Presidents' Day on the Needles Sub.

With winter session having ended and a holiday, I had some time to take a day trip out into the desert along the BNSF Needles Subdivision. I left home around 5:15 a.m. and drove directly to Daggett, just east of Barstow. I got there just after the sun started to rise. The tracks were empty which provided me with a chance to grab a sunrise image looking down the tracks.







The first train that I was able to capture was a westbound led by BNSF 4678. I got this image somewhere between Daggett and Newberry Springs.














The green signal in the distance made me aware of an eastbound approaching, so I was able to swing around and set up for this image of BNSF 7575.













A little further down the road near Newberry Spring, I set up for an image using the stenciled shield on the road.














Just on the other side of Newberry Springs, I set up for another westbound train. BNSF 7688 leads a manifest toward Barstow.














At Ludlow, I tried to be a little creative using a couple wildflowers that were growing trackside.















Speaking of wildflowers, I found a large patch of them between Ash Hill and Klondike. BNSF 5420 heads west toward Ash Hill in the background.











BNSF 5420 approached my location as it heads away from Ash Hill toward Ludlow.














I made my way to Amboy and found BNSF 8234 waiting for a set of helpers to hook up to the back of the train. After getting everything hooked up, the train began to roll.













Just east of Amboy is this tree full of shoes. I had seen it on other trips out this way, but never stopped to photograph it until this trip. There were none in my size, and they seemed a bit over ripe.












The helpers were getting quite a workout because of track work going on near Klondike. The trains had to single track on the steeper of the grades, so the helper set would hook on at Amboy and assist the train to Ash Hill where they would unhook and go back to Amboy to assist another train up the grade. BNSF 822 is the trailing unit of the helper set as they pass by my location at Amboy.






On the journey back toward home, I set up for an image of BNSF 7660 as it climbed the grade leading to east Siberia. This is one of my favorite perspectives on the subdivision. This train didn't need to use the helpers to get up the grade.









I had a fun day and would like to get back out there again since it looks like it's going to be a good year for wildflowers in the desert.

Winter Session @ Mt. SAC

My winter session schedule at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) has afforded me more time to spend trackside before and after work. I, therefore, would like to share some of my favorite images from my commutes to and from work over the past few weeks. The first day of the winter session began with snow in Cajon Pass which was reported in the "Morning in the Snow" entry below.

On the morning of January 8th, as I was crossing the tracks on San Antonio Ave. in Ontario, I saw some distant lights of an approaching train, so I went to a place to set up for an image and caught UPY 2737 leading a local job entering a siding. My guess is that they were on their way to the Ontario industrial lead to deliver some cars to the customers in that section.






After capturing images of UPY 2737, I headed down State St. along the Montclair Yard a box car sitting on the tracks caught my eye. A former Penn Central car, which is not that common out this way, was posed for the capturing.












After work, I found UPY 2737 working at an industry in Pomona. It was shoving a set of cars out of the spur on to the main line.














After capturing a few images there, I made my way to a spot along the tracks, a new location for me, to get the train as it headed eastward.















Wow! The first two days of my new schedule really gave me some great results.

Some other highlights include capturing eastbound trains, one right after another after waiting for a Metrolink train that passed through the area just before 9:00 every morning, when I am normally teaching. Examples of the this succession of trains can seen in these next three images from the morning of January 17th. UP 4608 heads east through Ontario(9:32 a.m.).





Passing by the Montclair yard, I found UP 5292 stopped (9:37 a.m.).












Continuing my commute to Mt. SAC, I saw headlights approaching and pulled over to capture UP 4481 passing through Pomona near First St. and Oak St. (9:54 a.m.)













These commutes along the Union Pacific tracks also afforded some surprises:

One of these surprises was an eastbound UP 1982, one of UP's heritage locomotives. I didn't have time to set up for this train, but I managed to find a side street to make a u-turn in and position myself for this grab image as the train passed by (Jan. 18th). It is not a great image, but this locomotive hasn't been out this way very much.







Another surprise was finding WAMX 3510 in the power consist of a UP train that was picking up cars in the Montclair yard (Jan. 23rd).















One last surprise, was the appearance of UP EC-4, a track geometry car, as it paused on the main line in Pomona near the Chino industrial lead (Jan. 14th).














My temporary work schedule has also afforded me some non-rail image opportunities:

While driving up Temple Ave. toward Mt. SAC, I notice a large group of birds on this pile with one white cow there. The scene grabbed my attention enough to decide to pull over to capture a few images (Jan. 10th).










The landscaping around the campus also catches my eye. This image of red berries was on a bush near one of the staff parking lots (Jan. 10th)














Continuing up to Building 66, where my classroom is, these red flowers found their way into my veiwfinder (Jan. 10th).














One last image in this post is of an eastbound train as it passes by the downtown Pomona Metrolink station. UP 4326 appears in the sunlight with storm clouds in the background.











There are two weeks remaining to my winter session schedule, and I am looking forward to what my viewfinder will find along the way. Spring semester will have me return to a schedule of class beginning at 8:00 a.m. and a need to leave earlier and not spend as much time commuting along the rails on the way to Mt. SAC; however, there will still be trackside opportunities on the commute home.