Western Railroad Discussion > Park Moabi, CA BNSF Railfanning

Greetings!

The weather is finally getting quite nice out here in the Mojave Desert, and although it was still a little warm and slightly breezy yesterday afternoon, I decided to get out and do a little railfanning. Part of that decision also involved the fact that I had been awake all night on a train, and if I had stayed home I would have passed out, and I didn't want to do that. Standing around outside trackside definitely keeps me awake!

There will be two video clips added to this thread, so if you see this thread early, stay tuned for the second clip to be uploaded.

Both clips feature BNSF Transcon action at Park Moabi, CA. This location is 10mi. east of Needles, CA along BNSF's Seligman Subdivision, and is just before eastbound trains cross the Colorado River at Topock. There is a nice long curve (probably close to a mile long) that mostly rides atop a fill, however there is one deep cut as well. The action in Clip 1 is taken from atop the cut.

CLIP 1:

SHOT 1: The first train seen is the HKCKBAR9. I actually 'conducted' this very train from Winslow to Berry (near Kingman) where I was dog-caught.

SHOT 2: BNSF's ZLACWSP8 train is seen in its entirety. The ZLACWSP8 runs very early out of L.A. on Tuesday and Wed. mornings. The Tuesday version (which this one is) essentially "kicks off" the week for eastbound hotshots out of California, and is heavily UPS-laden. This train used to be all-trailer, however earlier this year UPS double stacks invaded it, so another all-trailer BNSF train has bit the dust.

SHOT 3: The ZALTSBD7 heads west.

SHOT 4: Looking across the valley towards Topock, AZ, the rear portion of the SLPCLAC1 is seen winding through the curves between the Control Point of Topock, and the more common location of Topock.

SHOT 5: The SLPCLAC1 passes my location. This train (along with the QCHILAC6) are about the only westbound trains with a mixture of marine and domestic containers that usually have DPu. I believe this train is made up in part with loadings at Logistics Park, Chicago, as well as CSX run-thru traffic from North Baltimore, OH.

SHOT 6: Lastly, a SLPKSCO3 slowly rolls west as congestion is building ahead of it in Needles. I believe this is only the third westbound train out of the new Logistics Park Kansas City (the '3' in the symbol has no relevance to that fact).

Thanks for watching! And stay tuned for Part 2 which convers the same area, however I move around quite a bit to get some very different angles.

-Tom

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Clip 2 is from the same area, but I am now moving around to get different angles.

SHOT 1: The SBARMEM4 is seen passing through the cut from closer to track level. For a couple of months now, BNSF has been terminating a few Stack trains/week at Barstow, re-sorting them, then sending them east. I'm not sure why this is happening other than congestion at Clovis, NM, power shortages, or mainline/terminal space shortages. So while this train originated at Barstow, CA, the cars were loaded down at the ports of L.A./Long Beach.

SHOT 2: The ZLACWSP9 is seen crossing the fill from below the tracks, then passing over a small bridge that crosses an old dead-end portion of Rt. 66. The train is then seen in its entirety. This train was a VERY atypical version of the ZLACWSP9 as there was a large cut of non-UPS domestic containers on the head end. The ZLACWSP9 is BNSF's premier UPS train out of Southern California, and usually has little other traffic on it. So normally this train would start off with a large cut of UPS containers before transitioning to trailers. But there must have been some extra room on this train, and these domestic containers on the head end were likely overflow from the earlier QLACCHI6.

SHOT 3: Taken from afar and overlooking the fill with Arizona rising in the background, a BSCOGFZ5 is viewed heading east. These are baretables from the ports of LA/LB heading into storage at Griffith, AZ. Meanwhile, the QCHISBD6 heads westbound. The scene ends zoomed-in on the Q with the town of Golden Shores, AZ in the background.

Thanks for watching!

-Tom

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Sweet video!

nice vids ... what's the specific destination CO3 for the symbol SLPKSCO3 ... yes LA Ports but where exactly

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> nice vids ... what's the specific destination CO3
> for the symbol SLPKSCO3 ... yes LA Ports but where
> exactly


The symbol breaks down as follows:

S=Stack service

LPK=Logistics Park, Kansas City

SCO="Southern California On Dock" which is the generic symbol for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. At least half the westbound trains to the ports use the 'SCO' symbol as they will have several different blocks of cars that will be going to several different individual Piers down there.

3=Usually means an extra

Nice set of videos, Tom! Really enjoyed watching them. How did you get to the vantage point for the last two trains in your second video?

George Cataulin
San Diego, CA
Left Coast Rail Videos

gjc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice set of videos, Tom! Really enjoyed watching
> them. How did you get to the vantage point for
> the last two trains in your second video?


Thanks! To get there, you basically just take that abandoned portion of Rt66 that runs underneath that bridge all the way til it ends, park, then walk about 100+ yards to the south. There is a large hill there that offers a more elevated/better view than what was in this video, and I have been up on it, but it's very challenging climbing it and a bit scary going back down it. When I was there yesterday I eyeballed a possible easier slope on its backside that I may have to investigate next time. As for the actual spot, it was compass east of the big hill and is a large plateau that's 5-10ft. higher than the area around it.

A bit more broadly for those who aren't as familiar with that area: Exit off I40 at Park Moabi (first or last exit in CA depending on your direction of travel), drive down the hill, and at the intersection at the bottom, turn left, drive beneath the tracks all the way to the end. Turning right at that intersection will take you to the Pirate's Cove restaurant and to the west side of the Topock bridge over the Colorado River.

zchcsse ; I am going to have to meet up with you so you can show me these vantage points.

syscom3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> zchcsse ; I am going to have to meet up with you
> so you can show me these vantage points.


Sounds good! Let me know when you might be in the area again and hopefully it'll work out!

-Tom

Just wonderful stuff here! I could watch these every night and not tire of it.
So about the LA to Willow Springs UPS train (and vice versa). Where in LA is this loading? I see some UPS at San Berdo, but not enough to make a whole train (or even half a train). Hobart doesn't do a heavy UPS train, does it? Which LA terminal supports this train?

Fizzboy7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just wonderful stuff here! I could watch these
> every night and not tire of it.
> So about the LA to Willow Springs UPS train (and
> vice versa). Where in LA is this loading? I
> see some UPS at San Berdo, but not enough to make
> a whole train (or even half a train). Hobart
> doesn't do a heavy UPS train, does it? Which LA
> terminal supports this train?


Thanks!

It's Hobart. The 'LAC' symbol is for Hobart Yard. They do quite a bit of UPS there, a majority of it on the trains to/from there and Willow Springs, IL.

-Tom