With school out for the rest of the week my brother and I headed down to Walla Walla, WA for a basketball tournament that our school was participating in.  But we had plans to spend Thursday on the UP's Ayer Subdivision and Sunday on BNSF's Providence Hill.  Unfortunately my other CB joint in my car broke as I was leaving my driveway so we had to transfer everything over to the families suburban before we could get on our way.  The first train was a northbound manifest which we found around Wells siding (CP 8624, UP 7353).  In the meantime we had been checking out the route from Cheney, WA on down south.  I found lots of places the trains seemed a bit sparse.  Then over the scanner we found out why.   They had dropped a MOW car on the ground around MP 297.  At Sprague I ran into an eastbound hopper train (BNSF 5137, ATSF 910(patched)).  I took the time to explore the rest of the line all the way down to Marengo siding where I found a southbound manifest train waiting for the track to clear (CEFX 107, CP 8600).

     From there I went around and finally found myself just a mile south of the derailment but unable to get to it very well.  Then I met a farmer who owns all the land and likes trains.  He took my brother and I back in over his property and we all watched the action.  UP 3130 and 2445 were leading a car that housed all of the generators to weld the track together and that was what dropped the rear wheels.  At first when we arrived there wasn't much going on but in about 20 minutes the crane and another MOW truck arrived from the north side on the rails.  Over the next hour or so they completed their task very efficiently and skillfully and the train headed on down south.  After things had all settled down we left with the farmer and then headed down south.  At Hopper WA we found a couple UP engines in the yard and PCC 3651 and 2268 warming up with about 20 hopper cars.  After that it was an empty track all the way down and we arrived in Walla Walla around 6pm.

     After spending the weekend watching the games, we got up around 8:30am on Sunday morning and headed out for Pasco and Providence Hill.   The first train we found was at Wallula, WA where a northbound UP manifest was moving along (UP 7231, SP 8678(patched)).  In the yard at Wallula UP 1209 and 533 where stopped waiting for a new assignment.  Next it was on up to Pasco, WA.  As we arrived an eastbound stack train was just leaving with 3 BN SD40-2s.  Down at the engine yard there was the usual assortment of power as well as some other foreign power including NREX 8315(ex-SP), CEFX 3135, CN 6011 and UP 5568.  Then around 9:30am the U-PASROO started pulling out of the yard (BNSF 2728, 2288, BN 2725(patched)).  In the yard a westbound manifest train was waiting to pull with a 3x2 combination (BNSF 4340, 4743, CSX 7740, BNSF ????, BN ????(patched)).  And a westbound hopper train was pulling into the yard behind a cut of cars as we left.

     Next we headed up to Providence Hill for the rest of the day.  At Eltopia we met a westbound manifest train with some weird power (UP 6596, CNW 6737(patched)).  We arrived at Hatton just in time to see the end of the eastbound stack train we saw at Pasco going away.  But stopped waiting for the track to clear was a westbound hopper train.  So I set up on a nice curve a mile west of Hatton or so.  Soon it arrived and headed on downgrade (EMD 9018, 9074, BN 9267(patched), BNSF 730, 1065).  After that I decided to explore the track as it descended through the Coulees and down into Connell, WA.  So after following it for a couple miles an eastbound auto train surprised (BNSF 4914, ATSF 930(patched)).   Arriving at the east switch of Connell siding we found that the westbound was still sitting there.  I figured that he was waiting for another train so I quickly headed back east and found a good spot for an eastbound.  It turned out to be the Z-PTLCHC (BNSF 5038, 4931, BN 6824(patched)).

     Hoping to get another westbound I headed back west to find another good spot.  After find just the right spot I decided it was about time to grab a bit of snack food while I waited.  After 20 minutes or so I heard a horn to the east and quickly set up for the westbound.  It was a manifest train with 6 cars of CATs right behind the power (BN 9256, 6379(both patched), BNSF 658).   Next I drove over the top of the hill exploring several side roads on the way.   I finally found a good spot just on the west side of Lind, WA.  Around 1:30pm a westbound hopper train arrived with another 4 engines on the point instead of the usual 2x2 combination (BNSF 4920, 734, BN 7213, 8058(both patched)).  Then following the train west we ran into an eastbound manifest train with quite a bit for power (BN 3120, 3131, 3009, 3029(all patched), ATSF 2796(patched), BNSF 3005, FURX 8115).  Next we stopped to wait at the summit of the hill between Providence and Beatrice.  Pretty soon an eastbound hopper train arrived and I snapped away on the camera.

     I knew from the scanner that there were two westbounds closing in.  I quickly drove towards Cunningham to get a shot of the summit from a distance.  Unfortunately the clouds covered up the sun and I made a quick dash down to Cunningham to shoot the train again.  It was a westbound hopper train with a 2x2 lashup (BNSF 4511, 4124, 5391, ATSF 875(patched)).  Then I headed down to Hatton to get a photo of the Z-CHCPTL which was going to run around the hopper train.  The clouds won yet again here though and the shot came out much less than perfect (BNSF 5234, ATSF 951(patched), CN 2422).  Next I headed back down the coulees to set up for the westbound hopper train again.  It was about 3:45 when it came by and after that I headed towards home.  I met a westbound manifest train at Beatrice and after a quick picture and chase I was headed west again (BNSF 4053, FURX 7258).   Then at Providence I made a detour to shoot another westbound hopper train (BNSF 5515, 4334, 5415, CSX ????).  After that I hit the freeway headed for home.  I just missed a westbound stack train at Paha but that was the last of the trains.  It was a great trip and actually mostly sunny on both days I was trackside.