Not only is this a beautiful picture I enjoy the author/photographer’s detail narrative associated with the shot. In particular, I was interested in the percent grade these trains have to deal with. I was surprised to find an excellent reference on Wikipedia after doing a Google search of “Sand Patch Grade.” I encourage everyone interested to check out the history of this area on Wikipedia; there’s some interesting stuff there. Anyway, it was noted that the elevation change is 1000 ft. over 20 miles which comes out to an average 0.9% over that distance. However, it was noted that the grade reached as much as 2%. Wish I could have been there to hear that “full throttle pitch.”
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Wonderful photo, Ed. But I'm confused...shouldn't this read the WEST slope of Sand Patch? Yes, this train is "almost at the summit", but if the photo is looking west from the Deal Road bridge, the actual summit is about 1/4 mile BEHIND the camera.
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