The Memorial Day Weekend Mega Tour - Part 2

(Continued from: The Memorial Day Weekend Mega Tour - Part 1)

With the high traffic level I encountered at Daggett in short order, I drove north on the Daggett-Yermo Road towards Yermo hoping that the Cima Subdivision provided ample traffic and photo opportunities. I had already seen two eastbound Union Pacific trains return to home rails and head off towards Yermo and I was in pursuit.

I had planned to follow the tracks via Yermo Road which roughly parallels the Cima Subdivision for the first sixteen miles north out of Yermo. I reached one of the few grade crossings on Yermo Road that I used to get on the sunlit side of tracks and wait for a train out of, or inbound to, Yermo. I set-up at Minneola Road at caught this eastbound intermodal after a short wait:

UP 7660 East at Minneola Road - UP 7660 (GE C45ACCTE), UP 7371 (GE C45ACCTE), and UP 4984 (EMD SD70M) are on the move again after a brief stop at Yermo, CA with this eastbound intermodal consist, seen here at Minneola Road. [5/29/2010 - Cima Subdivision]

By listening to the railroad’s radio traffic I gleaned that there was a westbound a dozen miles or so east of Minneola Road so I continued east. As I closed the distance and continued to listen to the railroad’s road channel, the picture became clear that the westbound train “in the hole” waiting to meet the eastbound that I had just photographed. Since the Cima Subdivision is single tracked, trains need to pass or meet other trains at locations designed for this purpose, called sidings.

I didn’t make it in time to see the meet. The crew of the westbound performed a “roll-by” inspection of the eastbound train as it passed the siding. The crew identified, and subsequently informed the other train via radio, that one of the containers the train was carrying appeared to be have been broken into.

It turns out that this is a big problem for the railroads, particularly in the more remote locations of the desert. This served to remind be to keep an eye open for riders and, more importantly, be careful of other folks that I might encounter track side because these criminals have been known to carry guns as well.

I did manage to capture the westbound as she meet me at the detector located at milepost 175.3:

UP 7631 West - UP 7631 (GE C45ACCTE) and UP 3991 (EMD SD70M) approach the hotbox detector at MP 175.3, near Manix, CA, with a westbound intermodal train. [5/29/2010 - Cima Subdivision] 

As the westbound hustled towards Yermo, I continued east on Yermo Road to another grade crossing opportunity at Alvord Mountain Road. Once I got to the intersection I saw the road blocks on Yermo Road preventing further use of Yermo Road east of the intersection for some reason. It became apparent that I would not be able to run along the tracks any further from Yermo Road so I decided to take a break on the south side of the tracks on Alvord Mountain Road.

I parked the truck in the shade of a small tree adjacent to the grade crossing and rested a bit in hopes of catching another passing train while I was on the “sunny side” of the tracks. After about a fifteen to twenty minute wait, with no radio chatter from detectors or crews, I decided to keep moving east.

I pulled the truck up to the grade crossing and slowed to get one last look at the signals for an indication that something was “lined” my way when I saw a white vehicle kicking up a serious dust cloud on the railroad access road headed towards me. 

Not wanting to sit on the crossing, but still curious as to who or what the white vehicle quickly approaching was, I parked on Yermo Road. I thought perhaps it might be a signal maintainer or other MOW crew.

The vehicle finally got to the grade crossing an although it remained on the south side of the tracks, it stopped near where I parked. I couldn’t quite make out the details of the sign that adorned the vehicle’s door but I could tell that it was either a Union Pacific Railroad Police officer or a “contract security firm” hired out by the Union Pacific.  Either way I garnered a long and curious stare from the single occupant of the vehicle.

I assumed that he might not be able to see who I was clearly so I decided to exit my vehicle and stand there in case he wanted to approach me and ascertain my intent for being in the area. Maybe this was sufficient enough for him to conclude that I was harmless because he promptly continued east on the access road after I exited my vehicle. Perhaps he thought I might have been connected with the break- in of that eastbound intermodal train - who knows.

Since I was forced to take Interstate 15 north to continue my trip I thought I would exit at the next opportunity and double back south down Yermo Road to continue my track side chase. The exit that I choose was Field Road. Here I made an immediate right turn onto Yermo Road and discovered two California Highway Patrol vehicle parked with the officers chatting and a permanent “Road Closed” sign and blockade behind them. Bummer, it was obvious that I would not be able to access that region of the Cima Subdivision without trespassing or using the railroad’s service road - something I was not willing to do. I got back on Interstate 15 and continued northeast.

I did plan to bypass the most picturesque region of the Cima Sub, Afton Canyon, which lay a few miles north of the Field Road exit because I was a solo vehicle weighing nearly 11,000 pounds. I did not want to bury the truck in the sand and not have a buddy close by to pull me out so I continued on to Baker, California.

After a pit stop in Baker for food and fuel, I turned onto Kelbaker Road which would take me into the heart of the Mojave National Preserve and facilitate my return to the tracks of the Cima Sub.

After about a 45-minute drive I arrived at Kelso, California and the beautifully-restored, former Union Pacific passenger depot which is now a Visitor’s Center for the National Park Service. I pulled into the parking lot, gathered my materials, and made a beeline for the depot to get some relief from the heat and talk to a ranger about my plans. It was a good thing I did.

Using the park map which was on top of the Information Desk counter, I outlined my plan for one of the rangers there. He promptly advised me that my planned route would take my onto Union Pacific’s private property because the shown road on the map was actually a railroad access road and not a Park Service road. He did advise me that I could take a parallel route over Powerline Road but it was one to two miles away from the tracks - certainly not ideal. “Bummer,” I thought.

I then asked about camping along Powerline Road and he proceeded to recite the Park rules and regulations governing camping inside the Park. Basically “roadside camping,” as he referred to it, is only allowed at selected preexisting sites and none of them where were I had hoped they would be in relation to the tracks. “Bummer,” I thought, once again.

At this point, I suspect due to a sense of pity on me, the ranger divulged the location of a little-known campsite near Cima that he thought might best suit me and my desires. We chatted about accessibility due to my truck’s size and weight. He asked if I had 4-wheel drive to which I said “yes.” I then explained about the 11,000 pounds of my truck’s weight and the difficulty that presents in sand. He said “it shouldn’t be too bad.” “Great,” I thought to myself,  “what’s that mean?” 

I turned for the door as I thanked him for his time and insight and especially the suggestion of the “secret” campsite. “Oh, one more thing” he added. “The rattlesnakes are out in abundance.” “Great,” I thought to myself. I knew what that meant…

The Memorial Day Weekend Mega Tour - Part 1

I didn’t plan to do what I did. I mean, I did have plans to spend two or three days of the Memorial Day weekend out trackside, camping in my rig and taking in the serenity of the Mojave National Preserve and, of course, trains, but it didn’t work out that way. It turned into “the mega tour.”

I had spent most of the week prior getting everything in order for the trip. I had the truck serviced and a part replaced that had broken on my last trip to Cajon Pass. The truck and camper both got a bath and I sanitized the fresh water tank and throughly cleaned the inside of the camper. Hell, I even used Carpet Fresh.

Finally, the rig was set so I sat down to finalize the route and get a rough idea of what I wanted to see and where I wanted to go. The rough plan was to go chase Union Pacific’s Cima Subdivision from north the area of Afton Canyon to the Nevada border.

I have not spent much time along the Cima Subdivision, in part because it is not the most accessible of subdivisions to chase. A good portion of the route is far from paved roads and runs right through the middle of the Mojave National Preserve. Now that I have a truck capable of making the trek on unpaved and unimproved roads, I felt up to the challenge. This was going to be the trip to really see the Cima Subdivision. My anticipation grew all week as I counted the days until Saturday.

Being a three-day weekend coupled with my route requiring me to take Interstate 15 towards Las Vegas, Nevada, I knew better than to try and leave on Friday night. For the uninitiated, the road to Vegas most weekends, let alone on a three-day weekend, is miserable - certainly no way to start a relaxing trip. Consequently I opted to leave before sunrise Saturday morning.

After far too few hours of sleep it was time for me to depart. I bid my family farwell and set off on an 85 mile detour because I forgot a key element of my navigation/tracking device at my office in downtown LA. Not what I wanted to do but necessary to let folks at home know my position as I made the solo trip.

Having retrieved the missing element I headed east, bound for my first stop which was Daggett, California. Daggett is the jumping off point for the Union Pacific Railroad which uses the BNSF tracks to ascend Cajon Pass and reach its home rails again at Daggett en route to Las Vegas.

I arrived later than I had hope as the sun had already risen but a quick look at the signals showed that the BNSF dispatcher had cleared the route for an eastbound UP train through the interlocking complex at Daggett. It arrived on the scene promptly thereafter and was a doublestack train:

Returning to Home Rails - UP 7416 (GE C45ACCTE), UP 5188 (EMD SD70M), UP 4500 (EMD SD70M) are on the point of this eastbound intermodal consist as it returns to home rails at Daggett, CA after making the run over Cajon Pass on BNSF trackage. [5/29/2010 - Los Angeles Subdivision]

Moments later, an eastbound BNSF stack train came into view and held short of the signal. A wait of a few more minutes provided the answer to the reason why. The dispatcher had apparently planned to run another, higher priority train to run around the BNSF train:

Powered to Go - (Above and below) BNSF 1036 (GE DASH9-44CW), leads 7 more units - BNSF 5469 (GE DASH9-44CW), BNSF 5138 (GE DASH9-44CW), BNSF 4804 (GE DASH9-44CW), BNSF 4742 (GE DASH9-44CW), BNSF 4778 (GE DASH9-44CW), KCS 4009 (EMD SD70ACe), and BNSF 4655 (GE DASH9-44CW), as they overtake another eastbound intermodal at Daggett, CA. [5/29/2010 - Needles Subdivision] 

BNSF was putting on quite a show, as always, but this trip was all about the Cima Subdivision. I packed up my gear as I quelled my desire to head east. I put the truck in drive and turned right on Daggett-Yermo Road bound for Yermo and adventures unknown…

A Day Chasing Steam - The Santa Fe 3751 Heads South with San Diego Steam Special II - Part 3

(Continued from:
A Day Chasing Steam - The Santa Fe 3751 Heads South with San Diego Steam Special II - Part 2)

Our savior, so to speak, declared that he was certain the San Diego Steam Special II would be stopping at “Poinsettia” for servicing which will take about an hour. He also said that the Santa Fe 3751 would be performing a series of run-bys at that location as well!

“Really?” I exclaimed as I gave Dan a raised-brow glance. “Let’s see where Poinsettia is,” I said as I pointed the man towards my truck.

I pulled out two books - one was the PSV’s Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America and the other was Delorme’s California Atlas & Gazetter. We walked inside the Del Taco and proceeded to discover where the station called Ponsietta was located compared to where we were.

It turns out that it was about 10 miles south of our present location in Oceanside. The man gathered his family, hurried them outside, packed them in his car and headed south towards Poinsettia.

Dan, meanwhile, had purchased us some food and we soon followed the man and his family south.

I discussed our options with Dan as we negotiated the heavy traffic on the freeway. We both agreed that it would be in our best interest to forego the notion of going to Ponsietta to shoot the run-by and servicing. We reasoned that there would be plenty of people already there waiting and the shots would be littered with people.

Rather, we opted to use the time consumed by the servicing and run-by to locate a nice position in front of train or south of Poinsettia. As we sped south we listened carefully to my radio receiver tuned to the frequency for the railroad channel used in that area. Our new found expectation was validated as the signal strength of the transmissions from Santa Fe 3751 as the engineer called out signal indications became stronger and stronger. We were back in the chase!

Eventually the traffic waned at, you guessed it, Poinsettia Drive. Clearly we made a good decision by continuing further south now that we were once again ahead of the train.

Totally unfamiliar with the territory that we found ourselves navigating through, we exited the freeway at Leucadia Boulevard, two exits further south than Poinsettia, for no other reason than it afforded us more time to find a photogenic location to make our final shot from.

We traveled south on Vulcan Drive and followed the right-of-way. We approached any area where the track entered a sweeping curve that looked promising. For better or worse, we decided to make our last stand here. It turned out to be the Coaster Encinitas Station.

One aspect of chasing in unknown territory is that you could be just a mile from the most perfect spot ever and not even know it. That could be true today as well. I opted to make the best of the location we had found and parked the truck. We gathered our gear and made our way onto the closet platform.

Dan reconnoitered a few other possible locations by walking around a bit. Eventually we stayed where we were. Once in position, video cameras securely mounted to a track side sign post and still camera slung around my neck, we waited.

And we waited.

While we waited some more, we chatted with a few of the other spectators that had also stopped at the Encinitas Station to see the 3751 blow by. The folks were friendly and we all shared information as it became known. All totaled we waited about two hours for the train to arrive.

During this time we were fortunate enough to have several standard trains pass through or make a stop at the station. With each passing train I took several shots to keep an eye on the changing light conditions and get a sense of the location’s track speed.

Here are two shots that I took while we waited:

A Coaster train makes it’s scheduled stop at the Encinitas, CA station while we ait for the 3751 to show up. 

Having been issued a slow order while passing the San Diego Steam Special II at Poinsettia an Amtrak Surfliner gathers speed as she blows through the Coaster Station in Encinitas, CA.

After each train passed I reviewed that shots, (I love digital!), and altered the settings accordingly. I decided that I was pleased with the location and had great lighting when we initially arrived. No, two hours had passed and the lighting had shifted to the other side of the tracks. Being a fan of shadows, I thought it would complement the whiteness of the steam and smoke so we stayed where we were.

Eventually, the radio crackled with the sound of the conductor of the 3751 calling out “Highball 3751!” This meant she was on the move again. About 10 minutes after that we heard the distant rumbling and then a distinct steam whistle sound. “Here she comes!” I shouted.

As the noise became louder, the folks gathered along the platform with us began to cheer. Odd, I thought initially, but now I see how appropriate that was because we each had a story to tell about our own private chase and it became clear that it all was not to be in vane.

The crowd of “fans” that dotted the platform with all of their camera gear and tripods attracted a lot of others who knew nothing that was about to happen. Mostly they were locals who appeared to be living that “carefree existence” typical of the southern California beach scene.

Soon the relative calm of this station, with it’s great view of the ocean and comfort of a cooling on-shore breeze would be tossed askew with the majestic sound of man’s ability to harness the wild. Steam pure and simple.

As she rounded the bend, I took careful aimed and waited as long as I dared. I pressed the shutter:

The Santa Fe 3751 leads the southbound San Diego Steam Special II into a curve in Encinitas, CA on May 1, 2010

I am pleased with the result. I like the blur which contrasts with the sharpness of the rear of the locomotive and accentuates the length nicely. Also the steam and smoke created a shadow as well.

Here is the video of the train’s passing:

In a mere fraction of a fraction of the time it took to arrive, the train was gone - and so was our chase. Dan needed to get home and we had been fortunate enough to get another chance to capture this awesome scene thanks to an unknown man at a Del Taco, so we took our little victories and headed home.

The end.

Update on Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 10:04PM by Joe Perry

Here is a photo of Dan (right) and I taken by Siobhan & Stacy at their Amtrak “tweetup” at the National Train Day event in Los Angeles on May 8, 2010.