April 25, 2017
O-four-hundred. Night is winding down
as we approach Richey Road crossing. Nothing but quiet as darkness so
well does, but daybreak is just around the earth’s bend, and a few
belly-full early birds - having caught their juicy worm - are flying
notes from branches on high. Closer, in the distance we see its
deltoid beam searching the nebulous nimbus above the conifer spikes
betraying its angle of attack on infamous Deep Creek Hill with more
tonnage in tow than you can shake…well, you know. The many-miled
EMD motors – two 45’s and a 40 Tunnel – make short shrift of
their charge as they slip around the Hill’s penultimate curve on
their final assault, cresting and taking the high ground at a
comfortable 11 per in notch 8 at the deft hands of Engineer Steven
Welch: the trio of 645’s each inhaling some 12,500 cfm of
night-cooled air, exhausting it 700 degrees“warmer" than the
chilly 41 ambient. Anabasis complete, the last few mile poles to tie
up at Highline Grain are an easy campaign…until the next imminent
Deep Creek eminence.
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