cheerful
Amtrak locomotive 42 is painted in a "support our veterans" livery, and spent the last couple of weeks hauling the California Zephyr between Chicago and Emeryville. Here it is eastbound on April 10...
And then again on April 22. Both photos are eastbound. I never got a photos of it going westbound, although I saw it at least once.
I wish I'd been quicker on the uptake this morning when the westbound Zephyr passed Fernley, as there were five private cars on the rear of the train.
It's not just a constant parade of UP yellow locomotives here, as we see run-through and leased power a lot. Here's a Norfolk Southern unit spliced by two UP locomotives on April 8.
BNSF trackage-rights trains add to the color. Here "Big BN" stops to switch the house tracks at Fernley with three different paint schemes, including an ex-Santa Fe unit.
"Little BN" (the local serving Fernley-area industries) dropped off ex-Santa Fe 158 yesterday before heading back to Sparks as a single light-engine move. 158 is presumably due for its 90-day inspection and thus has to be hauled by "Big BN" to an actual BNSF facility in trade for another unit, as the local normally operates with two units coupled tail-to-tail to facilitate switching.
Update, 20:00: On the way back from collecting our mail, I was able to get a close-up of the former Santa Fe unit. Later that afternoon, Big BN came by, dropped some cars, and collected 158 as expected.
It's raining here today, for which I'm glad, as with luck that means more snow in the Sierra and any dent we can make in the drought is good. I'm mostly staying inside and catching up on work that had been pushed aside by Puppygate.