A major BNSF line runs along the Columbia River Gorge that forms the border between Washington and Oregon states, moving freight and other traffic between the coastal harbors and the interiors.
I took the opportunity of my wife's short business trip to Yakima (I'm the one with the vehicle)to camp overnight near the rail and record the comings and goings with minimal traffic. Not only do I love recording trains, these monstrous powerful beasts that roar like steel dragons, I had also just acquired my first 32-bit recorder and something this dynamic and loud seemed like a good test of it's capabilities.
These trains are long, and heavy, often requiring 2-4 engines to pull and another 1-3 to push. The spot I chose was in the middle of a long run where the trains are able to open full-throttle. A little rough-hand math can give us the length. At an assumed speed of 55mph/ 88.5kph (though usually faster), taking 2m15s to pass means this particular train was roughly 2 miles/ 3.32 km in length.
Minutes-to-pass divided by 60 minutes per hour gives us the fraction of an hour in time. Multiplied that by velocity yields length. Math!
(minutes/60)*mph=miles
(minutes/60)*kph=kilometers
This is just one sample of the 22 passes that came by that night.
As always, if you hear something you like or would like to hear more for licensing or general listening, please message me either directly through SoundCloud or click on one of the way-too-many social media links above.
Happy listening!
