Western Railroad Discussion > Spirit of Union Pacific in the California Desert (UP 1943)

I had planned a weekend getaway in SoCal, something I do several times a year. The weather in Coachella Valley is very nice in the winter, so that's where I headed this time. I checked heritageunits.com for anything coming my way, and saw that there was a MFWLA (Fort Worth to East Los Angeles) approaching Yuma, AZ around 9 am, with UP 1943 as leader. That was about an hour before I landed at Palm Springs.

My plan was set for the afternoon.

- At Amtrak Palm Springs Depot near the end of the chase.
- Going away shot.
- Video in the desert, from Salton Sea to Rancho Mirage.
 

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I got a nice surprise on my way to intercept the UP 1943.

I was catching up to an eastbound stack train as I was driving SE along the Yuma Sub near Ferrum. 2nd unit didn't look Armour Yellow, and as I got closer, I identified it as UP 1982, Missouri Pacific Heritage Unit. It wasn't leading, but SD70AH-T4 is still somewhat rare, so UP 3093 was a nice consolation prize.

Stack trains run fast in this territory (60-65 mph), so I posted the entire ILBMN (Long Beach, CA to Marion, AK) here. 3:14 total for the pacing sequence and the whole train.

Second video of this post has 2 additional clips of the UP 1943 that didn't make the cut. I always wanted to document the palm trees along the ROW between Mecca and Mortmar, and thanks to MFWLA running slower than 50 mph, I did it with ease. Last clip is near Fingal to put Mount San Jacinto in the background. The sun was setting, low and south enough to minimize glare, so even without neutral light, I gave it a try.

The sun had set before MFWLA had hit Beaumont Hill summit, so if there aren't reports from TO's SoCal photo experts of this train, you know why. 

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Double heritage is always cool. Man, that 1943 led quite the PSR junker. Great scene over the bridge with the Southern Pacific lettering still hanging on. 

Nice catches and 1943 has a nivce sounding K5LL horn too!
Regards, Jim Evans

Very nice video/photo chase there 006!

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

Nice pair of catches, and fine videos!
GK

Thanks for taking time to video the entire trains. Fun to watch.