The Nightly Grind
Union Pacific maintenance-of-way forces have been grinding rails in this area of late. Grinding rails removes tiny cracks and incidentally makes the trains run a bit more quietly. They have been doing this at night, and I did not feel up to trying to chase them to see what it looked like, especially as I though they were working west of Fernley, where it's hard to get close enough to see them. On Saturday night, though, they surprised Lisa and me by coming through on the main line here. I had been getting ready for bed when Lisa (who as I've mentioned can get around better now) called for me to get dressed and come outside right away.
Getting good photos at night is hard enough, but by the time I tossed my clothes back on and came out to the porch, the rail-grinding train had already passed our house. The train not only grinds the rails, but also has water spraying to keep the sparks from setting anything on fire. It's very spectacular looking at night, and this photo does no justice whatsoever to what it looks like.
Had we realized that they would be grinding right in front of us, we would have set up the better camera gear and shot video. It would have been a nice story for Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories for the episode on which Lisa is working about rails.
Getting good photos at night is hard enough, but by the time I tossed my clothes back on and came out to the porch, the rail-grinding train had already passed our house. The train not only grinds the rails, but also has water spraying to keep the sparks from setting anything on fire. It's very spectacular looking at night, and this photo does no justice whatsoever to what it looks like.
Had we realized that they would be grinding right in front of us, we would have set up the better camera gear and shot video. It would have been a nice story for Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories for the episode on which Lisa is working about rails.