I shot the following two pictures at the Homedale Rd. crossing immediately south of the County Road 888 crossing.  Since the reader is probably unfamiliar with this location, allow me to describe it to you.  The Modoc Northern tracks at this location are on a tangent northwest to southeast.  County Road 888 runs east and west; Homedale Road runs north and south.  From an eastbound engineer's point of view, the tracks cross CR 888 and within approximately 50 yards or less cross Homedale Road.

I was eastbound on CR888 approaching the tracks and could have taken a great shot of the train from my angle before the grade crossing.  However, I thought a picture from the Homedale crossing would be more aesthetic since it would show the train crossing two roads at the same time.  I had plenty of time to cross the tracks (after stopping at the stop sign), stop for the stop sign at CR888 and Homedale, turn right, stop at that crossing's stop sign, then cross the tracks and set up my shot.

You know how they say that trains are traveling faster than they appear when you are approaching a railroad crossing?  Well, I can tell you now from first-hand experience that "they" are right.

Now, let the reader know that I have been taking photographs of trains for well over 30 years and consider myself very aware of railroad safety.  .  I had lots of time to cross at CR888, and thought I had a good margin of safety for crossing the track at Homedale as well, since the locomotive had not yet reached the CR888 crossing.  However, after crossing the tracks at Homedale, stopping on the shoulder, grabbing my camera, exiting my Jeep and moving to the rear to frame the shot, the train was already at the Homedale crossing.  I was a bit shaken, I will admit; so shocked that I failed to take the lens cap off in time to photograph the locomotive decently.

If my adrenaline jumped when I realized how little a margin of safety I actually had at the Homedale crossing, I can well imagine that the engineer must have had the same reaction.   If so, I apologize to him.

Photo # mnrr0550

Photo # mnrr0551

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