Western Railroad Discussion > Recent El Centro and ZLAAI (SoCal)

I did a quick getaway to SoCal last month.

First train, led by SD70AH-T4 UP 3012 is the El Centro Hauler. Until radio chatter confirmed my suspicions, I guessed it was the El Centro due to its Sunday afternoon departure east out of West Colton Yard.

First, I record the entire train at Mt Vernon, east end of the Colton flyover.

That red car was supposed to be my Economy rental, "Chevy Sparks or similar." Seems rental car agencies have recovered from their pandemic financials, and are being generous with upgrades again. "Only" 6 cylinders, good for ~300 horses.

Last, I chose a location between Centennial Memorial Bridge and Beaumont Summit. Overcast and neutral light meant I had some freedom to choose angle over light.

- Long Beach bound stacker with C6044AC UP 6935 leading. Has a nice K3HL horn (not recorded).
- El Centro with UP 3012 departing West Colton Yard as UP 6935 passes by (at Pepper Ave. overpass).
- Video of UP 3012 as described above.

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While heading east toward San Timoteo Canyon to intercept UP 3012, I overheard UP Dispatcher 250 talk to a NS 7714. It was unlikely a westbound (I would have seen it). I guessed an eastbound, and planned to turn back and head west to intercept it after I was done with UP 3012.

I returned to the sweeping curve near Beaumont again, since I liked the location and wanted to record "pool power" there.

I was running out of time to catch my flight, so intead of heading east past Palm Springs for 70 mph territory, I caught NS 7714 one last time at Banning, not fast, but fast enough to record the entire ZLAAI-ish train there. Symbol not confirmed, with no radio chatter to support my guess.

That's all folks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/04/24 20:54 by cchan006.

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Awesome day!

Good stuff.   Train led by the NS was most likely a ZLAMN.  No trailers or CSX boxes on the AI trains.  The FredEx containers ride on both AI and MN trains so it wasn't ZLAMQ. 

Nice videos Charles. Interesting horn on 3012. If it was a K5LL, it sounded different than those on the SD70ACE and AH units.
Regards, Jim Evans

FiveChime Wrote:
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> Nice videos Charles. Interesting horn on 3012. If
> it was a K5LL, it sounded different than those on
> the SD70ACE and AH units.

Other SD70AH-T4 (or non-UP designation of SD70ACe-T4) I've caught also had this horn, and other railfans say it's K5LA. Sounds a little different from K5LAs I've heard on NS units and Amtraks.