Sparkly headlights from the Bridge of Death
When I got to my usual transfer point at the north end of Brooklyn Yard this afternoon, the northbound signal was green and the afternoon transfer freight was parked at the north end of the yard lead, so I expected that something might be coming along. The green signal made me suspect that the train would be coming from the south, but, no, a northbound Yellow Menace freight came barrelling by heading to points south. (as part of my search for a slightly different photo position I actually walked over the Toonerville Bridge and took this picture from the east end of the span. There's something about having a bridge deck made of 2x10 boards laid over beams on 6 foot centers that adds a certain touch of terror to trainspotting; the board flex alarmingly even when a manifest freight isn't whizzing by right under the bridge.)
At around 2:30, the northbound Coast Starlight was, at least according to Amtrak's online arrivals board, 13 minutes late and was expected to get into Portland at 3:53. At around 5:00pm, the arrivals board was still claiming that the northbound Coast Starlight was expected to get into Portland at 3:53, so I suspect that at 5:25, while I was taking this picture of #14, the arrivals board was still cheerfully saying that it would arrive at Union Station in -92 minutes.
This train showed up almost immediately after the southbound freight went by; the signal at the north end of the yard was still green, and while I was looking around to see if it was green for an Amtrak train, the two Twinkies drifted silently around the curve (no trains in the yard == no *toot* *toot*s), caught me by surprise, and forced a quick scramble over to a place where I could take a picture of the sneaky train. And since I was scrambling around on the Toonerville Bridge, it was a little more exciting than my usual running to take a picture.