Western Railroad Discussion > Fracking Daggett

I have always wondered whether Glen A. Larson was driving through the High Desert on I-40 when he came up with the inspiration for "Battlestar Galactica". I can only imagine him driving along and noticing a sign saying "Daggett, 1 mile" and him coming up with the idea of a robotic dog that actually was a chimpanzee in a cheap fur suit. Of course, George Lucas took great umbrage with the whole "Battlestar Galactica" concept, eventually taking Larson and crew to court for intellectual theft but at least the idea of using the town name of Daggett was unique.

Besides being a robotic dog in a 1970's TV show, Daggett, CA is also home to the junction where UP's ex-LA&SL mainline joins up to what is now the BNSF transcon for the run down Cajon Pass to LA. At one time before UP took control of SP, most of their yard operations were based just up the road at nearby Yermo. While the yard is still there largely to serve the nearby Marine Corp base, it mainly is used as a crew change point between UP's Cima subdivision and points west. Daggett also happens to make for an incredible place to shoot photos of trains coming off of the Cima sub since the double track mainline sharply curves just before intersecting with the BNSF line.

On a very hot day in August, 2017, a long KG3LB was coming through Las Vegas and down the Cima Sub with a very fresh looking Tier IV SD70 ACe in the lead (UP 3038). Knowing that these have been few and far between as leaders, my son and I made it a point to go out to the desert to try our luck with getting the train. Unfortunately, this train was seemingly a bit early at most locations and raced into Yermo ahead of schedule. Oh well we thought, this will give us time to chase it down Cajon Pass. Apparently UP didn't get our memo since as the train approached the junction with the BNSF at Daggett, it came to a stop just 50 feet from the prime photo spot and subsequently shut off its lights. Three hours later and after the sky went from perfectly sunny to solid clouds, we were about to give up when the train turned on its lights. Miraculously, just as the train started to move, a small but persistent hole appeared letting sunlight fall just where we were and nowhere else. While this was the end of my chase since I don't take photos in cloudy weather if I can avoid it, I think that this one shot made the long trip to Daggett worth it. I was fracking happy for sure.

For video of this train from Las Vegas to Daggett, please visit my son's YouTube page, RailfanJunction.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,

Paul



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/18 18:06 by z-trains.

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Great shot!

Amazing light! Thanks for sharing...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

My favorite thing about passing MP 159 westbound was knowing MP 161 was behind me. ;)

Nice photo, enjoy seeing the pole line with the old style UP mile pole.
Brian Stevens

To quote the late Johnnie Carson, " Daggett, the Gateway to Barstow".

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> My favorite thing about passing MP 159 westbound
> was knowing MP 161 was behind me. ;)

Yermo always looked better in the rear view mirror Mike.

Ha, my favorite show when I was a kid back in the 70's, though I don't really see the crossover with Star Wars except for maybe the high tech (for that time) special effects.

I wonder how these Tier 4 engines are performing? Some talk awhile back about teething problems, but didn't really hear much "concrete" about that...

Great photo.

Ronda Thomas