Western Railroad Discussion > Needles sub railfanning

A week ago last Sunday, we made a trip out to BNSF's Needles Sub hoping to shoot Bolo Hill and get the Arizona and California coming into Cadiz. Best laid plans never work out. As of 7AM, the ARZC power was sitting at Cadiz and its train of interchange was waiting for the BNSF Cadiz turn to pick it up. It certainly didn't help that there was extensive track work up at Goffs that made for very long dead zones of no trains including a 3 hour gap during the best morning light. Well we made the best of it and eventually made it east to Needles and the Ibis area to try to get shots there before this area changes. I hope that you enjoy the photos. A video of this day and a second day out at Bolo Hill will be available in the near future on my YouTube channel, RailfanJunction.

Cheers,

Zach
RailfanJunction on YouTube

Photo 1: An eastbound BNSF port train has just descended Bolo Hill at Cadiz and begins its next climb uphill to Goffs, where it will wait for hours for a work window to clear.

Photo 2: The Arizona and California Railway power sits idling at Cadiz after bringing up its interchange train. Certainly the one orange G&W painted engine makes for an odd site in an otherwise classic consist.

Photo 3: A westbound "baretable" train consisting of containers and trailers being repositioned from Phoenix to the LA area crawls up the ARZC line toward Cadiz in the early morning.

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Photo 4: With Amboy crater serving as a spectacular backdrop, an eastbound BNSF intermodal races through Cadiz. Off to the left sit the ARZC power and the BNSF bare table train, the latter waiting for a BNSF crew to take it west.

Photo 5: The ARZC power makes for a great prop as an eastbound BNSF intermodal passes at Cadiz. The replacement of this paint scheme with G&W orange will certainly be a sad day for many California railfans.

Photo 6: Another shot of an eastbound racing through Cadiz. Note the headlight of a closely following eastbound that was in the process of descending Bolo Hill in the background.

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Photo 7: A second view of the same eastbound intermodal at Cadiz, CA.

Photo 8: A westbound BNSF intermodal has cleared the work area at Goffs and now races through Essex towards Barstow. Too bad the lead engine was painted by a mop.

Photo 9: As part of the work at Goffs, west bounds were being held at Needles until the work window expired. Here a westbound intermodal train has just gotten its new crew and gets underway for its journey west.

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Photo 10: A westbound BNSF intermodal goes through the reverse curves at Java, with the rear of the train coming out from under I-40. The train will shortly come to a stop at Klinefelter to wait for traffic ahead to move west.

Photo 11: A second view of the same intermodal train at Java. In the background is the Colorado River valley with the mountains being on the Arizona side of the river.

Photo 12: Another BNSF intermodal crawls through Java waiting its turn to begin its assault up Goffs Hill.

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Photo 13: One of the westbounds seen previously at Java has begun its climb up Goffs Hill and takes the balloon track in between Ibis and Arrowhead Jct.

Photo 14: An unexpected surprise on the trip was this DPU set consisting of an SD70MAC in Grinstein green and a sharp BNSF ACe, both helping to guide this eastbound down to Needles for a crew change.

Photo 15: A 10,000 foot port train made for the perfect subject at Arrowhead Jct. with the train doubling back on itself as it climbed through the balloon track on its journey westbound.

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Photo 16: The end of the day saw this eastbound intermodal train climbing uphill at Essex, picking up the glint from the setting sun. A fitting end to a great day on the Needles Sub!

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Zach
RailfanJunction on YouTube

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Zach, some seriously nice shots in that group, really liked the A&C shots, this time of year they frequently
get there close to dark.

Out



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/18 10:48 by callum_out.

Beautiful work! Hard to pick a favorite. That last one can easily be a IOTD candidate.

PQM

Great stuff, Zach. Thanks for posting.

Tom

Thanks for sharing the Transcon Action! Nothing better.

BB

Thanks for the pics...

Very NICE series!

Larry

Your last photo is stunning! Great job.

Awesome Series!

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