Western Railroad Discussion > Mojave Northern addendum

Over the last several days, TO member “erielackawanna” has posted several great shots with helpful information about the operations on the Mojave Northern cement railroad in Victorville. By coincidence, I happened to be up there last Sunday (Feb 16) and witnessed some of the same operations and hope he doesn’t mind if I share a few more photos. I had gone up there hoping to find the Knoxville rebuild, arriving trackside near the landfill a few miles east of Victorville around 10AM.

1) At 10:15AM, the normal loaded mine train came into view, making good speed and stirring up quite a cloud of dust. The train consisted of ex-UP SD60 Cemex dual numbered 416/2125 and 18 cars of rock.

2) Twelve minutes later, the train was already arriving at the plant.

From past experiences this train was about an hour earlier than normal, and coupled with the fact I didn’t see the Knoxville engine in the plant from the highway, I had a gut feeling there might another train so I headed back up to my earlier location.

3) My gut was right and almost exactly one hour to the minute later, MN 419 showed with five GBRX empty coal hoppers near Stoddard Wells Road.
 

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4) A rolling roster shot of the colorful locomotive.

5) Back near the plant at 11:24AM, a telephoto shot as the train slowed to a crawl.

6) Final pic is of the logo on 419’s battery box. 

The railroad has indeed become somewhat erratic, hope this gives additional ideas about their operations. And as always, thanks for looking at another of my tardy posts.

OYW
 

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The 2 times I was chasing that line it was powered by FM's. Wish I still had those pics.

Anyone notice that the Knoxville always seems to be running with four or five cars?

Out

callum_out Wrote:
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> Anyone notice that the Knoxville always seems to
> be running with four or five cars?
>
> Out

It seems to be handling the coal train cars while the SD60 is handling the mine trains.

Great catches. Both units have burned out headlights?
JB

The UP unit coal that is delivered every other week is put in the loop track. The power stays on the train and the plant uses the UP power to run the coal loads up the hill half at a time. The 4 hoppers could be coke. Great pictures of the operation.

CS

Nice catches.  Almost seems a different era with single units and short train standard cabs.
Brian Stevens

Very Nice!

Looks strange seeing two different numbers on the same engine as in that first photo.  Good shots though!

Nice shots.  Worth the wait for this operation that seems to work with no fixed schedule.
GK

At this time of the year it's just nice to go kick back and enjoy the sun for an hour or six.

Out