Union Pacific's Midcentury Mini-Train

UP's 1956-built mini-train passes dome lounge Harriman in Roseville, Calif., in August 2006. (click to enlarge)

The latest Trains Trackside photo contest features the theme "yellow" . . . so last week I found myself hunting through dozens of Union Pacific pictures in search of something that wasn't the same old action view. Then I remembered a fun set of photos from an event in summer 2006 at UP's Roseville, Cal., yard. We'd traveled there to see the unveiling of the railroad's sixth and final heritage diesel, UP 1996, painted in Southern Pacific Daylight colors. While 1996 was the star of the show that day, a much-smaller engine caught my eye as it pulled trainloads of happy families: UP 956, a rubber-tired F-unit replica built in 1956. The "mini-train" makes 50 appearances a year in parades, employee family days and community events. The engine and five-car train were refurbished and repainted in 2006, and the Armour yellow paint looked splendid in the morning light.

At one point the mini-train rolled beside a passenger special on display, and I snapped away at the mismatched scene of yellow trains big and small. When 956 passed 1955-built dome lounge Harriman, the explosion of yellow was almost blinding!

Fun with perspectives: a study of 956 and steel-wheeled cousin SD70ACe 8406.

To vote in Trains' online contest, visit http://trn.trains.com/Trackside/2012/03/Vol%20180%20Yellow.aspx. To learn more about the mini-train and "engine" 956, visit http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/special_trains/mini-train/index.shtml

Love that caboose!

Travels with UP 844: 2011 Edition

It's hard to imagine a better birthday present than photographing a 1944-built 4-8-4 on her old stomping grounds, thundering up Cajon Pass and speeding across my beloved Mojave Desert. But there I was on November 19, watching in awe as Union Pacific's magnificent No. 844 engulfed the signal towers at Silverwood station with a cloud of steam and rounded the sweeping curve into Cajon Summit.

The California run was part of a southwest tour to commemorate the 100th statehood anniversaries of New Mexico and Arizona. UP 844 arrived via the former SP Sunset Route into West Colton (that's Bloomington to non-railfans). After a day on display, she climbed Cajon Pass on 11/19 and stayed the night in the desert town of Yermo. From there she traveled over historic UP rails to Las Vegas and points east, with a memorable stop at the restored Kelso depot in the Mojave National Preserve.

Slowing near Lenwood, Cal., for the arrival in Barstow . . . a magnificent machine.

It's always tough to pick my favorite pictures from a road trip, so I finally took a cue from friend Dave Styffe and built a web gallery in Adobe Lightroom. Follow the link below to see a gallery of 50 images of steam, railfans, and an extended visit to Kelso (the town may still be recovering):

http://66rails.com/844weekend/photos/

Thanks to my family who let me loose for a birthday road trip, and to my cousins Damon and Jeane who let me stay at their place for a few nights. And special thanks to Union Pacific Railroad for once again showing unmatched class and style by sending its goodwill ambassador across the Southwest.

Some Giants fan wanted his picture with UP 844 at Yermo.

Chasing UP 844

UP No. 844 in all her glory, climbing Donner Pass in April 2009. (click pics to enlarge)

Union Pacific's goodwill ambassador, 4-8-4 no. 844, is barnstorming the southwest to celebrate the centennial anniversaries of Arizona and New Mexico. In a surprise move, UP extended the tour to include California, and as I write this, the big Northern is on display today in Fontana, Cal. Tomorrow she'll steam up Cajon Pass (following Route 66) and spend the night near Barstow; on Sunday, she'll continue on to Las Vegas and points east. The remaining schedule can be found HERE.

It was hard to resist a steam chase, especially when 844 is storming up Cajon on my birthday! So my family kindly let me loose for a road trip. To get in the mood, here are a few photos from the last time I followed 844, an April 2009 trip over Donner Pass.

Crowds are part of the modern steam experience. I'm expecting about a zillion people on Cajon Pass tomorrow.

Then again, people are what make these chases fun. Above, fans snap pictures of 844 departing Truckee in 2009.

Railfanning the Accidental Sea

Dwarfed by the Santa Rosa Range, UP 8121 leads a train of eastbound autos into Bertram siding beside the Salton Sea on June 11. (click pics to enlarge)

In early June, Mike Roque and I made a long-planned Southern California road trip to visit the Salton Sea and Union Pacific's busy Sunset Route. We spent the first day photographing nearby San Timoteo Canyon and Beaumont Hill, then motored east on I-10 and old U.S. 99 to Indio. For the next two days we followed trains through this stark and alien land in the Imperial Valley, with brief stops at some of the quirky towns that surround this accidental lake.

Created over a hundred years ago when Colorado River levees burst, the Salton Sea is California's largest lake. It covers more than 375 square miles and is 25 percent saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Overeager developers, hoping to duplicate the success of nearby Palm Springs, billed the Salton Sea in the 1950s and 60s as a winter playground for fishing and speedboat fans, but the breathless marketing never quite took hold: a changing shoreline, hurricane-driven floods, algal blooms and massive fish die-offs dashed those dreams. Fisherman and boating fans still flock to the saline lake, but Salton City, Bombay Beach, and other shoreline towns are shadows of their old selves.

 A westbound passes the state park entrance sign at Mortmar.

Surprisingly, the Salton Sea has emerged as one of the country's most important migratory bird habitats. Millions of birds representing more than 400 species can be spotted here, thanks to nearby fields, a prolific fish population, and the sad fact that there are few remaining wetlands in Southern California. Efforts are underway to restore this dying sea, but its future is by no means secure.

On the other hand, the future of the old Southern Pacific "Sunset Route" is brighter than ever; a key reason for our trip was to document the single track mainline and vintage searchlight signals before UP double-tracks the route. Happily, we pulled off the trip before the extreme summer heat kicked in -- 103 degrees is much easier to handle than 116!

One of my favorites from a great June 10 evening -- a nearly full moon casts the shadow of a searchlight signal at Bertram siding. In the distance lies the Salton Sea and the lights of Salton City.

Light and shadows dance over the Santa Rosa Mountains moments after sunset.

Southern Pacific lives . . . DPU no. 7442 pushes an eastbound doublestack train over the iconic SP bridge near Ferrum.

In rapidly fading light, two UP trains meet beside the sea at Bertram.

For more photos, visit my Facebook album by clicking HERE (you don't need to be a FB member). To learn more about the Salton Sea, visit www.saltonseamuseum.org or www.saltonsea.org. Watch for upcoming posts about our visit to Salvation Mountain and the restored North Shore Yacht Club.

Stormy Weather Snapshots

While driving south to San Bernardino in February for a book signing, I was able to bypass the usual mind-numbing I-5 route in favor of highway 99, the Tehachapi mountains, and U.S. 395. While I can't match friend David Styffe's epic 13- and 14-hour drives between Fullerton and Modesto, this one came pretty close. A lack of trains and a gauntlet of storms kept me moving all the way past Bakersfield, but suddenly the clouds began to break up and an ongoing parade of "storm light" moments provided plenty of opportunities. In no particular order, here's a selection from the drive south on Friday, February 5. (click photos to enlarge)

Clouds, mountains and valley, Kern County, Cal.

Windmills in storm light, Mojave, Cal.

Rainbow, Tehachapi, Cal.

Sheep enjoy a momentary sunburst east of Bakersfield.

Clouds and desert peaks, U.S. 395 near Adelanto, Cal.

Finally, some sunny skies for the drive home (and a train in nice light!). UP 5514 West rolls through the curves in Cajon Pass, seen from Highway 138 on February 7. It's Super Bowl Sunday and I'll be home in time to see the New Orleans Saints complete their first Bowl victory.

No. 43 and Looking Ahead

Union Pacific's Coast Line near Aromas, Calif. - August 2005
(click to enlarge all photos)

Birthday #43 has come and gone, and it seems like a good time to make a few new year's resolutions (January 1st can't have all the fun, right?). Priority no. 1 is very short term: finish a Coast Line feature article for the NRHS Bulletin magazine... this frakking piece has been in suspended animation longer than the astronauts in Planet of the Apes! As of this writing only 300-400 words remain before the 16-page opus is a wrap. It's my biggest article since the book, and it's good to get the rail journalism juices flowing again.

Next: more frequent blogging. Between Twitter and Facebook, I could easily get spend months dispatching bursts of 140-character prose and eventually succumb to full-blown writer's ADD (friend Dave Styffe swears that FB should be called Timesuck). Either service makes a blog post feel like an epic. It doesn't help that I've approached the last few blog entries like mini-features, complete with the usual procrastination that accompanies any magazine project. So the new goal is shorter, more frequent entries. Seeing how this post began Nov. 19 and went live Nov. 24, I'd say there's nowhere to go but up. :-)

A quick aside: tonight my Epson V700 scanner was acting up while trying to scan some old Kodachromes, and in a desperate attempt to jump-start the thing I grabbed a photo from a small stack of prints. Who would have guessed that it was a vintage birthday snapshot? But lo and behold, here is yours truly with my mom and dad, Jill and Chuck Lawrence, at our home in Fontana during the early seventies.

This year it took a bit more effort to douse the birthday candles . . .

Since this is fast becoming another epic, I'll sign off. It's time to get back in the saddle. A personal symbol of hope is this sunset view of Mecca, California, near the Salton Sea, on a night when things weren't going well. The next day brought a drastic comeback filled with photographic surprises. So this is a reminder of resolution no. 3: to keep looking forward. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mecca, California, July 2009 (EL photo)

Snapshots from the Edge

Desert Speedboat, West Palm Springs

(click to enlarge)

I was waiting for enough free time to write something witty or insightful for today's post . . . but the way things have been lately, that might not happen 'til August 2010. So, here are a few snapshots from a pivotal trip to Southern California last month, shooting new material for a possible second book. The roadside-related project isn't exactly on a fast track . . . but it also won't take 18 years like the last one. :-)

Squeezed between two weekend weddings, these 5 days of shooting took me to wonderful extremes of geography and culture that make California famous, as well as some unexpected high and low points. Bottom line, I was happy with the first "test drive" for this concept -- a good sign. Hope you enjoy the samples below. (*click images to "biggify")

Safari Inn at twilight, Burbank

Tramway Road, Palm Springs

Signs, Echo Park, Los Angeles

Union Pacific eastbound, Salton Sea

House of Spirits liquor store, Los Angeles

PS - Watch for photos soon from the amazing "Orbit In" hotel, one of the highlights of an impromptu stay in Palm Springs.

El's Favorite Photos from 2008

Southern Pacific 4-6-2 2472 crosses State Route 84 in Niles Canyon, Cal., on August 31, 2008. (click to enlarge)

Honestly, I've been meaning to do this for over a month. The original plan was to do it January 1. Now I'm just happy to get it done in January! Last year I posted a "Rogue's Gallery" of my favorite photos from 2007, so I thought it would be interesting to see what images topped the list for 2008. Dave Styffe did a top 10 post last December that features some outstanding photos; unlike me, he had the presence of mind to do it before the year ended!

2008 was a watershed year, to say the least, with the completion and release of Route 66 Railway. Ironically, between the book launch events and private sales, I had less time to get out and do much shooting during the final 3 months of the year. So I went through the digital files with a little uncertainty, wondering if there would be enough good material to fill 10 slots.

To my surprise, I ended up with 16. Don't panic -- I'm not including them all! I edited the list down to 11, mostly railroad-related stuff. I may post a follow-up later on (hmm, with my track record that should appear around Memorial Day). :-)

One trend that was immediately obvious was that I'd shot far more steam than usual this past year, more than the past several years combined. Between Santa Fe #3751's LA-San Diego trips, Southern Pacific #2472's Niles Canyon excursions, and the Sierra Railroad's Winterail fantrip with McCloud River #18, it was an amazing year for California steam fans. The SP 2472 images benefit from the all-access pass I enjoyed while working on a Classic Trains article about the Niles Canyon Railway (shameless plug: it's arriving now in the Spring 2009 issue).

But these aren't limited to steam, as you'll see below. With that said, let's get on with the show (click to enlarge):

Former Santa Fe 4-8-4 #3751 steams along the LA River on June 1, bound for San Diego.

Like a scene out of Spielberg's Close Encounters, an eastbound BNSF freight rolls through the ruins of Tunnel 2 in Cajon Pass on March 1. At right is the new third mainline that triggered the daylighting of the Cajon tunnels. This image was one of two that helped score a bronze award by the Center for Rail Photography & Art.

The next morning, tunnel 1 resembles a toy tunnel as the heavens aligned and a Warbonnet helper was positioned perfectly for the morning sunlight.

My favorite neon catch of the year -- Twohey's, Alhambra, Cal., October 24.

Santa Fe survivor: dusk in Hobart Yard, Los Angeles, September 20.

Alco PA engine door, Nickel Plate 190, Portland, Oregon.

A Centennial is always going to make the cut . . .
UP 6936 leads a northbound special up the Coast Line at Harlem, Cal.

In a surreal morning on the Niles Canyon Railway, SP 2472 backs past
the Oakland business car at NCRY's Brightside yard.

Errol Ohlman fires the 2472 up the Niles Canyon grade . . .
my first serious cab ride aboard steam.

It wouldn't be complete without one quirky roadside shot: Highway 138, Littlerock, Cal.

Morning steam, Sierra Railroad, Oakdale, Cal.

Hope you enjoyed them! I'll do my best to keep the blog machine rolling in 2009.

Chasing the Daylight Domeliner

Pacing 1996 and train (see mirror) near San Ardo

Ever since Union Pacific unveiled her at Roseville, California last summer, I've been hoping to catch Southern Pacific "Heritage" diesel no. 1996 on the old SP Coast Line. The planets finally aligned last Saturday, Feb. 23, when UP placed her on the point of a business special from Oakland to West Colton. Railroad forces gave the Daylight-painted engine a bath before departure, and the seven-car train cruised down the Salinas Valley under overcast skies (but no rain, thankfully). And what a pretty train -- three domes, and two cars from SP's old business car fleet -- with former "Espee" biz car Sunset bringing up the rear. I'd recovered from a cold just enough that Kat and I headed out that day for an old-fashioned chase. We met the 1996 South at Aromas, then followed her down the valley to Bradley . . . where we finally turned around to head home. It's been months since we chased a train, and we made the most of it. Below are a few images from a fun day:

The first encounter at Aromas . . . 1996's air horn echoing through the Pajaro Valley

The Coast Line was home to the Daylights, but this classy train fits right into the Salinas Valley. (2 views)

Searchlight signals and emerald hills at Bradley . . . our final runby of the day.