Western Railroad Discussion > UP in Cajon <<PANORAMA>>

Hello everyone,

If you haven't read my previous post, I spent Sunday afternoon perched on top of "no-mans knob" along the mainlines up to Cajon Summit in CA. It gives me a great view of the whole canyon because i'm sitting almost 600 feet above the tracks! This was quite a hike today because the temp. outside was a mild 92°. The following pix are of a 42 car UP coal train heading down to San Bernadino. This must be a heavy train seeing it has 5 locos for 42 cars. Sorry for only getting half the locos in the last pic. Enjoy!

Robby F. (Mr. MRL)

Great shots.

Nice shots! Where exactly is this location in Cajon Pass?

Here. :-)

Robby F. (Mr. MRL)

Is there a trail up to your photo location? Or is it more of a scramble? I would assume the average railfan (at 280 pounds not counting the large bags of slide film, scanner batteries, back issues of TRP and doritos) is not going up there. Can I get there on my dirt bike?
Thanks for posting the neat shots. Oh, and don't show this spot to the guys over at Hill 582 or they'll come up to your spot and start planting stuff...

There is probably too much brush to get to the top, but you can get fairly close if you follow the powerline roads. Also, where is Hill 582?

Robby F. (Mr. MRL)

MrMRL Wrote:
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> Here. :-)
>
> Robby F. (Mr. MRL)

Robby:

I thought it looked like it was near Swarthout Road. Thank you for the info. Maybe I'll be able to check out this location the next time I visit Cajon Pass. The hill looks like it is will work morning, noon, and afternoon. Night would be great also.

John Troxler

Yeah, it sure was a busy day up at Cajon, as we could not get east of Lugo due to the massive fleet of westbounds....we were in the Green Dodge Grand Caravan with big whip antenna....we shot this same train from down below at Summit itself....anyhow, Robert and I are going to do Beaumont tomorrow in an expected 111 degree heat(Aaron and Zach are doing the LA Basin). Us here in the FoamersNW Group have literally died and went to railfan heaven, breaking protocol at a record pace, and seeing more trains in 1 day in DAYLIGHT then we could see in 2 on the Seattle Sub/Funnel, 1 1/2 days in Vancouver, 4 days on Stevens Pass(They run trains up there??), and prolly a month and a half on Stampede!! Z trains are very prevelant....kinda funny when we are in the Northwest and refer the Z Train as "The Z Train"...you cant do that down here, as they run around 20-30 a day on the line over Cajon.........
Reporting from the Best Western at Cajon Pass(Cajon Jct),
Drew Mitchem, MP 54 BNSF Seattle Sub, Centralia, WA(CTL)
Foamers NW "Hotbox"
Nickname in Spanish: "Cajon Caliente"

Hill 582 is named for the milepost 58.2 on BNSF's North track - also known as the garden, a small bluff between North and South tracks but beside the North track accessed by dirt roads from Highway up from I15 towards Summit - take a left onto the dirt road by the beehives. This area is currently closed to the public as far as I know. This is not to be confused with the small hill between the tracks where they split (mile post 57.6?) near the Silverwood Xovers.

Given it is not accessible to public and came close to being burned off last year the garden may have suffered somewhat from lack of watering (or did the Forestry folks do it or let Don Tolls come in still?).

Great pics. Thanks for posting them... And for hiking up there to get them...

Well done again, Robby.

Regards,

Barry Cook
Sydney NSW Australia.