Destination Deseret - a photo on Flickriver

            Long drives and early mornings were well worth our efforts as we caught out first glimpse of the Deseret Power Railway. This oft-forgotten conveyor belt of a railroad has been a bucket list item for the last few years, being the last holdout for true electrified freight operations in the US. I didn't think I'd be able to get out here for ages, but some last minute plans made this into a reality! The closure or de-electrification of similar railroads has turned the Deseret Power into a sort of mecca for fans of American rail electrification.

We'd waited for hours up on this ridge after confirming the railroad was operating that day, but the wait had been long and fraught with cloud and light-based concerns. Based on the info we had, it appeared that they were running late, which was definitely a worry. When I finally heard the distant chime of DPR 1s P5, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. We hadn't done all this for nothing after all. Of course, that relief was immediately replaced by adrenaline and nerves - we would have very few photo opportunities this trip, so there was no margin for error here!

Just south of Dinosaur, CO, the trio of Deseret E60C-2s came sailing through one of the few grade crossings on the 35 mile rail line. The look and sound of these things is so different compared to anything I'm used to shooting, it was really incredible to be able to finally experience it for myself. There is something so strange, but so right about the look of these old E60s. I just love them.

Deseret is also an incredibly remote railroad - so remote it doesn't actually connect to any other railroad, anywhere! Despite the remoteness, we were definitely more bold on this trip than any other I'd been on. Then again, back where I'm from in Illinois, you don't really get terrain like this, so there's no real opportunity to get climbing... but we had that opportunity there, so we happily took it!

Shooting Deseret presented us with many challenges, but we weathered them and did our damnedest. Once the E60s and their 45 car coal train had passed us by, we were all in agreement that even if we got screwed the rest of the day, we were still very happy. We didn't know that it was foreshadowing some events, but we still made it work. At any rate, a view like this - is there a better introduction to the sights and sounds of Deseret than this? It seems the lateness of the train also made our light here that much better, which we weren't going to complain about.

Now it was time to prepare for our next shots once they finished unloading their coal at the power plant. If we had known the struggle that would be... Well, the day was far from over, suffice to say.

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Taken in: United States / Colorado / Dinosaur (show map)

Taken on: August 19, 2024

Tags:

trains

railroad

railways

rail

E60C-2

Deseret

DPR

DeseretPowerRailway

Dinosaur

Colorado

electric

catenary

desert

west

coal

E60

general electric

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Camera: Canon EOS 80D, f/8.0, 1/640 sec, 35mm, ISO 160 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 80D
Lens:	EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length:	35mm
ISO:	160
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 2024 Windows
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