A long time coming, that's for sure.
Of course, they say the best things come to those who wait.
They also say all sorts of other stuff that's not necessarily true, either.
The good news is this time I hope you'll find at least one or two gems in the pile. Because there's a big pile of pictures packed in here. And like all of the modern Long - Long - Short . Long - series of books, I try to include locomotive identification, full registry numbers of units pictured, and possibly more details about any given picture than one could pretend to care about.
While this book is heavy on the BNSF Vancouver Center of operations in Southwest Washington (the state - any WA mentioned is on the West Coast for me), I also try to give enough exposure to other roads and liveries to give a realistic impression of what life was like "way back in 2016." (Laugh if you will, but people around me tire of hearing what it was like when you actually *dialed* a phone on a round dial and listened to the little clicks as it wound back around. Let alone the ridicule I get when I say, "We need to find a phone booth so we can look it up in the phonebook.")
This collection of pictures and mild prose covers every from:
the seasonal changes (rain, cold rain, and warm rain) in and around Washington as it pertains to steel rails...
Livery and power changes witnessed on the tracks...
Support, maintenance, and rail side activity...
Action on the main line...
Cool and odd (and lucky) finds involving all things railroad...
Views of various Western states and train activity found there...
Specific virtual trips around and through Washington and Oregon...
... to a cool jaunt to all my favorite train spotting locations on the west side of Vancouver (USA - not Canada. The "other" Vancouver is a couple hundred miles to the north of us, so, please, don't be confused when you don't find a single "Eh?" in the entire book.)
So notch it up to Run-8, snag your copy, and start your journey.
(This version of the book includes secret bonus sections and other fun discoveries awaiting to be found.)