Western Railroad Discussion > New Year's Day Trains (near Beaumont, SoCal)

Many years ago, I visited Roseville on New Year's Day and was pleasantly surprised by numerous westbounds descending Donner. Sounds very off topic, except that's when I learned that trains originating before a holiday will continue running.

So I visited SoCal applying that "logic." And New Year's Day on the Yuma Sub didn't disappoint. I ran into 5 westbounds. 1 eastbound was the YWC86 (local).

I was roaming along I-10 on rainy New Year's Day morning, and heard DS 244 dealing with a stalling train between Garnet (near the Amtrak Depot) and West Palm Springs. Seems one of the engines was having problems. It's not the first time I've seen (or heard) trains stall in that stretch.

I had already driven east past the Amtrak Depot on I-10. DS 244 mentioned a Z train in the vicinity, and soon after that, I spotted a westbound Z-ish train between the tamarisk trees near Rimlon.

I turned around, headed west, and got a visual of the (now stalled) 2x2 manifest. I drove on, then intercepted the Z past the summit at Beaumont. Only 3 engines, relatively short and good number of trailers (this video).

- I found the "86 local" switching at Lowe's distribution center.
- Video of the 3 engined westbound Z just down the hill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/26 21:55 by cchan006.

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After catching the short Z, I headed back east on I-10 to track progress of the stalled manifest - various radio chatter hinted at manned helpers preparing to help the train. I then heard another train nearby, asking DS 244 where the helpers are.

"Helpers are on the main."

I didn't expect the "86 local" to be running on New Year's Day, but I guessed that they'd be interested in knowing where the helpers are parked (or not) as I've documented the job using the east lead at the S curve to run around their train before heading back to Colton. Helpers are sometimes parked on the east lead to block its use.

Further radio chatter confirmed it was the "86." So I turned around, headed back west to see what the "86" was up to.

- After pulling out the empty boxcars from within the warehouse, "86" is getting ready to pull the empty centerbeams.

- Next, "86" shoving the loaded boxcars into the warehouse.

- Video of some of the action at Lowe's Distribution Center, then "86" descending west back to Colton.
 

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Just when I arrived at Lowe's, a second westbound Z showed up, 4x2x0? All 53' boxes, no trailers and quite long. I was out of position so didn't document the train.

After the "86 local" finished pulling the empty centerbeams, I heard the unmistakable K5LA horn of either an Amtrak (very unlikely) or SD70AH-T4. I got out of my rental Jeep Compass right away to document the train.

It was a 6 engined Z (no DPU) led by SD70AH-T4 UP 3034. Rather than document the entire train at Beaumont, I drove ahead to look for rainy, hilly scenery past Hinda, between the crossing and El Casco and got the entire train there. Not going 70 mph, so the video is 4+ minutes long.

I headed back east, documented the YWC86 coming down west (earlier video) and found the 2x2+2 manifest (manned helpers on the rear) parked on Main 1 near Beaumont Summit. Another westbound Z-ish train showed up on Main 2 (not documented).

I guess if I count the "86 local" heading back west, I got 6 westbounds including the manifest?

That's it for the report.
 

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Nice report, happy new year!

Looks green out there, will be heading back to California from Chicago in a few days. Probably will drive the I-10 route, but that's a weather dependent circuitous route back to San Jose. But then again so was the SSW+SP from StL.