STOCK PHOTO UPDATE #8

Summer 1995

A newsletter for picture editors and researchers

950376: Heavy coal traffic in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. An empty Union Pacific train (left) rolls inbound to a mine while a loaded UP train rolls southward on the soon to be triple-tracked (cleared area in foreground) main line of the Orin subdivision. (Color transparency original © Ernest H. Robl 1995)

American Railroads Mark a Major Turning Point

The past year marked a major turning point for American railroads. While Amtrak's financial woes made the headlines, the story has been different for the freight railroads and even the rail transit sector.

Freight volume, sparked by the strong economy, is continuing to set records, particularly in the intermodal and coal sectors. In many areas railroads won back market share from highways.

In some areas railroads are encountering capacity problems, with more business than they can handle. The major railroads are laying new track, double or triple-tracking existing lines to ease traffic jams brought on by heightened demand.

Key mergers among big railroads have taken place or are being finalized. Both the Chicago and North Western and the Santa Fe railroads will disappear, as their rolling stock is repainted and replaced by the acquiring railroads (Union Pacific and Burlington Northern, respectively).

At the same time, all of the major freight railroads are ordering new, much more powerful motive power in big numbers. These new higher-horsepower locomotives consist of models that have just become available. Often these new locomotives are replacing older locomotives one a three for five basis. (In other words, a train that used to require five of the older locomotives can now be operated with three of the newer units.)

The two major American locomotive manufacturers currently have huge backlogs of orders.

These new locomotives look substantially different from older units. While current equipment shortages and high demand are forcing most railroads to continue to use older equipment for the time being, many of these older units will start to be retired as more and more new units are delivered.

This newsletter highlights how my stock photo collection, with its long-time specialization in rail transportation, has kept up with these development. Of course, new material has been added in other areas as well.

Wyoming and Colorado Coverage

• Powder River Basin: This remote Wyoming mining region is the single busiest area for freight railroad operations in North America, loading some 80+ unit coal trains per day. A few specifics:
  • Traffic jams of coal trains -- trains backed up one behind the other or side-by-side on the main tracks, waiting to get in or out of the mine areas -- illustrating congestion and the volume of traffic in this area.
  • Construction of the third main track on Logan Hill (Bill to Nacco Junction).
  • Construction of the second Nacco Bridge, which eliminating the major south-end bottleneck in the region.
  • A variety of new high-horsepower CNW, UP, and BN units on coal trains, often with most of the coal train visible.

The Powder River Basin coverage includes many dramatic photos with multiple trains and of strong verticals with cover or full-page potential. (See the illustration above as an example.)

• Union Pacific trains near Cheyenne, Wyo.:
  • Intermodal and merchandise trains on Sherman Hill.
  • Eastbound trains on the Harriman Cutoff.
• Southern Pacific in the Royal Gorge and along the Arkansas River near Salida, Colo.:
  • Photos of trains in rugged terrain -- in some sections with snow on the ground.
  • A variety of trains, including unit and intermodal trains, some photographed from track-level, others than high above.
• Southern Pacific trains at the east portal of the six-mile-long Moffat tunnel near Denver:
  • Meets between long trains with helper engines back in the train.
  • New an still clean motive power on trains.
  • Amtrak's California Zephyr at the tunnel.
• Denver's light rail system, which opened within the past year and where ridership demand is already exceeding initial projections:
  • Trains at various locations around the city.
  • Trains entering and leaving the shops.
  • Views inside the shops. For contrast, there are photos of the historic preserved trolley operation at Ft. Collins, Colo.

Other Transportation Subjects

Though my stock collection is best known for its railroad coverage, it also includes many other aspects of transportation, from inland barges to container ports, and from trucking to aviation. Here are some recently-added aviation subjects:

The New Denver International Airport

Coverage includes both interiors and exteriors of the much-delayed controversial airport.

Air Freight Aircraft and Equipment

Coverage includes a variety of views of air freight containers, cargo aircraft in the process of being loaded, and related loading equipment. Subjects include aircraft and equipment of

• FedEx
• Emery Air Freight
• UPS
• Burlington Air Express

Closer to Home

Something New

I produce this newsletter on my own laser printer. Beginning with this issue, I'll include one or two recent images in scanned-in black and white format.

Though the reproduction can't approach the quality of either my original color transparencies or my color advertising sheets, the images should still provide useful information on subject content.

Reminders

A quick reminder about my specialties:

• Transportation, particularly railroads, but also including other modes
• North Carolina and Virginia general regional and travel coverage
• Europe, with very strong coverage for Austria but also coverage of France, Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands

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