Western Railroad Discussion > Beaumont Hill Helpers (Revisited)

I was wandering about UP's Yuma Sub on a Sunday in late June, and caught some manned helper action on Beaumont Hill.

I caught a pair of "Triclops" (SD60Ms) helping an underpowered westbound autorack between Indio and Loma Linda 4 years ago. This time, I caught the helpers helping an eastbound stacker, between "Old Colton Yard" (near CP Mt. Vernon) and Beaumont. The manned helpers cut off near the summit at Beaumont, then hurried back west to get ready for the next train needing help.

Interesting power participated in the climb up Beaumont Hill in the video. Lead unit is SD70M UP 3990 (ex-SP 9815), followed by C44-9W UP 9619 (ex-SP 8155), and then a standard cab Dash 9 NS 8869. Southern Pacific is still alive, despite the Armour Yellow!

The manned helpers had an interesting consist, too: UP 6552 (C44AC), BNSF 6254 (ES44AC), and NS 8450 (Wide Cab Dash 8). Seems it requires two more Class I railroads (BNSF and NS) to overcompensate UP's past abuses of underpowered trains on Beaumont Hill? :-)

Trained eyes and ears should be able to tell that while this train was working, it wasn't working that hard, and it was making good time. I don't know how many times I've seen and heard trains struggle through Ordway and Centennial Memorial Bridge with the squeeks from wheels almost slipping. 

- Eastbound stacker (from the Los Angeles Sub) and the manned helpers ready at Mt. Vernon (Old Colton Yard).
- Second set of manned helpers was on duty, and helped the next eastbound.
- Video of the eastbound, at Mt. Vernon, Ordway, and Centennial Memorial Bridge (before Beaumont).
 

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Back in mid-May, I was wandering about on the Yuma Sub, but further east than usual near Palm Springs. I heard Dispatcher 244 tell UP 4370 to hold at Palm Springs Amtrak Depot, which was somewhat unusual, so I headed in that direction to see what was up.

Manned helper set was heading east toward Indio, and took the passenger siding for some reason. I joined a handful of railfans who were already there and had a short conversation with the engineer, who had enough seniority to talk about retirement in a few years. He spoke of the good ol' days when the manned helper was a regular bid instead of running off the extra board.

After a couple of westbounds went by, it was time for him to go to Indio to help a westbound in need. I recorded a short video of the helper set departing Amtrak Palm Springs Depot.

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The same day I caught the ex-SP/NS/BNSF eastbound stacker + helper train, 2 Heritage Units were roaming the Yuma Sub, UP 1988 (Miss Katy) and UP 1983 (Western Pacific):

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,4581576

I was far too behind to catch the UP 1988 going east, but I stumbled onto the UP 1983 right where suvart composed it with desert vegetation. The UP 1983 was still a helper (unmanned, a.k.a. DPU), so I'm posting a video of the chase here.

That's all folks.

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Looks like you had another successful time on Beaumont Hill!

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing this.

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

Very nice! manned helpers are a real treat now days! It must've been some sight back in the SP days with the helpers!

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