Western Railroad Discussion > Cima Sub Chasing (NV & CA)

I found myself in Las Vegas early Sunday morning, and the first thing I did was to head to downtown Las Vegas to see if there were any trains on the UP main line. Sure enough, there was a westbound stacker sitting there, waiting for a new crew. Just as I was heading out, I saw a train move behind the stacker, an empty coal train heading east. I was out of position to get a photo or video, but I believe it had 4 units up front, C44AC, pair of C6044AC's, and a C44AC, no DPU. I was too hungry for a chase on the Caliente Sub, so I went to go grab breakfast instead.

Later on, I heard yard chatter on AAR 2424 (not listed on Altamont Press Timetable) so I headed to Arden Yard, and sure enough, there was a trio of SD40-2's switching some cars. I found a pretty nice vantage point on the south end of the yard to record some action. The sweet sound of EMD's turbocharged 645 prime movers was a great way to start my foaming day.

- I found a total of six SD40-2's at Arden Yard. Are there any more?
- The trio of SD40-2's working the cars.
- Video of the SD40-2's.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 17:45 by cchan006.

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While I was watching the SD40-2's at Arden Yard, I heard the outbound crew of the westbound stacker (UP 6481) talk to UP Omaha Dispatcher 7 about setting out some cars in Las Vegas, so I knew I had time to go to Sloan to catch it going through the little canyon there.

While on my way, I heard the hotbox detector at MP 307 triggered with 400+ axles, an eastbound train. Minutes later the MWCRO ("Roper") showed up, the first clip in the video.

Unfortunately, the light I wanted went away when UP 6481 finally showed up at Sloan, but I stayed and recorded a video anyway, the second clip. From the information mapboy has provided to me before, this is likely the first section of KG1LA.

I had timed a chase between Las Vegas, Cima, Kelso, and Afton Canyon last year, so I put that information to good use by going to Primm to have a leisurely lunch, filled up gas on my rental car (Nissan Versa), then enjoyed a relaxing drive on I-15 toward Afton Canyon, knowing I had plenty of time.

I leaned the Versa's right side toward the vegetation to cross the first ford across Mojave River without problems, but I decided not to take any chances across the second ford, where there was sand and the water looked deeper. That's where I recorded the third clip, KG1LA exiting Afton Canyon and crossing the bridge there.

I still had plenty of time before checking in to my hotel in Las Vegas, so I decided on a detour to Kelso from Baker, and whaddayaknow, I spotted a second westbound in the distance descending Cima Hill. This looked like the KG1LAB, the second section, with all domestic containers (53'). That's the fourth and fifth clips. The train is highballing Kelso Depot on the fifth clip.

While chasing the KG1LAB, I overheard DS 7 talk to a UP xx13 which went into emergency near Jean, so I knew I had another westbound. I went into the Kelso Depot and grabbed a snack at the Cafe ("The Beanery") then headed up Cima Hill. I waited at the east end of Cima for it to arrive, and that's the sixth clip, MNPWC (UP 7613) with 456 axles.

There were more trains coming my way at Cima, including a UP 4431 West approaching Ivanpah, and 2 eastbounds, UP 5947 (KLBG2?) and a UP 855x. Light was going away really fast, so I descended Cima Hill to catch one more train, the seventh clip, UP 5947 crossing Cedar Canyon Rd.

- UP 5417 West (KG1LAB?) highballing a searchlight.
- UP 5417 West at Kelso.
- Video of the Cima Sub trains, as described above.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 06:57 by cchan006.

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I went back up to Cima to catch the meet between the monster MNPWC and the KLBG2, which ended my foaming day. All in all, pretty busy, and so far, I've been lucky with trains on the last 3 visits to Las Vegas.

- Entire MNPWC in the distance, between Ivanpah and Brant?
- DPU's of the MNPWC among the Joshua Trees.
- MNPWC and KLBG2 meeting at Cima.

That's all folks.

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Great shots and Thanks for sharing.I was in the area a few years ago and CHOOCHOOBOB showed me around.

Dale Miller
Langley, BC

does that emp can in the first well of your kg1 have a side door fabricated into it or is that an incredibly large patch job? very enjoyable videos as always.

Love shot one of the last set of three. I wish those sd40-2s made it up from watsonville more often! Looks like you're having a great trip

Great stuff. Thanks for posting.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 15:48 by wjpyper.

Question: Since the KG1LA had UPS traffic, why doesn't it have a "Z" in its symbol? Great hunting - it makes me wonder why we didn't do the same when we used spend winters in Vegas.

6481 is the ISCLB, not KG1LA.

Nice work, great series of shots! Was this an unusual day? I wasn't aware the Cima Sub was that busy these days... I'm coming to visit California for Christmas and may have to detour through there on one leg of the trip.

Thanks. It is very rare to see footage of this route from Barstow to Vegas. I worked 35 and 36 when Amtrak ran the Winds and Afton Canyon in the winter time was marginal for light. That last twilight clip was really great and very rare to see at that exact time of early evening. Thanks again for the shots and video.

Phil Blommendahl
Getzville, NY

494 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> does that emp can in the first well of your kg1
> have a side door fabricated into it or is that an
> incredibly large patch job? very enjoyable videos
> as always.

I looked at my video more closely, and it's an optical illusion created by video compression and light transitioning from shadow to sun. All the "ribs" are visible on my unedited clip, although barely. Had the train showed up 30 minutes earlier, I would have gotten the sides lit up as I panned the camcorder to my left.

mojaveflyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice work, great series of shots! Was this an
> unusual day? I wasn't aware the Cima Sub was that
> busy these days... I'm coming to visit California
> for Christmas and may have to detour through there
> on one leg of the trip.

Comments posted here on TO imply that Cima Sub is "dead", but I guess that's a matter of perspective. This is definitely not Cajon Pass or San Timoteo Canyon where there's plenty of traffic during the day. The locals I hang out with at Santa Clara (SCUfoamer, jmf1910, jimB, and others) would love to see even just 1-2 through freights coming their way, so it could be worse.

I guess the key is to find a location where the trains are likely parked, in this case either CP Las Vegas (crew change) or CP Arden (MWCRO and MSCWC doing pick ups and setouts). Once a train is spotted, I can tell myself that train will have to move eventually, so it makes the wait for the first one less agonizing. On my last visit here, I saw the MWCRO in Arden Yard, so I knew I had something to chase on the Caliente Sub toward Moapa.

Once you find a train to chase, any other trains that show up is gravy. So even if I had only seen 3-4 trains, I can fool myself into thinking I had a very productive day. :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 17:44 by cchan006.

bmarti7 Wrote:
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> Question: Since the KG1LA had UPS traffic, why
> doesn't it have a "Z" in its symbol? Great hunting
> - it makes me wonder why we didn't do the same
> when we used spend winters in Vegas.

I caught a similar train in Afton Canyon last year, and thought it was a Z train, too, but I was told it wasn't. I believe it's the 2nd train in the video I posted in the following thread:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2560801

the line up changes but depending upon time and location you can easily catch 8-16 trains in a 12 hr period along the Cima/Caliente Sub's. In a 24 hr period even more. Also with the main line traffic are the locals that run from mini yard Valley and Arden or futher to Moapa, Apex and Moapa Valley.

Beautiful photos and videos! I could hear those 40's wind up and down all day long and never tire of it.
Do wish you showed the whole trains though. That many pigs on a UP intermodal is a grand catch. I would have been curious to see more.
Thanks for sharing.

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I looked at my video more closely, and it's an
> optical illusion created by video compression and
> light transitioning from shadow to sun. All the
> "ribs" are visible on my unedited clip, although
> barely. Had the train showed up 30 minutes
> earlier, I would have gotten the sides lit up as I
> panned the camcorder to my left.


that's one crazy effect! thanks for taking the time to look again, i appreciate it.

excellent story and photos, thanks

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This looked like the KG1LAB, the second
> section, with all domestic containers (53').

Thanks for the excellent coverage of LA&SL action, and the tip on the yard frequency 2424 (160.47). There is a KG1LA in my LA&SL train list (see below), but the KG1LAB runs via the Sunset Route, on Tuesdays into LA. From the list below, here's the expected intermodals for Sundays- "ISCLB KG3LB KG1LA KLBG2, in estimated order of appearance at LV." The morning wbd. intermodal was the ISCLB, as "zwsplac" said. The 5417, with all the domestic containers visible, looks like the KG1LA (as you said), and the evening ebd. intermodal you photographed is the KLBG2, also as you said.


My train list from this thread- <http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,2886586,2886665#msg-2886665&gt;
"Below is what I have for UP's ex-LA&SL line thru Las Vegas. I haven't been out there since Spring to update. The trains are few enough on the LA&SL that you can tell them apart fairly well.

"Intermodals w/expected Las Vegas time
Ebd.
ZLADV autos, dom DS (double stacks), TOFC, occ. marine DS; Tu-Th Sa early PM
KLBG2 marine, autos, some dom; Tu-F Su midnight (2359)
KLAG1B dom,occ.marine+TOFC+UPS; F early PM [add on- KLAG1 goes via Sunset Route]
KTSLN4 ITS-Landers Chi. (K Line); AM Fri to AM Sa, occ. Th

"Wbd.- (varies a lot!)
ISCLB dom, marine, TOFC, occ. autos; early AM We-Mo
KG1LA dom, occ. marine+TOFC+UPS; mid-morning We-Mo
KG3LB marine, occ. dom; early AM Th-Tu

"Manifests- the westbounds are sometimes badly delayed, so times are only a guide
MWCNP look for corn syrup, ethanol; late evening to next AM daily; works Arden, Milford, Salt Lake
MWCRO ECXX dirty dirt; AM daily; works Yermo, Arden, Milford, Roper
MNPWC corn syrup, ethanol; late PM or AM; works Salt Lake, Milford, Arden, WC
MSCWC Pabco wallbd from Apex, ECXX dirty dirt; late PM or AM; works Milford, Arden, Yermo, WC, occ. Valley

"If I'm out for the day, I use this to check off the intermodals, in estimated order of appearance at LV.
Su ISCLB KG3LB KG1LA KLBG2
Mo ISCLB KG3LB KG1LA
Tu KG3LB ZLADV KLBG2
We ISCLB KG1LA ZLADV KLBG2
Th ISCLB KG3LB KG1LA ZLADV KLBG2
Fr ISCLB KG3LB KG1LA KLAG1B KTSLN4 KLBG2
Sa ISCLB KG3LB KG1LA ZLADV

"Unit trains-
Coal- 3/day, roughly in order of frequency: to Metro. Stevedore (LB) in 85-95 UP system cars; Trona (TR,TA) in 85 DGHX; Moapa (MA, 1/day) in NVPX; Victorville (VV); Mojave (MJ); Cushenbury (CU); Wasco (RW) in 80 DGHX, no longer using coal; Rillito, AZ (RI) in UP cars. From mines at Savage, Skyline, Black Thunder (PRB for Moapa), Sharp.
Iron ore- 1 1/2/day (5 loads, 5 empties per week), from Iron Springs (IS) on USR Utah Southern, now PICR, near Milford, UT. Uses RCGX open hoppers. [I understand the volume has slowed]
Ethanol- 1/week to/from West Colton UExxWC
Military- to/from Yermo SYRxx
Cement- RMJLVC/RLVMJC- 45-47 short TILX cov. hoppers; to Pan Western transload in LV; return next day
Grain- occasionally to Colton, Kaiser, L.A. Harbor, Imperial Valley, Milford, UT
Windmill- SLBSO (Sommer, IL) loaded off ships at Long Beach; SSOLB empty; occ. wbd. loads to SxxCF=Chaffee (Mojave Airport)
Ballast WMUxxB from Murdock, UT pit
Baretables
Occ. intermodal detours from congested Golden State Route [when these appear it's difficult to keep the symbols straight!]

"LOCALS (adapted from NScaleMike) as of late December 2011 M-Sa #40,42,46,48,49,55; Su- only #40 and #48
LUM040-Local 40 daily 10 AM Arden yard sw.
LUM042-Local 42 6/wk afternoon Valley-Pan Wrn.-Desert Siding-Wann
LUM046-Local 46 6/wk 4PM Valley-Pan Wrn.-Desert Siding-Nellis spur
LUM048-Local 48 daily 9:30AM Arden-BMI Henderson
LUM049-Local 49 6/wk 11AM?, distributes cars from Arden to Valley and Apex and returns
LUM055-Mead Lake Local 6/wk 10AM Apex-Moapa-Mead Lake [Mead Lake Tu Th?]

mapboy

Another nice video, Charles. Enjoyed watching it! Hopefully, one day I'll make it out to the Cima Sub. Keep up the good work and keep those videos coming!

George Cataulin
San Diego, CA
Left Coast Rail Videos