Sunday: fieldwork

[OT from cottage renovations]

the ATCS Monitor allows one to pick up control system data packets by radio and interpret their contents.  it's a nifty tool but to get it to work there are more than a few steps of preparation to complete, the first of which are to find out what frequencies and protocols are in use and where the transmitters are located. 

much of this can be done through research and by consulting reference sources, but there's no substitute for going out into the field to see what's going on.  so on Sunday we set off to head up the (former) Southern Pacific from Roseville to a place called Binney Junction where it crosses the (former) Western Pacific main line in Marysville, stopping at control points along the way. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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N Ostrom control point, MP 134.36

how does one find the transmitters? 
it turns out to be completely trivial.  just look. 

(  +1  )

X marks the spot

I have no idea why this huge X doesn't show up on the Google and Microsoft online maps.  it would make things so much easier ...

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S Ostrom control point, MP 132.65

finding the control point is a good first start, but to make any sense of the data there has to be some data, and the SCS-128 protocols used out there don't have anything to say unless a train shows up.  as it happens, one did, and it went into the siding and stopped to change crews. 

crew change

it was a real monster, about 130 cars long with four high horsepower locomotives on the head end and three more as a swing helper, cut in about two thirds of the way back.  the siding is a bit less than 1¾ miles long and the train just barely fit.  while stopped it was overtaken by another, equally large train. 

next: incidental images

Sunday: in the field

[OT from cottage renovations]

there are always many opportunities for incidental images.  here are a few from along the way. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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along the Valley Subdivision,
Yuba County, CA

N Ostrom control point

morning glories are like any other vine, they do best when there's something they can climb.  the lack of vertical relief doesn't seem to be holding these ones back any. 

morning glory

these spikes were embedded in the ground, providing the opportunity for a texture study. 

this rude fence surrounding a salvage yard ("house demolition / used building materials / we have the right to refuse service to anyone") offered yet another.  I was particularly taken with the way in which the plywood and chipboard are weathering and with the reflection of the fence in the sheen of the silver paint on the control point's metal housing -- one of the attractions of rural railroading is the absence of graffiti. 

Binney Junction

looking down, the sky is reflected by the polished surface atop the rail and by the chromuim plated hasp of this lock. 

track detail


switch machine and lock detail

these daisy-like flowers brightened up the setting. 

flora incognita

the junction is laid out next to a tributary of the Feather River it is transected by a levee atop which a bike path has been built.  the path crosses the tracks at a grade crossing where the welder signed his work -- how often does one see that any more? 

bike path crossing detail

this thistle seemed to be thriving and then some. 

Cirsium

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Ewing, California

between the Brock controlled siding and the town of Lincoln, around milepost 121, is a place called Ewing.  it has (and these days consists of) a side track which was serving as a temporary home to some maintenance equipment.  the crane, support cars and pile driver were wonerfully purposeful but as usual it was the details that drew my eye: a coil of stout cable and a platform grating. 

it was not at all by design that this entry begins (well, nearly so) and ends with the texture of metal objects on the ground.  I guess it was just that kind of day. 

next: Sutter Buttes

Sunday: Sutter Buttes

[OT from cottage renovations]

though some will doubt that I'm capable of such an utterance, there really does come a time at the end of the day when enough packets have been collected, a time when it's not unreasonable to switch off data radios and shut down laptops, to trade sniffage for sightseeing and to take in the sense of the country through which the railroad runs. 

Binney Junction affords a distant view of the buttes so it was an obvious choice to head over in their general direction to get a closer look. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Sutter Buttes

it may not be a good idea to start off with double double images images but while going through these I couldn't choose between them: the composition was better in one and the lighting better in the other. 

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I can't really help it: rural California has a charm against which I have little or no power of resistance. 

the golden grasses, the hillsides dotted with live oaks, the combination of open spaces and vertical relief: it's not home, not the way the Grove is, but the connection to it is real and renewing it does me good. 

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the prospect through this simple and common gate pulls one in much more than it fences one out ...

... and once again I can't keep from looking twice. 

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even the wasp galls on oak trees, though incubating their insects identically to their counterparts in Maryland, seem different. 

it must be the light, or some other quality that can be described only by its effect. 

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the details are just as iconic as the setting: 

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and the view is one of restful content. 

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as the afternoon sun begins to angle on down the shadows start to bring out more relief in the hillsides. 

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details, always details.  the only way to end is with a look at these sections of wire fence. 

next and last: end of the day

Sunday: end of the day

[OT from cottage renovations]

a wye track is so named because it looks somewhat like the letter Y.  it's nothing more than a triangle of tracks on which trains can do the railroading equivalent of a three point turn. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Sierra control point,
Roseville, CA

the Roseville locomotive service shop has a turntable but the maintainers seem to prefer to use the adjacent wye track, defined by three control points (Washington, Yosemite and Sierra) named for nearby streets.  the north leg of the wye is the Sierra control point, serving also as the junction of the Valley Subdivision with the East-West main line. 

an overpass carries Sierra Boulevard across the tracks, affording the chance to look down on the turning movements and through freights. 

the day ends and the light fades but the railroad keeps up its pace of activity around the clock.  Roseville is a railroad town and as long as the trains are running, all's well with its world.