Nostalgia & History > Warbonnets looked their best...

...on the point of passenger trains.

Here's a three-car Santa Fe special, eastbound, on the Needles Subdivision, with FP45s in charge, near m.p. 677, showing the main line split near the big curve at Klondike. The August 22, 1989 special is for the benefit of railroad officials, LA county government and Waste Management Inc., to explain a proposal for hauling LA's trash to a proposed landfill near Bolo, between Amboy and Cadiz. The project was a response to another proposal utilizing SP and former Eagle Mountain RR tracks for hauling metropolitan waste to a landfill at the old Eagle Mountain mine. The Santa Fe-Waste Management proposal was quickly shot down by San Bernardino County officials, and 23 years later, the Eagle Mountain project appears to be a dead issue for a variety of reasons. David R. Busse photo.

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Of course Warbonnets on freight trains looked great, especially when one had the opportunity to photograph them surrounded by classic Santa Fe cantilever signals. Here's an early morning eastbound "Z" train, well into the BNSF era, passing the now departed westbound control signal at Fullerton Junction, Calif. David R. Busse photo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/12 08:13 by Alco251.

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Add some black smoke, palm trees and the feeling of big time freight railroading and you have another classic Santa Fe scene, well after the BNSF merger, as a hot BNSF train races westbound past the now-departed eastbound control signal at Basta, Calif. This was a weekday afternoon, I was on jury duty and the judge released us shortly after lunch. I had my camera with me, spent the afternoon at Basta and felt like a lottery winner, with plenty of sun, lots of trains and a legal excuse to not be at work! David R. Busse photo.

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Is the first pic taken from the ground?

timz2 Wrote:
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> Is the first pic taken from the ground?

I'm also curious about your elevation in photo 1 and notice the WB going by station sign klondike in the upper right of the pic.

Dave uses helicopters instead of climbing trees!

Photo #1 was taken from a chartered Bell JetRanger helicopter with the left door off. Did a little more slow-speed work than we anticipated, so by the time we got to Cadiz (where the train turned on the wye), we figured, with the anticipated headwinds, fuel was gonna be an issue for the trip home, and it would be pushing things to count on enough fuel to get to Daggett. So, on the return trip we landed at the Chevron station parking lot in Ludlow and uplifted ten gallons of diesel fuel from cans, 2 gallons at a time. Worked just fine. Photo #2 was taken with the help of a 10-foot step ladder in the back of a pickup truck. Tough shot to do without some elevation and a long lens.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/12 16:37 by Alco251.

Anyone have an idea of which car the heavyweight business car is?

58, iirc.

Super_C Wrote:
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> Dave uses helicopters instead of climbing trees!

Well, that explains it. It's a great shot.

George Cataulin
San Diego, CA
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