Flickriver

            In August 1996, my wife and I made a trip to Klamath Falls for a weekend family visit. My ulterior motive in going was to hopefully encounter one more train on the Modoc Line. Southern Pacific's remaining independence before being acquired by Union Pacific was measurable in days. It was now or never. 

By the time of our trip, SP had assigned the Modoc a different radio frequency than the one used on the Shasta Route. After we arrived in Klamath late on a Friday evening, I locked my scanner on that channel (AAR 14, 160.320) and put it under my pillow.

At about 5:00 am, a blast of static on the scanner woke me. The radio provided the news that a meet would be taking place soon at Alturas. I figured that with a bit of luck, I could get a few shots in the vicinity of Wendel. I threw on some clothes and headed out, burning up the asphalt in the predawn darkness. 

As it turned out, I would get more than I bargained for. The Modoc was eventually going to be abandoned by UP. Consequently, slow orders were numerous. I caught up with the eastbound train around 7:30 am at Madeline. In a little over two hours, I was 130 miles from my bed in Klamath Falls. The train had covered about 40 miles in the same amount of time.

In this image, the train is rolling across the Madeline Plains near Brockman. Speed for this job was a sedate 20 mph or so. Smoke from forest fires to the west softened the early morning light. The peak in the distance is Likely Mountain, which was the site of an SP radio repeater. It would take the train most of the morning to reach the crew change at Wendel.

Taken in: United States / California / Brockman (show map)

Taken on: August 17, 1996

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Camera: Plustek OpticFilm 8200i (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Plustek OpticFilm 8200i
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 15.0 (Windows)
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