The Old, the Young, and the Adventures of Chasing the Train

Last Saturday, (Nov 7th), Josh and I woke up at an ungodly hour, just like a bunch of other train nuts in the Roanoke Region. Actually, Josh was only on his way to becoming indoctrinated into train-nutdom that very day. And you definitely have to be a nut to have done the things we did all day long on Saturday. We both over-slept and so our rushing began with classic slap-stick "bad luck." It was hilarious from the word go. How can I not share this story?

I must admit, I have never chased a train before, but I had a small advantage over Josh. Just 72 hours prior to this "Dukes of Hazard" type adventure, the VP of the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society had given me a grand tour of about a dozen scenic lookouts from which to capture the passing AMTRAK Excursion. The journey of this Historic Excursion would depart from the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, travel to Bluefield, WV, and return same day to Roanoke. Ed Mooneyham, the VP of RC-NRHS, knows all the sweet spots, having been a Chapter member since childhood and a long-time engineer with Norfolk Southern Corp. On Wednesday, he pointed out these spots to me on a dry-run to Bluefield. And on Thursday, I mapped the journey down to an inch of its life so that Josh and I would avoid getting lost and hopefully not miss catching footage of the train - our noble mission.

We were like rookies on a Major League team in a World Series game, expecting to hit a home run on our very first time up at bat. So, how did it go?

Josh met up with me at my house in North County before daylight. We flipped through all the maps I printed out, threw our video gear in my pickup truck, and pulled out of my garage already behind schedule at 6:30AM. (We were supposed to be at the "station" by 6:30 to begin setting up equipment. Yeah, right.) Three blocks up the road, I thought I left my wallet in the house. I backed my car up on the dark streets to my driveway only to realize that the wallet was in my console compartment. Whew. CRS is my middle name.

Josh is a 20-something young man who owns a Ford Mustang. Yet, as co-pilot, he watched the traffic signs and made sure to remind me to slow down whenever I was breaking the speed limit. Getting pulled over for a violation would have blown our whole trip. In essence, we had to be more on-time than the train itself. We had to be ahead of schedule by enough time at each look-out spot to set up a video camera on its tripod.

We traveled over 100 miles on state roads following the NS and Virginia Rail tracks. Only through Blacksburg did we give ourselves time to play catch-up by using the Expressway part of US 460. Here's a map of our complete route below: (We stopped at the red circles, not the black ones - and these are approximate places we shot footage.)

We had no time to capture the train leaving O. Winston Link. So instead, after filming scenes of the passengers boarding various coaches, historic cars, and first class domes, we hit the road to our first stop in Salem to wait for our majestic train to appear in the horizon from the Diuguids Lane RR Crossing.

Diuguids Lane was the only stop where Josh and I had plenty time to set up and and wait for the train. We even had time to grab coffee and donuts at the Sheets gas station. But after that shot, it was pure madness the rest of the day! Our next lookout would've been sweet, but we decided that going to the Wabun site off Poor Mountain Road would cost us too much time if we got lost navigating the backroads to it. (Unfortunately, we couldn't shoot it on our way back because it was dark outside by that time.)

We hit Basham Hollow Road off Oldtown Road in Shawsville next. This was a really cool spot - except for two things: I missed the shot as the train was upon us the very moment we set up the tripod (and my exposure wasn't locked in), and then when we tried to back out of the gravel ramp near the tracks, my pickup truck's rear wheel was spinning helplessly. Great! We blew the shot and now we're stuck in Nowheresville. (It wasn't funny at the time, but after we got home, I wished we'd have recorded this for outtakes.) Anyway, a car that was on the scene as well watching the train go by approached us and its driver looked out his window at us, laughing. We seemed pretty embarrassed, but nonetheless asked mercifully for any help he could offer. Maybe he could tell us where the nearest tow service is in town. "Nope, none around here," he said. Okay, now what? He told us he's got a 4WD he could go fetch for us. It didn't sound hopeful until he added he lived a few minutes away and would come right back with it. But even those few minutes seemed like forever, and Josh and I weren't sure if he'd actually return or if he had a chain to use for pulling my pickup out of the ditch I got us into.

Sure enough, the guy came back in a flash, with a tow chain!! Josh crawled under my truck, hooked it up, and the man pulled us out all within five minutes. That was surreal!! The man was a complete angel and I wish I'd gotten his name so I could thank him publicly. In our rush to get on with chasing the train, I shoved a $20 bill in his hand, which he graciously kept refusing until I insisted, and we took off like the wind once again. Back to the maps, matey!! Let's move on to the next stop!

We skipped a couple lookouts from here in order to catch up to the AMTRAK, which had been doing a steady 50 mph since we last saw it. I deliberately mapped going around Christiansburg and Blacksburg along Highway 460 instead of the Business Route in the event we needed to get ahead of the train. We took that option now. Our next meet-up with the excursion would be in Pembroke. We figured the train would have to climb hills and navigate all sorts of twisting turns, giving us plenty time to catch her at the double bridges off Rocky Hollow Road. We were correct.

We made it to Rocky Hollow and set up the tripod and camera. Josh was using my smaller HDV camcorder for backup footage. This location sits above the tracks. The train would be appearing, coming out from the end of a tunnel. We had to get this one for sure. Our biggest challenge all morning was trying to avoid the bright sun in our shooting direction, as the train headed west and the sun was facing our cameras the entire time. No matter how I set up the angle, the tunnel shot filled my lens with glare. I became anxious everytime I changed location because the train waits for no one. I must be ready; no time to tweak for perfection, no chance for do-overs. And here she was within a few minutes of us setting up. We heard a faint whistle blow and the sound of clickity-clacks. Ready, aim, shoot! Gotcha!

Our next stop in Pearisburg gave us only a little time to scramble down the road, and so we weaved in and out of places where we caught up with the train, desperately trying to shoot it while she was running along side of us. Josh had the camera out the entire time and was jockeying for position in the passenger seat. We got ahead at a couple of bends, one of which being just in time for Josh to open the car door and stick the small cam out as I came to a screaching halt near a crossing. She was beautiful and huge, parading slowly around the bend of a hill along a town road off Rt 460, proudly passing by a crowd of admirers as if she were a queen waving to her subjects. We were boxed in by other cars and SUVs who rushed to see her too. But they left as quickly as we did to do exactly what we were doing - Chase the train!!

Again, we saw her momentarily as we sped west on 460. Another trestle shot taken, but alas the glare of the sun got in the way. Off to the next one, further into Pearisburg onto Route 100. Along this road, the NS Railroad ran alongside us and we gauged whether she had come through or not by looking for other people parked near the tracks, standing and waiting. Josh and I got out. We saw her immediately, so there was no time to grab anything but our cameras. I shot her hand-held off the embankment of the graveled tracks, not paying much attention to the ground below me. My balance and coordination is not very good because of a back injury I suffered in a car accident seven years ago. On this embankment I was more like a weeble-wobble toy. Just as she passed by me, I turned to follow her with my camera, I missed my footing and fell on my left hip and knee. (Another great outtake not recorded!!) Of course, I cradled my cam against a fumble. This just went from a World Series to a Superbowl game.

Another flight by car back onto 460, we tried to beat her into West Virginia. But now we got stuck behind a heavy dump truck going up the mountains. Rats! There was one car in between our pickup and the dump truck. Josh laughed pointing out that the driver ahead of us was also a train chaser from the last stop and he could see him cussing up a storm! We finally lost the heavy truck and pushed ahead to Route 112 in Oakville, our last chance to shoot the historic "Powhatan Arrow" ride before she got into Bluefiled. We got off at the correct street but the wrong exit. For about five miles we thought we'd gotten lost. We almost decided to turn around and head for Bluefield instead, but we began to see train-watchers, so we kept forging along to a clearing in order to gain ground. We caught her again, this time with a tripod, and made haste to Route 19S for her arrival to her destination.

Bluefield is just up the road along a straight path, but we calculated that the train would need to slow down prior to arriving. That short time frame didn't allow for us to look for parking in this cramped little town, unfortunately. They were holding a street fair that day and the roadway became dense with traffic as we approached. The station area was bustling with pedestrians awaiting the train. Photographers, news media, policemen, and all sorts of onlookers - the area was crowded. Heck, I pulled into the police station along the tracks. (This was originally the station.) When they see me pulling out my big video gear, it'll be okay. They'll be cool with me. Ha-ha. Yeah, right. I was lucky my pickup didn't get towed, for real this time. We were warned not to go onto the passenger landing, get off from here, go there, don't go here, and move away from this, you can't stand over there... oh, boy. Thanks a lot, Joe Law. You can see we are ready to terrorize the little town of Bluefield with a camcorder. (I did mention to him that my ex-neighbor is the grand poobah of the regional NS police, but I guess that wasn't as big a threat.) Well, we did get footage of our AMTRAK pulling into Bluefield, but not quite the way I wanted to do it.

She let off her passengers, and they all went scurrying to get eats at the street fair. Josh and I spent this time plotting out our return trip shoot locations, trying again to time the best ones keeping in mind that we'd lose daylight after a certain point. We ate sandwiches that Josh picked up early in the morning. (He is the BEST assistant I ever had!!) After the two hour layover, we positioned ourselves on an overpass that had a walkway for foot traffic just north of the station. She will be passing under this when she departs. Here we met with several other train enthusiasts and shooters. One carried a radio tuned into the railroad bandwidth. We could not see the train from where we stood, so this came in very handy. We chatted with each other up there for a while, and found out that two of the photogs were out of Roanoke, just like me and Josh, chasing the train all day. Wizzy and Nancy had also talked to Ed Mooneyham about documenting this historic excursion. They were shooting photographs both that day and for the excursion the following day. (Josh and I had tickets to ride on the Shenandoah run the next morning.) The gals asked if they could follow us back because we had gotten all these cool locations from Ed mapped out. Sure thing.

Josh swapped phone numbers with them and off we were again after we filmed the Bluefield departure, Wizzy and Nancy hanging in close behind all the way. We pulled over in Pearisburg on Rt 100 again, but only to explain how to get to the double bridges in Pembroke where the tunnel shot is. And so we headed off to the tunnel. This time, the train would be coming around the bend from the west and entering the tunnel, so we had to cross onto the abandoned bridge by foot and set up amongst the overgrown weeds, flies, and gnats. We were way in front of the train in timing, so there was plenty of time to set up and adjust our cameras. Again we heard a faint whistle and track noises as she warned of the upcoming tunnel approach. Between the four of us, we caught her coming and going. Immediately after, we were back on the chase through Blacksburg to pick her up again on the other side of the mountains.

The gals told us that we'd have one last shot before she pulls back into Roanoke at the O. Winston Link, so if we wanted to catch the final approach, we should grab her before the Elliston Straight and then try to beat her home. That's what we did. One last pass was filmed off the Friendship Road crossing around Shawsville, where we had enough time to position our cameras out of the setting sun's way. Two of us walked far along a cliff that gave us just enough shade while Josh and Nancy stayed on the northeast end of the tracks about a quarter mile the other direction. I really like working with a team of serious shooters who also happen to be insane enough to chase a several hundred ton speeding object. We got our fix and strapped in for the last run back to Roanoke.

As we sped along, the gals phoned us to say they were jumping onto I81 in a better effort to beat the train to the station. At first, I was reluctant. I had gotten cocky about being able to catch her on every stop we made, but then Josh reminded me that we were only able to do so because we originally left Roanoke before the train departed. Oh yeah, that's right. The gals made a good call - we need to run the interstate back into town. And so we did... and we got to O. Winston Link with time to spread out in different directions, Josh filming from the Williamson Street overpass, and me down at the passenger boarding area. Wizzy and Nancy scattered out somewhere around the tracks also. The sun had already set, but Downtown Roanoke was lit up just enough to make a nice backdrop. We eventually got a glimpse of the first engine's headlight. The Powhatan Arrow was now making her final approach into "Roanoke Station." I shot footage of her until she came to a complete stop. I kept filming and filming. Passengers debarking, families meeting up with them, people making their way to the streets, back to their cars, some over to the Hotel Roanoke where out-of-town riders had been staying the weekend. I couldn't stop rolling film, and I wanted to jump in my pickup to hurry to the next stop... but there were no more next stops. The rush was over and the chase had come to an end.

I looked for Josh in the streets, picked him up and we drove back to my house where he left his Mustang that morning. We talked about minute points of our adventure with excitement as if we couldn't shut off the adrenaline. We were exhausted and wound-up at the same time, yet we had a weird feeling of abandonment because the only thing that was racing anymore was our minds. We knew we both need to hit the sack and get some rest. Tomorrow, after dawn, we would be sitting on the train and someone else out there will be chasing us.