Arizona by Night

BNSF 2836 in Surprise, Arizona

On Tuesday (August 26) I set out to buy some new Birkenstock sandals, as my old ones are in a very sad state. Since I'm in Phoenix (again), my wife pointed me to Shamrock Shoes. I checked and they were only open until 5 PM, so I hustled up the I17 and made it there with 5 minutes to spare.

Afterward, I decided to go railfanning. I headed west until I hit Grand Avenue, then followed it northwest. Grand parallels the BNSF line out of Phoenix. Unfortunately, Grand is under serious construction and progress was very slow. I didn't see any trains on my long and slow drive, until I reached Surprise / El Mirage.

I was up in this area in July. On the Ennis subdivision that joins the main Phoenix subdivision, a short local train was waiting. BNSF 2836 and BNSF 2945 were at the head of a train with a boxcar and about a dozen tank cars. A crew van was there and the outgoing and incoming crews were having a chat. I approached and asked if they would mind if I took a few shots. They were quite friendly and said for me to go ahead.

I took several, and a few more after the van left. The one above is probably the best.

This train wasn't going anywhere, so I went up Grand Avenue a bit more. I saw a headlight approaching, so I went back to a crossing and set up to try night video with my Canon T1i. I hadn't done any night video and I was curious to see how it turned out.

Well, let's just call that "disappointing". It had four big engines on the head end.

While I was looking at the BNSF local, I shot one of the industrial engines at the auto rack facility across the highway. Given the poor light, and my lack of a tripod, it was difficult to get a good shot but I lucked out with this one.

See also...

• BNSF in Phoenix
• The Grand Canyon Railroad
• One Night in Phoenix