Western Railroad Discussion > Beaumont, CA (UP's Yuma Sub)

After visiting Southern California Railway Museum to document ATSF 5704, I continued north to randomly hunt trains on the ex-SP, UP's Yuma Sub.

Those who know the freeway traffic patterns around Riverside might understand what I did. I could have stayed on I-215 toward High Grove to hunt BNSF trains, or go near UP's West Colton Yard, but I hate getting stuck at 91/60/215 interchanges, so I headed to San Timoteo Canyon instead via Hwy 60 east to avoid the waste of time.

I headed east on I-10 until I saw a green signal for a westbound, which happened to be an intermodal train with only 2 engines. It had a mix of both domestic and overseas containers, and once I realized that the train didn't struggle that much climbing to Cabazon, I decided to document the short, seemingly light train - deadheading empty containers? Symbol unknown.

Years ago, TO member oyw introduced the S curve at Beaumont in one of his reports. Since then, I've used that location when appropriate to document westbounds descending into San Timoteo Canyon.

Mid-summer light (sunlight from the north) is unfriendly at this location. I decided to go there anyway, since there were enough clouds for a possible neutral light shot.

From past chases, I knew I had plenty of time until the westbound showed up. As I was studying the hazy sunlight at the location, I heard GEVO horns from the west - eastbound incoming! I didn't have time to set up for an overhead shot, so I decided to document the train from close to ground level, this video.

5x2x0 eastbound is very likely the ZLAMN (Los Angeles, CA to Marion, AK). The big clue is the yellow Central Transport trailers near the rear of the train. Instead of staying put to document the entire train, I got 3 separate angles as I walked up to the elevated angle... I did that just in case the westbound showed up for a meet.

No meet.

(more next)
 

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Here's the westbound I wanted to document - only 2 engines, no DPUs. Entire train is shown.

I chose to shoot through the fence just in case sunlight got brighter for this angle which is more curve than S curve.

(more next)

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Before ending my eventful July 4th railfan day, I decided to go "Maersk hunting" with the next eastbound that showed up - a 3x2x0 intermodal train with both domestic and overseas boxes, but mostly overseas. Symbol unknown. Only found 2 Maersk boxes.

This location is east from the S curve, near the actual Beaumont summit. 

- Front.
- First Maersk.
- Second and last Maersk (newer scheme?)
 

---

---

---

I'll end the report with the annoying mid-train DPU with graffiti - at least, it's a MU'd SD70M. 

---

Cool! I haven't shot from Beaumont Ave in years, glad to see it's still doable.

How do you tell the difference in domestic and international containers?

Paul Boggs
Canton, GA

SD608708 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How do you tell the difference in domestic and
> international containers?

Usually by length. The longest ones you see are 53', which are domestic. The shorter ones, 40' and 20' are overseas as they are designed to fit on ships where they are stacked more than two high. There's a small number of 45' boxes, which are also overseas.

There are other ways to tell, for example by name on the boxes, but figuring out by size is accurate enough.

Theres a WB marine stacker that passed Indio at 11:55am PDT 7/7 that has over 130 Maersk boxes on it.    Maybe IDILB.  

A productive UP hunting trip! (And I know the pain regarding that freeway interchange.)
GK

In the first post you mentioned you supected the destination of the train from the Central Transport trailers toward the end. Just because i don't know, may i ask what is the significance in your estimation of those trailers riding the train regarding the destination?

Mopac3240 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just because i don't know, may i ask what is the significance in
> your estimation of those trailers riding the train
> regarding the destination?

Can't help you there.

Central Transport trailer destination is based on past discussions here on TO. There are other members who keep closer watch on the entire trains (webcams, eyewitnessing, my video reports) so they will share their info with other TO members on the destinations based on what they know and what they see.

Central Transport trailers are also on the I-5 corridor Z trains like ZLCTM (LATC to Tacoma) and vice versa (IBRLC or ZBRLC or whatever they are called now).

So I'm just passing along things I remember from those discussions. Best way to learn these things is to watch those discussions, and go out and railfan the trains yourself - it's experience.

memphisfreight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Theres a WB marine stacker that passed Indio at
> 11:55am PDT 7/7 that has over 130 Maersk boxes on
> it.    Maybe IDILB.  

Thanks. I hope to hunt that down eventually, before Maersk stops using UP. Too bad the Long Beach stackers seem better powered than two years ago... Easier to catch when they stall and stop. >:-)