorado. However, the first charter was on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad between Durango and Silverton, Colorado and has been on my bucket list of places to photograph for a very long time and it didn’t disappoint at all!

One of the many photo lines on our Durango Photo Charter Trip. Bryan is in the center of this shot, along with from left, fellow friends Jeffery Stoner and William Diehl. In spite of having around 70 people on this charter, everyone pretty much got along and shared spots as we usually did several photo runbys at each location.

This shot was from my window seat on the first flight I’ve taken since before COVID-19 began in 2019. I tried to do a iPhone post daily during my trip and this is one such shot.

From this 10 day trip, only about 5 of the days were actually on the photo charters and the rest were days when we chased trains on our own! In case you’re not familiar on how these charters work, each one is limited to a certain number of people, Durango was about 70 and Cumbres was about 40 people. The way things worked was we all started the day on both charters before sunrise where we all boarded our trains and were taken to our first photo location for the sunrise. Everyone would get off the train and our leaders would establish photo lines where everyone stood and then the train would back up the line and steam past our location so we could photograph and video the train. Most locations they would do several run-bys so people could change spots between each run.

The days were long and the altitude was between 9,000 and just over 10,000 feet and the body of this 73 year old knew it! Fortunately my walking 10,ooo steps a day normally, helped greatly with the loading and unloading in the high altitude and thin air. I’ll admit that after a 10 -12 hour day, by the time we got back to our hotel at night, my feet were ready for a rest!!

Rather than talking about the day by day events I’ll just let some of my pictures from the trip do the talking for me and finish this trip post up by saying, this was one of the best charter trips I think I’ve ever been on and a big shout out to the Durango and Silverton for their excellent charter and to Dak Dillon Photography for organizing and hosting the Cumbres charter!

If you want to see more images from this trip visit this link! I’ll also include a video below from the trip for your viewing pleasure!

Denver and Rio Grande Western steam locomotive 476 leads a daily passenger train as they pull around Granite Point, just outside of Rockwood, Colorado, as they head to Silverton, CO, on October 15th, 2023.

Denver and Rio Grande Western double header steam locomotives 473 and 493 pull one of several daily passenger trains south through Deadwood Gulch, as they approach Silverton, Colorado on October 15th, 2023.

Denver and Rio Grande Western double header steam locomotives 473 and 493 pull south out of Durango with a daily passenger train, bound for Silverton, Colorado on October 15th, 2023.

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge steam locomotive D&RGW 473 leads a K-28 100th Anniversary Special as they head through the curve at Goblin Fire, Milepost 480.5, between Durango and Silverton, Colorado, on October 16th, 2023, with mid-train helper D&RGW 476.

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge steam locomotive D&RGW 473 leads a passenger train as it heads to Durango, Colorado from Goblin Fire (480.5) on October 17th, 2023.

Denver and Rio Grande Western steam charter with locomotives 476 and mid-train helper 473 pull a freight and passenger train through Horseshoe Curve during our two-day charter between Durango and Silverton, Colorado on October 17th, 2023. The lead locomotive had just finished a blowdown, resulting in a rainbow in the steam cloud. A blowdown is a way to get minerals and other contaminants out of the system. Engines want to be on a bridge or trestle because the blow down itself can reach 30+ feet at an angle away from the firebox with live steam.

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad steam locomotive D&RGW 463 passes through the curve headed up to the Lava Water Tank at sunrise, between Antonito and Osier, Colorado, during a photo charter by Dak Dillon Photography on October 19th, 2023.

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad steam locomotive D&RGW 463 leads an early morning freight past the Lava water tank. as it heads west at sunrise, out of Antonito, Colorado, during a photo charter by Dak Dillon Photography on October 19th, 2023.

The glow of the rising sun illuminates Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad steam locomotive D&RGW 463 as it leads an early morning freight west approaching Lava water tank, out of Antonito, Colorado, during a photo charter by Dak Dillon Photography on October19th, 2023.

The glow of the morning sun illuminates the horizon as Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad steam locomotive D&RGW 463 makes its way through the Lava Curve with a freight train on the way to Osier, Colorado, during a photo charter by Dak Dillon Photography on October 19th, 2023.

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad steam locomotive D&RGW 463 makes its way across High Bridge with a freight train on the way to Osier, Colorado, during a photo charter by Dak Dillon Photography on October 19th, 2023.

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad steam locomotive D&RGW 168 passes over Ferguson’s Trestle at MP 285.87 at sunrise as it heads to Osier, Colorado, during a photo charter by Dak Dillon Photography on October 20th, 2023.

Cross Country trip to Washington Sate and Back

March 22, 2024 Jim Pearson Comments 0 Comment

Well, I’m finally working on getting caught up on my posts here on the JA Roadtrips Blog! Sis has been a bit better on posting here lately to the site than I have been, but if you want to see posts from me daily, pay a visit to my main website at jimpearsonphotography.com where you can also find links to all my Social Media Accounts where I post pretty much daily.

As sis says in her post from our Washington State trip, we both had a great time and got to meet up with family and friends along the way, which is always nice during our trips. I was happy to finish off my 50th state on this trip when we cruised through Oregon on this trip. Sis is doing Hawaii with her daughter and her husband this year in May and it’s her 49th state. I guess we’ll have to plan something down the road to get to Alaska as it is the last state she hasn’t visited.

Our trip lasted for 15 days and we covered a bit over 6,000 miles during the two weeks we were on the road! I of course was interested in finding trains as always, but also enjoyed seeing other sites and places along the way, including Yellowstone National Park, where I’ve never been. Sis had been there before, but of course she was more than happy to visit it again!

We both enjoy traveling a lot and while COVID put a damper on our travels for over two years, it’s nice to be able to hit the road again to see new sites and locations.

While this post is about our cross country trip, I do have another coming up from a 10 day train photo charter I did in Colorado last fall, so stay tuned for that one! I have some other plans for trips this year, one of which will be a train photo charter to Vermont in the fall, and hopefully a few small train trips before then. Stay tuned!

Below you’ll find some of my favorite images from our trip that were made on my iPhone!