Eight miles east of Cheyenne, UP‘s Archer Hill offers the photographer less variety but a more convenient vantage point than sprawling Sherman Hill to the west. On June 2, 1965, the temperature is mild, there’s a hint of an afternoon rain in the air, and the hills are carpeted with the lush grass that makes cattlemen rejoice, as “Big Blow” 9 drifts by with a westbound reefer block. Running pretty close to its 65-mph rated speed, number 9 is one of 30 third-generation turbines, at 8500-hp the most powerful locomotives on anybody’s rails anywhere.
For the train and storm chaser. Trains with thunderstorms, dark clouds, rain, lightning, hurricanes - tropical storms, funnel clouds, storm light, rainbows, and snow storms.
