Western Railroad Discussion > The Cajon I Remember

I grew up railfanning in an area that is extremely fire prone. Multiple times during my childhood, Cajon Pass has burned completely, and some of my earliest memories of railfanning in general are watching trains creeping through the burn zone just west of Cajon Station after a fire swept through the pass in 2004. So it's no surprise that I jumped at the opportunity to head up to the pass to photograph it one more time before I left for college, especially since the Blue Cut fire had only been fully contained a week previous. Over the course of a day my father and I explored a lot of areas we wouldn't have been comfortable exploring in because of (now nonexistent) brush, and in addition we saw quite a few cool trains on the hill. Without further ado, here are the photos!

• A northbound UP Manifest starts its climb out of West Colton the previous morning. We had been waiting for a pair of brand new ET44AH's to come east out of LATC but unfortunately they hit Colton just as the sun was crapping out.
• The next morning, a BARKAI heads down the 2.2% grade at Silverwood behind an assortment of ES44DC's and GP60 models.
• One shot in particular was radically changed by the fire; the triple layer cake as seen from Stein's hill. Another westbound manifest heads down track two as it wraps around the big curves at Davis Ranch.

There's more...

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• While the westbound manifest passes, a westbound stacktrain drifts down track 3 near the old location of Grava, California, as seen from Stein's Hill.
• A few minutes later, another westbound heads down track 2 at Davis Ranch.
• Heading down to the Palmdale Cutoff above Blue Cut, California, we set up for a northbound on the Palmdale lead by a newer ET44AH, as it curves through the area where the massive fire started.

There's more...

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• The same train heads north through Silverwood as seen from our new perch above the tracks up a pole line road. A westbound BNSF train heads down track 3 in the background.
• The northbound met the southbound ZBRLC at Hiland. The hot intermodal train curves through the Morman rocks at Canyon as it approaches another train, the Mojave Flyer, that's sitting in the siding.
• The Mojave Flyer approaches the new bridge at Alray as it charges upgrade and under the I15.

There's more...

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After the Mojave Flyer passed we headed home for lunch and to escape the crappy light around midday.

• What looked like an eastbound ILBSC heads upgrade out of Sullivan's Curve behind a trio of ratty GE's.
• A HUGE port train forms another triple layer cake at Sullivan's Curve as seen from a vantage point previously innaccessible due to brush. If you look closely you can see the same train's cars back at Cajon Station. The front two engines were helpers tacked on in San Bernardino.
• Another eastbound heads through Sullivan's as seen from the side of one of the huge rocks above the curve.

There's more...

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• As a westbound heads down track 2, a northbound manifest behind a tier 4 GEVO heads through Canyon. On our way down we'd be shocked to find...
• This Roper Yard bound manifest, behind a trio of freshly painted engines. We chased it to East Victorville at a spot I've never seen anyone take a picture at before.
• A few minutes later the eastbound that was seen at Sullivan's heads through the same location just before sundown.

And that's all folks! I head out tomorrow so aside from the post that'll be on my roadtrip, that's my last post on the western forum.

Cheers,

Zachary
http://www.z-trains.com

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Very nice pictures. Pic #2 reminds me of the now defunct JACBAR train that ran all 4 motor locomotives.
Lane
 

Great series, especially the shots from Stein's Hill!
Neat consist and back light in #2 and a Very Nice shot from the dark side in #4

WOW!! What a nice collection of images!!!

Old Bob up in Lost Wages

I really like your 2nd and 6th photos, just because the contrast and lighting is so nice in the 2nd and the black moonscape is so well captured in your 6th.  Looks like you had a good day exploring the damage, thanks for sharing.

Ted S-P

GREAT stuff....!!  Thanks for sharing. 

Very NICE series!

Larry