Western Railroad Discussion > Trona - Land of Pinnacles and Vintage EMDs

For Spring break I was able to make it down to the Mojave Desert for a re-do of shooting Trona Railway. In 2023 a friend and I spent one afternoon there and missed the uphill trip of light UP power, but snagged one downhill picture. It left us wanting more, but it was always hard to dedicate an entire day out there with shaky intel. We felt that we could do better and with news that the vintage SD40 variants might be phasing out with new EPA guidelines, it was time to plan a dedicated trip to document Trona Railway.

18_lbs, SPGoletaBlock, and TrekkingforTrains all convened on Trona the first week of April for two full days and the results were fantastic. It was a bit too warm with daytime highs in the low 90s but with enough cold beer and shade from unique rock outcroppings, we were able to knock off some awesome shots. Both of the mentioned TO members have shared their work here:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,6019899
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,6015864

The first day Trona ran a 60-something loaded borax train which they opted to split at Oxy for a doubling of the hill. They didn't leave the plant until 5pm, which left us with perfect evening light for the first run. We were giddy to see that 2006, an ex-SP tunnel motor was in the lead! Images 1-3 are a sequence of that split and famous climb up the 1.9% grade to Pinnacles. All three shots are from pretty much the same location, so graciously shared with us by Jeff, the Trona Guru.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/25 19:33 by NoGrainer.

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4. Grab shot at the Trona Road crossing in spectacular golden hour light.

5. Rounding the curve at Garden City before working the interchange at Searles Junction

6. Shoving deep onto the Lone Pine main for UP to retrieve the following morning. 

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5. The next morning started with a chase of the LOP83? (Mojave Local) which had 60 empties and 2 loads for Trona. They departed Mojave before 8am which caught us off guard and required a bit of catch up. Here it is seen climbing out of the Salt Flats near Garlock. 

6. After dropping empties, UP grabbed some loads from last night's Trona work and departs the interchange for Mojave. The veteran crew made quick work of a very full Searles Yard. Based on what was left, it was safe to say that Trona would be running to interchange later in the day.

7. Mojave Local rolling past some ruins at the Garlock ghost town with 35 loads in tow. 

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10. I had this wide angle in mind ever since our last trip 2 years ago. Fellow member, Elrond Lawrence had posted a similar frame and I was obsessed with getting something similar. Unfortunately, a UP motor was leading, but I still love the swooping motion of the track after cresting the 1.9% grade to pinnacles. The scene is just asking for an ultra-wide shot and I finally got it!

11. Trying something different near the Trona Road crossing and was really happy with how it came out. The entire 105 car empty coal train in one frame. 

12. A friendly wave from the crew and the continued indoctrination of the little kid, just hoping he grows up to be a foamer like dad! Its moments like this that remind us about what this hobby is all about. 

Thanks for viewing!

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What days were you in Trona Wed, Thursday or Friday? or all three. 
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Thanks in advance. 
Tony



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/25 13:54 by czuleget.

czuleget Wrote:
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> What days were you in Terona Wed, Thursday or
> Friday? or all three. 
> .
> Thanks in advance. 
> Tony

Day 1 - Wednesday
Day 2 - Thursday 
Thursday is also the day that UP runs to Searles out of Mojave. 

Thanks for the info for Trona run days.. 

Fantastic series, thank you!

-John

If you weathered a model like this you would be accused of overdoing it.

Excellent views, thanks for all your efforts!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/25 18:24 by oyw.

Very nice series!
GK

As always, amazing photography and great narration. Normally running solo out on the Trona it was really cool to be able to hang out with such fun and intelligent company. I don’t know about that ‘guru’ status, but I’ll take it. In return I’m gonna give you and Jon the Marcel Masters title letting me follow in your tire tracks and footprints.

Great series, really like shot #11!

NoGrainer,
Good luck on the "like Dad" "Foamer".
My two kids now 35 and 32 are now: 
35 year old is a UP employee, of all places in Pennsylvania, much more of following Dad as an auto racer at the national level.
The younger somewhat of a model railroader. He has Pennsylvania Z gauge layouts and a garden G gauge layout but an encounter with a snake may have diminished the interest in garden railroading.
Restores ancient Volkswagens.
Go
 

Really like #10

Posted from iPhone

I'm trying to figure out how the UP crews work that yard.  To the left, on the descending grade, are cars--loaded or emtpy?  In the distnace, on th eold track to Lone Pine, are more cars.  Loaded or empty?

The train comes thru the tunnel--does Trona keep 2 tracks clear and open for them??  The power has to run around, then do their run around.

Which track are the loads staged on?

Nice shots!!

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm trying to figure out how the UP crews work
> that yard.  To the left, on the descending grade,
> are cars--loaded or emtpy?  In the distnace, on
> th eold track to Lone Pine, are more cars.
>  Loaded or empty?
>
> The train comes thru the tunnel--does Trona keep 2
> tracks clear and open for them??  The power has
> to run around, then do their run around.
>
> Which track are the loads staged on?

On the descending grade (towards Trona) the cars are empties and seem to be long term stored. Cars on the Lone Pine stub are loads. Empty coal goes there also. These are all cars for the UP to take away. Cars in the yard itself are those brought in by the UP, empties or loaded coal.

exhaustED Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On the descending grade (towards Trona) the cars
> are empties and seem to be long term stored. Cars
> on the Lone Pine stub are loads. Empty coal goes
> there also. These are all cars for the UP to take
> away. Cars in the yard itself are those brought in
> by the UP, empties or loaded coal.

There are no stored cars at Searles, this is strictly an interchange yard. Trona stores cars in the yard at Oxy. 

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm trying to figure out how the UP crews work
> that yard.  To the left, on the descending grade,
> are cars--loaded or emtpy?  In the distnace, on
> th eold track to Lone Pine, are more cars.
>  Loaded or empty?
>
> The train comes thru the tunnel--does Trona keep 2
> tracks clear and open for them??  The power has
> to run around, then do their run around.
>
> Which track are the loads staged on?

Inbound cars are setout in Searles yard by UP and outbound cars are shoved out on the former Lone Pine main by the TRC.  The normal routine is for the UP to pull into track 1 and setout the overflow into the rest of the tracks, afterwards they then cutoff light power and run down the old main to pick up the cars that TRC staged.  TRC does it all in reverse, they pull down the UP main towards the tunnel and then shove their train back on the UP main towards the 395.  After securing the cars they cutoff light and double the Searles yard tracks out towards Trona.

-18_lbs