Western Railroad Discussion > Railfanning west of Maricopa, Az

Hi all,

Friend of mine, family member is autistic, Loves trains. They asked of good railfanning spots. I told them decent amount of ocean 40s coming across the sunset west of Maricopa, AZ but didn't have schedules. I can look it up on UP website but would anyone have recommendations of time/place to sit... it's hot here... just a little ... they would be looking to catch some between 430-700pm

Freight trains do not run on particularly reliable schedules, even those that have "cut off" and "delivery" times on a railroad web site. If the time you have available is as you describe, I'd go find a place near Maricopa and wait for the trains to show up. If there's any thought of venturing farther from civilization, out into the desert, there's certainly some interesting scenery out there and the area's original main road follows the tracks pretty closely, but bring lots of water and some food and be sure the vehicle has a full gas tank and its air conditioning works.

Owl_Spotter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi all,
>
> Friend of mine, family member is autistic, Loves
> trains. They asked of good railfanning spots. I
> told them decent amount of ocean 40s coming across
> the sunset west of Maricopa, AZ but didn't have
> schedules. I can look it up on UP website but
> would anyone have recommendations of time/place to
> sit... it's hot here... just a little ... they
> would be looking to catch some between 430-700pm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/22 13:08 by toledopatch.

So the area with some scenery is West down 238 toward Shawmut  (East of Gila Bend). There's plenty of area to park and
watch trains if there are any running. Sunset traffic is really hit and miss and as previously mentioned it's hot AND it's monsoon
season. Do not take the pop-up storms lightly, they can be deadly. 

Out