Western Railroad Discussion > Good start to the fall season

With the beginning of fall finally here, the heat has started to let up and that harsh, high sun angle for photography has thankfully gone away. To commemorate the first weekend of fall here in Southern California, BNSF was kind enough to send a few nice trains our way, including several with NS power.

Here are some of the photographic results beginning on Saturday Sept 23…

1) The day started off well when three NS GE’s led a westbound stack train near the Mormon Rocks at Pine Lodge in nice early morning light.

2) A wider view, the power was NS 3631, 9798 and 4696.

3) The obligatory “broadside shot”, just west of Cajon.
 

---

---

---

Nice bunch, the 2nd one really stands out to me...

JG

4) I followed the train down, eventually waiting for it at Highgrove (near Riverside) where it was delayed  by a couple of Metrolink’s. Here is SCAX 934 shoving train # 859 past BNSF 7471E.

5) Then came the 3631 once more, passing beneath the signal bridge at Highgrove.

6) Next was a “one unit wonder” westbound with BNSF 7622 sporting weird purple nose lettering, wearing its Halloween costume I guess.
 

---

---

---

7) Bringing up 7622’s rear was NS SD70ACe 1027.

Later that afternoon there was supposed to be a westbound UP passenger special so my wife and I headed back out, only to discover  the train was delayed and wouldn’t be arriving until well after dark. As we started for dinner in San Bernardino, I got a timely heads-up from friend SPgoletablock around 4PM, that four new BNSF GE’s were coming west, a comedy of errors then followed.

8) After setting up on the wrong track at Pine Lodge, we had to scramble down to Keenbrook for this crappy backlit shot of BNSF 3666 and company. This was the third weekend in a row that these units came to SoCal.

Not content, we headed to a spot along the freeway near Baseline that used to be wide open but the new track construction has it all fenced off now.

9) We hustled down to Colton, just west of Rana, where we barely beat it for one final shot. Not very scenic but the light was good. We made it to the restaurant by 6PM and all was well.
 

---

---

---

So Sunday morning, I got out early again hoping to see the new GE’s come back east. Apparently my luck had run out, lots of trains but not much noteworthy.

10) There was one decent westbound, BNSF 6524 and three NS’s, that came down Main 3 at Cajon.

11) As I headed for home, one last delay when I spotted another NS DP on the rear of a long BNSF eastbound overseas stack train at Devore. I went back up to Blue Cut where I took this going away shot of NS 4260.

Overall a pretty good weekend, thanks for following along.

OYW
 

---

---

Why is NS is SoCal?  Long way from home, isn't it? 

Great Series of Photos.  Regarding the coming low light in SoCal, I always felt the Railfan season in the region ran from October 1st to March 31st.

Very nice!  Always look forward to your posts.

texchief1

great images, especially of those new motors............

66

You get an A+ all the way around! But I really like the tone in your Metrolink shot. The light bouncing off the cars makes for a killer image!

Lance

Great series! Pool is Cool:}

Good stuff, thanks for posting.  Now a question:  What's all the detritus about at Cajon station?  This was where Ames Construction had their on-site offices during the third main track construction.  I had thought they'd cleaned that out.  Anyone know?

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/23 20:12 by ntharalson.

ExStarlightHog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why is NS is SoCal?  Long way from home, isn't
> it? 

NS units are especially frequent on the Q-NYCLAC6 off NS train 21G (that # could have changed) from Harrisburg, interchanged at NS Ashland Ave. in Chicago.  NS units also show up on other trains, and a lot of BNSF units show up in exchange on NS trains.

mapboy

Great collection - the shadows of the rocks really stand out.

PCBill

An excellent and enjoyable series!!

Larry

NS has been in the DPU sets over Tehachapi, it's just another locomotive. Gotta go a long way to beat the single CSX
GE on a UP work train one day, that was unique!

Out 

Definitely a good start! Good to see a solid set of NS around here, too.
GK

Fantastic series!

Excellent bunch.
JB

Great catches and photos, Bob.  It was an NS weekend for you - especially the train complete with the matching DP unit!

Rich