Some Free Time in Cajon Pass

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. I had a busy summer at both of my colleges and did not really have much to share. I am now on a three week break before the fall semester starts at both of my colleges. I made a few trips up to Cajon Pass this week, and I'm sure I'll be back before the break is over. I thought I'd share a few images from my wanderings around the the pass.

Monday morning (8/4/08), I went up to the pass and spent a few hours watching the trains and capturing images. I arrived in the pass around 6:30 a.m. It was pretty gray and overcast at first. The first train I was able to capture was a Union Pacific (UP) mixed freight train heading down the Palmdale Cutoff. I set up for the train near Mormon Rocks and came up with these two images. UP 5384 leading the train across the dry wash as it makes its way south.















As I was scrambling down the embankment, I saw the DPUs (Distributed Power Units) at the end of the train and came up with this grab shot.















After getting back to my car, I made my way up State Highway 138 to see what was happening at Summit. A BNSF manifest started down the pass. I captured a few images of it and saw another train come around the curve above Summit. It was Amtrak's Southwest Chief (train #3). It started to overtake the manifest. Here is an image of it as it rounds the curve above Silverwood.















I got in my car and made my way down to Cleghorn Rd. to set up for a shot of this train as it came down the track from Sullivan's Curve.















After the Southwest Chief cleared, I waited for the BNSF manifest to appear on track 3. Just as the train came into view, a BNSF truck made a dash across the tracks in order to avoid waiting for the train.















BNSF 7712 passed by my location.















It was back to Summit to see what was coming next. Another train started down track 2, so I made my way back to Cleghorn Rd. to capture this image of this colorful set of locomotives led by BNSF 4712.














After capturing images of BNSF 4712, I decided to take a drive along the UP tracks to Sullivan's Curve after a quick stop at one of the fast food establishments in the area. I wanted to catch something coming around the curve with the new track laid in place. An eastbound BNSF baretabel came up and around the curve. Shortly afterward, a southbound UP train came into view and allowed me to capture this image.















I really liked the sky at the time and the way the clouds were sprawled out over the rock formation. Now if I only had a train in the image.















Another train was making its way up the tracks, so I decided to take a drive and explore for a different photo location. I drove along the Palmdale Cutoff where it is high above the BNSF mains at Martinez east of Summit. I used my 200mm lens to capture this image of BNSF 7550 working its way through the S-curves.















I started back toward the street. As I made my way down the road known as Powerline Road, I saw another train heading upBNSF track 3. I made my way to Summit and had just enough time to get into position for shots the train as it rounded the curve above Silverwood. The train was slowing down when I heard a horn in the opposite direction. BNSF 512 was leading a manifest, and a container train was heading down the same track and crossing over to track 2. the result was this image of the head ends of both trains meeting.





















I turned around as BNSF 512 creeped up as the train in front of it cleared.





















I made may way down to Cleghorn Rd. and set up for images of BNSF 5345 coming down from Sullivan's Curve. I decided to use the wide angle for this train.















It was time to head home to be able to go to my daughter's swimming lessons and support her as she learns to swim.


I made a second trip up to Cajon late Wednesday afternoon. I saw a few trains making their way down the tracks as I drove up I-15. As it turned out, I would only end up capturing one train. BNSF 7672 crosses over the dry wash as it approaches Highway 138.















I also made a trip this afternoon (Thursday, 8/7/08) with my daughter accompanying me, I was able to get a couple images worth sharing. This first image has BNSF 4301 leading a container train down track 1.















It got slow as I drove around looking for vantage points. Finally, there was some action. I had missed a train heading up track 1, but I guessed that the next train would also be coming up from San Bernardio, so I went back over to Sullivan's Curve to wait. I could hear the sound of a train working up the tracks and was in position to capture this image of UP 8469 leading a manifest around Sullivan's Curve on track 1.















It was getting late, so we made our way home to have dinner.

I hope you enjoyed the images and commentary. Thank you for stopping by and viewing my blog.

Ken