Western Railroad Discussion > ...and Sunday afternoon at Atwood, CA

I slept in on Sunday morning August 9 and missed BNSF 4705 west seen in oyw's thread below (darn it!)  However, I did manage to haul my lazy carcass trackside on Sunday afternoon in pursuit of a few signal shots.  A recent thread asking about surviving searchlight signals along the ex-ATSF "transcon" made me do a quick Google Maps survey of what was still to be found along the old Third District (now San Bernardino Sub) in Southern California and realize that, other than the signal bridge at Chicago Ave. in Riverside, I really hadn't done much with them.  There are still quite a few searchlights in service between Fullerton and Colton, mostly on modern silver-colored signal bridges but a few on individual masts. 

The junction at Atwood in the city of Placentia is where the old Olive District (now Metrolink's Olive Sub) to Orange and ultimately San Diego diverges from the main to LA.  The westbound searchlights at Atwood are on a modern signal bridge, but the three eastward signals are all on masts of different heights, ranging from extra tall governing Main 1 to normal size on Main 2 down to just a little below average coming off the Olive.

https://goo.gl/maps/tEUh8jiUWava6wu37

1) A tight shot as BNSF 7711 west blasts through town on Main 1 at about 5:45pm.  Not bad, but what I really wanted was a westbound on Main 2 about an hour and a half later, after the sun had swung around to the north side of the tracks.  Well, fingers crossed...

2) The light's getting good about an hour later as BNSF 5017 west takes the switch and heads down the Olive Sub.  All three sets of eastbound searchlights are visible here, as well as the westbound signal bridge in the distance on the left.

3) The DPU's obediently follow the last autoracks around the corner and on toward 'Dago.
 

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4) I did ultimately get my westbound on Main 2 with the sun on the north side of the tracks about 45 minutes later...but also about a minute after this very long eastbound stacker showed up on Main 1 behind BNSF 7110.

5) There's my westbound on Main 2, BNSF 7307 west, passing the searchlights in perfect just-before-sunset light.  *sigh* 

6) I hung around for a bit after dusk and caught one more westbound - a baretable behind BNSF 4005 in light just low enough to see the signal aspects. 

Oh all right, I'm not really heartbroken at missing out on BNSF 7307 west.  It was an enjoyable and productive afternoon regardless.  Thanks for looking!

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There's still searchlights at the double crossovers at Arlington, MP 15.1 between Riverside and Corona.

Great shots Evan.
Always nice to see the searchlights that have survived.
Gary

Nice photos--the last one was certainly worth the wait.
Brian Stevens

Nice bunch. Been through there a bunch of times. The overpass in the distance in the last one is new since I was there.
JB

Great series!

Really NICE series with the trains and searchlight signals!

Larry

Nice series of shots! Good to see some of the older searchlight signals still on the job!

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

Nice stuff! I'm now jealous of anyone who can still shoot searchlights at will. But still, I hope you get another chance soon. That "peek-a-boo" shot of the 7307  is not easy to do! Good job...

Lance

Nice stuff!

Posted from iPhone

Well documented Evan, nice job!

Last one's my favorite too,

Intersting to note that the bases for all three signal masts are different.  Ive always thought that the rounded base of MT2 signal probably dated that as the oldest of the three, but thats just specualtion.

Atwood has "had some work done" over the years. Gone from single main track ABS to 2MT CTC.

John Signor sent along this 1971 view of Atwood from about the same vantage point as photo 2 with his okay to share it here.  Thanks John!
 

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Great comparison with the addition of Signor's 71 view. A little more urban sprawl in 50 years.