Photos of US Trip July 2011

[faraway]

I am back from 30 days traveling in the USA and uploaded the railroad related photos taken into Photobucket.
They are arranged into the sub folders:

Dalhart 18 (TX Panhandle), Dallas 22, Denver 7, Galveston 42, Houston 67, Ogden 34, San Pedro 39 and Vernon et. al. 340

All photos have been made with m IPOD only. The quality is fair at best. Lots of photos had to be shot with face to the sun resulting in large black areas. I did not do any editing as they are are intended for my reference of the prototype only. However you might find one or two details useful.

The photos of Dalhart, Dallas and Denver are lucky finds of switchers while I drove by. Ogden is the local RR museum. Photos in Houston and Galveston have been shot intentionally in areas I knew.

The Vernon folder is the largest. It is not strictly Vernon but covers south LA and other neighborhoods of Vernon. Lots of photos have been shot of the ground. It is interesting to see how ballast, gravel, dirt and dust are arranged around the LAJ tracks. It did also did some photos of plants around the LAJ tracks. Keep in mind the photos have been done in July 2011 a very hot and dry summer in the US. You might want to put more green on your layout if you model a wet and cool string.

http://s966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149...US%202011/

Thanks again to Gary (Houston), Russ and Andy (LA) for the great hosting of a passing by tourist!

ps- Gary's background paintings look in real even more realistic as they appear on photos here in the forum. My wife and I have been deeply impressed.

[Gary S]

Reinhard, good to have you back on the forum, and glad you had a safe trip. I appreciate you stopping by, was nice to meet you. Also glad that you and Russ got to spend some quality time railfanning. Thank you for the kind compliments on my backdrop painting.

[Justinmiller171]

Nice pics!

I wonder what that California Northern engine was doing in Texas?

[FCIN]

Nice pics!
I wonder what that California Northern engine was doing in Texas?

California Northern, like the Dallas Garland & Northern is a RailAmerica company and they tend to move their power around were it's needed. I've seen Central Oregon & Pacific power on the Indiana Southern.

[Russ Bellinis]

I just got back in town and back to the internet. It was a lot of fun getting together with you Reinhard. I expected that we would see a lot more of the LAJ, but the way the tracks run between all of the side streets, it is amazing how little you can cover in a day of railfanning even on a railroad that occupies a space of only 10 miles x 10 miles!