Western Railroad Discussion > Chasing the Santa Fe in 2020

A week or two ago while hiking the ridgeline above Franklin Canyon a friend and I notice at some distance that the Richmond road switcher working the two industries at Collier had two blue and yellow former Santa Fe units.  So yesterday we decided to see if they were still the units on that job, and they were.  We took a few pix at Collier and a final picture as they approached the east switch at Rheem.  The paint has help up pretty well for 25 years.

JBWX

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Wow! Except for the ditch lights, the "BNSF" stencil, and the (yech!) graffiti, this could be 30 years ago!

Santa Fe...all the way!

RRBaron Wrote:
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> Santa Fe...all the way!

Chico says.............

You, guys, scored the first and especially the 2nd shot is pearl! Way to go!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/20 20:50 by Fiftyfooter.

Awesome series, I miss chasing trains through there, especially the Santa Fe!

Posted from iPhone

That's the original factory paint still hanging in there!

Great catch!... On a side note; whats up with those hills in the background in picture #1?? They almost appear to be man-made... In addition to the vintage  power line-up, I found the geology pretty fascinating as well./// Am I correct in stating these scenes were captured in California?

Tom Loftus
Omaha, NE

I like the second shot the best!  Can't see any patches.

RC Lundgren

Very nice..!!

OmahaTom Wrote:
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> whats up with
> those hills in the background in picture #1?? They
> almost appear to be man-made... In addition to the
> vintage  power line-up, I found the geology
> pretty fascinating as well./// Am I correct in
> stating these scenes were captured in California?

An earlier post with an overview of the hills can be found HERE.  This is the ex-Santa Fe mainline just east of Richmond, California, where it terminates on SF bay.

Those are the typical rolling hills of the Pacific coast range.  Geologically probably the most significant thing is they have a lot of clay, so they can be very unstable (think slides and slipouts) when they get saturated during the winter.  During the summer and fall they are starkly brown, during the winter and spring verdantly green.

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/20 17:20 by jbwest.

OmahaTom Wrote:

> On a side note; whats up with
> those hills in the background in picture #1?? They
> almost appear to be man-made

Part of their weird appearance is due to some portions being fenced off from grazing cattle.  The dry vegetation is taller and thicker in those areas.