Large Scale Central

BNSF Scenic Division (ex GN Cascade Division, ) and high water!

Prototypes
#1

I found these on RailroadForums dot com. They were taken by Dale Skyllingstad The first is the BNSF going over the Skykomish River at near Gold Bar, WA

Sunset Falls between Gold Bar and Index, WA. Eastbound.

Photographers notes:"Sunset Falls was amazing with the river discharge almost 15 times normal. The water was actually flowing completely over the concrete fish facility on the north side of the river. The rumble of the falls was impressive!" Another view of Sunset Falls, westbounds:

Photographer’s notes: “We couldn’t pass up the westbound shot so we waited while the road was slowly becoming flooded. A westbound stack finally showed just as the light was fading. I have never seen the falls this big!” All photos by Dale Skyllingstad Al Fausset riding over Sunset Falls in canoe, May 30, 1926 He survived. University of Washington archives. http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/pickett&CISOPTR=344&DMSCALE=100.00000&DMWIDTH=802&DMHEIGHT=635.9609375&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&REC=6&DMTHUMB=0&DMROTATE=0 Don’t worry, I can’t see him, either! :lol: A more sedate Sunset Falls. Photo by Steve Carter.

#2

Great photos . . . thanks for posting . . . :slight_smile:

#3

Photo 1 and 2 are the same pic, Steve.

#4

Nothing gets by you, does it, JB? :smiley:

#5

He’s wise beyond his years :smiley:

#6

There, I fixed it!

#7

Steve, great photos… Thanks…

#8

(http://www.pbase.com/ottercove/image/115500847/original.jpg)

…:)…

#9

I’m trying to get a sense of photos 3 and 5. #3 seems to have quite a difference in elevation at the falls. Whereas #5 looks like a gentle rapid. From the appearance of the rocks in #5 it doesn’t seem that #3 would be possible. Great photos by the way. Thanks for sharing.

#10
Dan Padova said:
I'm trying to get a sense of photos 3 and 5. #3 seems to have quite a difference in elevation at the falls. Whereas #5 looks like a gentle rapid. From the appearance of the rocks in #5 it doesn't seem that #3 would be possible. Great photos by the way. Thanks for sharing.
Dan,

They are taken of the same falls, just not at the same point.

The gentle rapid that you see in Photo #5 was taken in either Late July or August, perhaps even early September, after the flood season. The rocks that you see on the far side of the river in Photo #5 are buried in Photo #3. In fact, they are causing that upward explosion of water seen on the far side of the river in Photo #3.

You can’t see it, but the falls, even in Photo #5 are not runnable in a whitewater Kayak. At least by a sane man.

Photo #3 was taken at the bottom of the falls, looking up toward the bridge, and Photo #5 was taken at the top of the falls, looking toward the bridge.

#11

Beautiful images - I’ll save them all from the site. One question though - what’s a concrete fish?

Don’t answer that, I’m leg pulling.

tac

#12

That would prolly be Jimmy Hoffa (and others.) :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

#13

That “concrete fish” is a concrete fish ladder with gravity fed water off the main river. It allows spawning trout and salmon to bypass either dams or rapids in order to get to prime spawning grounds.