Western Railroad Discussion > UPRR in the Mojave National Preserve at Cima Summit

After a couple hours at Ivanpah, I headed up to Cima and wanted to try the view from a set of hills. These are on the south side of tracks and I ran into some difficulty taking video and pics. First, these hills are only good in the morning and after the noon hours, you're pretty much shooting into the sun. Second,the sky got partly cloudy so I had the issue of bright desert landscapes with darker shadowy scenes. I brightened some of the pictures to give you an idea of what I saw.

Picture #1: After nearly two and a half hours of nothing, I spied a distant manifest heading eastbound (or north). This is at X130 zoom. The vast panorama of the desert expanses cannot be really conveyed by this picture.

Picture #2: While the manifest was chugging slowly toward Cima, I heard the familiar warning horn of a train, which indicated something passed by the Cima Road crossing. After a few minutes, this westbound (south) manifest came to a stop on one of the three sidings.

Picture #3: Meanwhile, the eastbound manifest continued its SLOW climb up the incline.

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Picture #4: Eventually, the eastbound passes by the small hill in front of me.

Picture #5: The head engines meetup.

Now while this was happening, I spied a second train way in the western distance, again heading east. My next set that will soon be posted will be of that train.

In the meantime, the westbound train shutdown its engine and was going to be waiting for awhile. Sharp eyed viewers can see one of the crewman on the ground stretching his legs.

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I should have added my traditional map. Here it is. The arrow is pointing to the south from the hill I was on for this set of pictures.

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"jaw dropping" great photos........

66

Great pics!

David Mitchell
Arkansas City, KS

Wow, absolutely breathtaking! I especially like #1, with the tiny distant train.

Tor in Eugene

SUPER pics!!! Thanks for sharing.

Outstanding photos!!

Ronda Thomas

The vast distances of the East Mojave are well-depicted.
When exploring there, never pass a gas station. Maps are deceiving.
...Lorenzo

Agree, outstanding.
JB

The Big Country...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Wow! Such amazing views, vistas, and trains snaking around beautiful scenery! Forests of Joshau trees!

Torisgod Wrote:
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> Wow, absolutely breathtaking! I especially like
> #1, with the tiny distant train.

Ditto!!

Interesting set of photos, nice job! Pic three with the s-curve in the distance has my interest. Going to have to check this spot out the next time I'm out that way, October 2014.

George Cataulin
San Diego, CA
Left Coast Rail Videos

Nice shots, syscom.

~Ryan

Great photos, # 1 is a perfect example of what the drive from LA to Vegas looks like after Barstow. The Mojave desert is a very interesting place, even if some of it isn't what most people would describe as "beautiful". Flying over it on the way to Irvine the other week re-enforced to me how empty it is out there. I remember reading something about the history of the Colorado River and one of the first US explorers along the lower stretch where the Hoover Dam now sits said it would never be populated, there was nothing there.

Nathan

Thanks to all who commented. It was my pleasure to share these pictures with you.