Railfanning U.P.'s Roseville Subdivision, near Rawhide...

Despite the smoky air, from the 90,000+ acre "King" fire raging about 30 miles to the southeast, Tuesday, September 23, 2014 proved to be a great day railfanning U.P.'s Overland Route. During the course of spending about eight hours between M.P. 159.1 and 159.8, I managed to "catch" a total of eight trains, which isn't a bad score for a day spent railfanning the Roseville Subdivision, in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Photo: The first "catch" of the day, after enjoying breakfast at Cafe Luna, in Colfax, was U.P. #8787, as she leads an eastbound manifest train across the rural crossing at m.p. 159.9.

Photo: Normally, I'm not a great fan of "going away" shots, but I liked this shot of U.P. #6668 east, leading an empty coal drag up the 1.2% grade.

Photo: My first westbound train was U.P. #6009, which leads another manifest at m.p. 159.8, where I stayed for the remainder of the day. Today was odd, as I actually caught more "junk" trains than stack trains, which is unusual for the Roseville Subdivision.

Photo: U.P. #7802 leads a westbound manifest at m.p. 159.8, under smoky skies. The smoke would come and go, due to the raging "King" fire, about 30 miles to the southeast.

Photo: Amtrak #6, at m.p. 159.7.

Photo: #139 is in-my-face as she leads Amtrak #6 west, at m.p. 159.8.

Photo: The "money shot" of the day is U.P. #7334 leading a westbound stack train at m.p. 159.8, between U.P. stations Baxter and Midas. I waited a couple of hours for a west train at this location, and the light was about to fade, when #7334 showed up. I knew she was coming, as I heard her on the radio over an hour before she showed up. Today featured a lot of activity on the radio, which is unusual for the Roseville Subdivision on Donner Pass.

Photo: U.P. #8424 brings up the rear of the train, as the solo D.P.U., which must prove handy for extra pulling power and dynamic braking over Donner Pass.

"Rawhide," as the non-railfans locals call the location, is at m.p.. 159.1, between the U.P. stations of Baxter and Midas, is one of my favorite locations on the Roseville Subdivision to railfan, as the scenery is great, it's a little-known location, it's hard to get to, and it's a long ways from the freeway, so you'll hear trains, not cars. But, shhhhh... don't tell anybody!