Cajon Pilgrimage--2008: the report and images

[kenszok]

Since no one else has started this report, I thought I'd get things going.

Scott, Bob and I arrived on site around 5:45AM and found da Wolf waiting there. It was dark, but daybreak had begun. We got a text from Jeff reporting that he was on his way. We stood around and talked for a while and waited for our first train of the day. Around 6:15, a UP manifest came around the bend below Summit and used the crossover at Silverwood to get on to the Mojave Sub (AKA the Palmdale cutoff). It wasn't very light, so I experimented by setting my ISO at 1600 @ f/2.8 and shutter @ 1//40 second, resulting in this image.

[kenszok]

Scott got busy picking up trash that had been left by various visitors over the past few months. We started to set up the canopy as we waited for others to arrive. We had a couple more trains come by before 7:00. The sun began to paint the area with its rays. I liked the way the rising sun back lit these shrubs.

[kenszok]

Jeff had arrived, and we got busy getting the table set up and securing the canopy, so decorating could commence. As we were busy, a BNSF manifest appeared. It was powered by five B40-8Ws. It made for a nice image as the sun light continued to cover more of the area.

[kenszok]

Shortly afterward, a westbound stack train came down track 3 working its way through the shadows.

[kenszok]

With a little break in the action, we continued the work of getting the site situated for an enjoyable day. After a while, an over powered baretable came down track 3.

[kenszok]

A flock of the rare Cajon cardboard turkeys showed up on the site.

[kenszok]

Camp was pretty much situated, and ATCS was up and running. An eastbound was working up the pass, so a few of the us disbursed to find different vantage points to catch this train. As we were making our way down the hill, Chris drove up and reported that the MS Train Sim. loco was leading.

[kenszok]

After this train had cleared, a UP manifest crossed over to the Mojave Sub. It made its way down the hill with its DPUs bringing up the rear.

[kenszok]

As I began to make my way back to the base camp, I grabbed this shot of what would end up being site 1 for the day (more details to follow).

[kenszok]

I heard a horn of a distant train as I was walking back, so I stopped to wait for it. As luck would have it, the train came down track 3. I didn't have a radio with me, so I didn't get any reports from the base camp.