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Burlington Northern Santa Fe Best of Jeremy F Plant BNSF Railway Morning Sun Bks
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Best of Jeremy F Plant BNSF Railway
Morning Sun Books
Soft Cover
96 pages
Copyright 2017
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Midwest
Chapter 2 Nebraska and Wyoming
Chapter 3 The Southwest
Chapter 4 Mojave Desert
Finale
INTRODUCTION
The creation of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, or BNSF, in 1996 coincided with a renewal of my interest in rail photography after a slackening of activity in the 1980s and 1990s. Although I had continued to pursue the hobby in a reduced way in those years, fatherhood and the need to look after my academic career took precedence, compared to my most active period in the 1960s and 1970s. Part of the reason to become more active was the interest in rail photography of my son Brian, who by the mid-1990s was old enough to accompany me on many trips to see railroads like the Santa Fe, Rio Grande, Chicago and North Western and Burlington Northern before they disappeared into newly merged mega-roads. My older brother Jeffrey, who had traveled with me many times to the Midwest in the 1970s, was also part of our trips to the BNSF in the late 1990s.
Things really heated up in the early 2000s. Brian gave a presentation at Winter Rail in 2003, and we used the trip to California to explore Tehachapi for the first time. Various professional trips to the West also provided an opportunity to extend for a few days and shoot the BNSF in Arizona and California. A new friend, Stanley Short, joined us for several epic trips to the Southwest and California. I switched to digital photography in 2003, just in time for a trip to the Mojave and Arizona. Digital photography provided instant feedback and a motivation to try new approaches, including shooting at night and in low light for special effects.
My other child, daughter Jennifer, volunteered to work with Lakota children in South Dakota in the summer of 2004, and I accompanied her to the Cheyenne River reservation in June. Naturally, I took the opportunity to head west to Crawford and Alliance, Nebraska, more new BNSF territory to explore. I fell in love with the non-stop action on Crawford Hill, even though it was in many ways a trip from hell, with several rainy days -- even light snow and cold temperatures in the Powder River of Wyoming and health issues that made it hard to keep going. But as the shots in the book show, it was worth it to see Crawford Hill and the Sand Hills of Nebraska. I also made friends with a local family, the Nelsons, and have kept in touch ever since.
Ruled by the academic calendar and the need to teach summer school to make ends meet, my trips to the West had to be either on my spring break week in March or in mid-August. Spring break in 2005 found Stanley Short, Brian, and myself in California, covering the BNSF on Tehachapi and in the Mojave. It was timed just right, as the California hills were green and covered with flowers in one of the most spectacular springs of recent memory.
In 2006, it was back to Nebraska with my friend Stanley Short. We photographed all of the lines radiating out of Alliance, for most days in perfect sunlight. We stayed at the B&B on the ranch near the tracks on Crawford Hill, met up with the Nelsons, and cleaned up on all the lines we explored. New units were replacing the aging SD7Os that were ruling the line on my 2004 trip. In those giddy years for the coal industry, trains were running like the veritable streetcars of legend up the Crawford Hill grade and on the lines south and east of Alliance. It was a show that may never be equaled as our dependence on coal is being reduced.
In late 2007, a chance to revisit the desert after presenting a talk at a conference in Phoenix at first seemed doomed, as northern Arizona saw cold weather, rain and snow. I decided to keep heading west and finally found sunlight and warmth in Needles. I had only a short time to enjoy the reprieve, and found a constant parade of trains west of Needles along old Route 66 in perfect sunshine and mid-70s weather.
In the summer of 2009, Stan Short and I were back in California. We had little luck (still hard to understand) at Tehachapi, so we headed back to the Mojave and again enjoyed the constant flow of trains on the Needles Subdivision. By now, it was hard to find new shots, but it was sheer enjoyment being in the majesty of the Mojave, even as the temperature climbed well over 100 degrees.
My final visit to my favorite railfanning locations came in March 2010. I chaired an accreditation visit to California State University - San Bernardino, and timed it to coincide with my spring break week. I had five days afterward for rail photography, and at first was going to shoot at nearby Cajon Pass and Tehachapi, but again cold weather and high winds drove me back to Needles, where the temperature was in the high 70s and the sun, as always, was shining. What transpired was two glorious days of photography on the big grade between Needles and the summit at Goffs, going back and forth on parallel Route 66 with virtually no break in the action.
Since that time, I have cut back a great deal on my rail trips, so it is with great pleasure that I have used this opportunity to relive those great trips through my pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have putting together this photographic tribute to the BNSF. We will move east to west, from the Midwest to my final BNSF shot in the Columbia Gorge.
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