Sunday October 3rd I worked all day and took no personal photographs. Then on Monday October 24th in 2022 after work I decided to head east from Flagstaff and check out Padre Canyon. Back in July of 2022 I had visited better known Canyon Diablo around seven miles east of Padre Canyon. The link to those photos can be found here:
fl9.com/2023/02/heading-to-arizona-day-two/
I first stopped at the overpass at Winona so familiar to railfans for its view of eastbound trains. The San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff are in the background showing a dusting of snow as this eastbound intermodal races by.
Following the Southern Transcon on east from Darling I slowly made my way towards the Padre Canyon bridge. Along the way a second eastbound overtook me and I captured it with the snowy peaks.
A few minutes later a westbound train came by me.
Even with high ground clearance it was a slow drive, and another westbound passed by as I approached the Padre Canyon bridge in this drone view. The bridge is located in the distance around the middle of the train, but it is barely visible even from this elevated view.
A few minutes later another westbound appeared in the distance, and this time I maneuvered the drone for a side view. Compared to the photos at the link above, you can see how much smaller the Padre Canyon wash and bridge are compared to Canyon Diablo.
I turned the drone west to follow the train after it crossed the Padre Canyon bridge on Main Two, and looking down the long straightaway back to Darling I could see an eastbound train approaching on Main One. Interesting how small both trains look in comparison to these wide-open spaces!
Here are two views of the eastbound passing over Padre Canyon.
I decided these two catches here would suffice and I started the long slow drive back west towards Darling. Near to Angell I launched the drone again for the next westbound train, this time on Main Two.
After covering a few more miles another westbound caught up to me. This time it was one of the big intermodals over 10,000 feet long with three units up front and four more as a mid-train DPU. Notice the abundant volcanic rock in this spot.
Only a few minutes later the next westbound in this fleet on Main One overtook me. This train had a Ferromex unit mixed into the locomotive consist.
Almost back to Darling I launched the drone one more time for a westbound on Main Two this time around. Note the Norfolk Southern contributing some horsepower hours.
Not long after arriving at Darling just east of the Winona overpass where I started the morning, one more westbound approached on Main One.
This train was a rolling advertisement for Amazon Prime!
Knowing there is always a parade of trains here 24-hours a day, I broke off and headed back to Flagstaff for an early dinner.
