There is something that I’ve been thinking about for a while now. I’d like to be involved in a train chase. More specifically a steam excursion. It appeals to me because of the adrenaline of trying to beat the train to the next crossing, plus getting more shots (pictures/video) than just at one crossing.
Anyone do it? Train chase in general- what’s your experience? Pros/cons? I think I’d try it at least once but the first time I’d like to not be driving the chase car.
I’ve done it a few times; I much prefer to select a spot for a few good pictures and set uo before the crowd arrives. (And then - if the route and roads permit - another spot or two where I can get ahead for another shot.)
If you really want to try chasing, research the route. At least follow it on Google maps; and far better to spend a day catching routine freight traffic along the route before the excursion. (Presuming you will be in area you aren’t already familiar with.) Keep in mind that a steam excursion will bring its own instant rush hour on any road parallel to the track. Any section where a two lane road runs right along the track some fans will be trying to pace the train while others are trying to get past to their next photo spot, with a few innocent locals and tourists caught in the whole mess.
Even a freeway roughly parallel to the track isn’t a magic formula. Many years back I spent two hours on flat, open freeway at 75 MPH, only to watch UP 844 go past before I could get to my next chosen spot maybe a mile OFF the freeway on a major connecting hiway.
I was in Owosso in 2009 for the big event there and tried to chase 765 on the Sunday run. I made exactly one crossing after the train left town, then gave up. Even the state trooper, running lights and siren, was having issues.
It doesn’t help that most roads in the area are N-S or E-W and the rails run diagonally. Even at moderate speeds, zig-zagging across the countryside is a recipe for not being able to keep up (never mind disaster).
In addition to scouting out your routes, it helps to know what speeds the train will be running. There’s no way you’re going to keep up with a 60 MPH train on 55 MPH roads, especially when the train doesn’t have to worry about stop signs and traffic lights…
Pick a spot or two and join the photo line.
Back in the early 90’s a friend and I chased the Challenger through the Mojave desert with a Cessna 152. It was hard to keep up 
Train chasing? I did it once back in 1992 when Mighty 611 was running an excursion from Petersburg, VA to Norfolk. After getting some shots of 611 leaving the Petersburg depot I shot down Route 460 for a few more glimpses. That was easy since 460 paralells the NS main line. That was fun, got to see some high-speed run-pasts at various grade crossings.
Yep! “Time to spare, go by air” comes to mind. The mighty 152 wasn’t built for speed. [:D]
Drone photography anyone?
His 152 must have been in sad shape then. The 3985 had a top speed of 70 mph. Even if it was run at ~70 mph continuously, which seems unlikely, a 152 at cruising speed (75% throttle at 8,000 feet) is supposed to do 67 knots (77 mph).
Maybe the wind was against him. I doubt that 3985 was affected by a head wind.
75% power at 6.000 ft should get you about 105 knots. Yes, headwinds can wreak havoc with the ground speed.
The technique I’ve used in Australia is to pick a location and transit between shots on the main roads (the equivalent of Interstate highways).
This worked for an early trip with the Beyer Garratt 6042…
At my last location on a road overbridge on a secondary road, the "tail of following vehicles took ten minutes to pass before I could even get back to my parked car.
However, on a later trip, the Garratt replaced a much smaller 4-6-0 with little notice and there were only four other cars following it… so we were able to do a traditional chase.
M636C
Actually, aside from the possibility of pacing shots and the lot, I would think most consumer drones today would actually be an impediment to chasing as it is being discussed here.
While everyone else is piling back into their cars, you’d have to wait for your drone to get back (some have a range of a mile). Then again, you might possibly have a two mile long pacing shot - as long as none of the other chasers didn’t shoot it out of the sky for being in their shot…
My thought is that, as an introduction to “train chasing”, try it with a regular freight train, perhaps choosing one with interesting power to make it more worthwhile. That way you will get a feel for how easy it is to keep up or get ahead of the train for additional shots.
Chasing a steam excursion will be a lot harder. You will have the added challenge of a horde of other drivers trying to do the exact same thing at the same time as you. Expect to see some highly dangerous moves by some of the more fanatic.
I did it with 765 last summer in Ohio.
Normal freight chase on the line you can get 3-4 shots (different locations) between Ashtabula and South of Andover, depending on traffic.
765? Once south of Andover, then once @Carson Hill. Next shot was them turning in Ashtabula, but after they arrived. (Back up move, than forward to station stop downtown.) Back to Carson Hill, then never caught back up. (Gave up in Andover. Way too many chasers clogging up traffic. And I wasn’t chasing any further south than that.)
Wife and I found ourselves chasing a CPR Heritage consist in early October. We were returning home from a visit in Cache Creek and spotted this train about a half-mile ahead just east of Spences Bridge. She hopped in the driver’s seat the first time I stopped to take some shots. We stopped twice more before our route diverted northward at Lytton.
Don’t. For the above reasons, and because there are way too many horror stories about crazy drivers during chases. It’s amazing that there hasn’t been a serious accident during one of them. Back in the 1970’s -80’s, Trains had some editorials and columns to that effect. There was a concern that an accident - along with dopes on the track, up on signals, and on top of nearby standing equipment, etc., ahead of an excursion train - would cause such a tragedy that future events would be cancelled. At one point, there was a brief column or sidebar about the California Highway Patrol having an officer riding the train to monitor the situation, and sometimes the police cars would form a rolling blockade near the front of the train along the adjacent freeways to keep things under control.
EDIT: See this thread here from July 2009:
“A black mark on our hobby: Someone is really going to get hurt”
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/157239.aspx?page=1
YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!
~DAVE
(WOOT WOOT!)
It was windy and warm (as it seem to be all the time) … also at that time George AFB was still active so we had to dance around a few airspace restrictions.
I think it was still more impressive to get a good position on the ground at a grade crossing.
I have done plenty of “legal” train chasing - driving at or near speed limits but using knowledge of the line and perhaps a scanner to learn where the steam engine needs to stop for routine service and getting ahead of it for the next shot. Sometimes one is surprised by how fast the stops are of course, and road and bridge closings are always a surprise. But that is plenty of fun and fairly safe.
Somewhat to my shame I have also done the heart pounding, flat out “beat the train to the next good spot” type of chase. I remember being part of an insane que where all stop signs were ignored through a small town to the slack jawed amazement of the locals. Going at high high speed where just a yard or so separates you from the rear bumper of the car ahead of you, with about the same space behind you, and so on for dozens of cars, while some drivers are also trying to shoot video and drive at the same time – yes your heart is pounding and the adreniline is running but deep down you know - this is idiotic and dangerous and very likely to end badly.
That is why I much prefer the paid photo excursion where you pay your money for the steam train to run, you go to the assigned crossings as a group, and the engine and train make as many run bys as you ask for. Want one without smoke? Just ask. Want one with or without the antique car at the crossing? Ask. Yes it costs money but it is safe, fun and civilized. And unlike the recent 261 excursion through Minnesota there was not some guy in an orange shirt leaning far out the cap to “ruin” the photos of the nonpaying chasers (although many chasers were in fact paying members of the Friends of the 261 and were not pleased with this treatment).
Dave Nelson
An acquaintence of mine is a member of the maintenance crew of one of the larger excursion steam locomotives and he has told the story of seeing a motorist standing in the driver’s seat with his body out the sun roof, standing on one foot and steering with the other (the car apparently running on Cruise Control), “Filming” the engine while pacing it. One wonders how long a person like that can go before winning the Darwin Award.