Western Railroad Discussion > Western Road Trip

I'm planning on taking a trip from San Antonio to Los Angeles in March (was planning on taking Amtrak but that's another story). Would like to know the amount of traffic between El Paso and West Colton and some good photo locations on the line.

SP7615

The area east of Yuma yields terrific shots, also the area east of Tuscon where the tracks are seperate (Cienega creek ???), San Timoteo canyon west of palm Sprigs.


TCS - i.

I'm not an expert on this line's photo ops in Texas, NM, AZ, or even California southeast of Indio, but some classic shots I've seen at slide shows, in magazines and in books from San Antonio west to LA -- which others can confirm more details regarding how to get to, best lighting per direction of train per time-of-day, access restrictions, traffic level/type, etc. -- include the following:

1. Pecos River bridge

2. Hill area near Alpine (nice rocks & S-curve near summit)

3. Dragoon Mountains (various sites)

4. Double trackage on separate r-o-w east of Tucson

5. Colorado River crossing near Yuma

6. Various curves near Salton Sea (near Bombay Beach, iirc)

7. Line west of Palm Springs near Whitewater River

8. East side of San Gorgonio Pass near Cabazon

9. West side of San Gorgonio Pass in San Timeteo Canyon

[note: #9 is my fave -- fantastic morning shots with Mt. San Jacinto in background, and great pacing of eastbounds from road crossing east to Interstate]

10. Colton Tower

11. Offbeat: winery parking lot next to Ontario Airport

12. Pomona area: some semi-rural locs left if you poke about

13. LAUPT


Note: these are not secret sites nor specific locations; for the most part they are general areas where others have found excellent "visual opportunities" in the past. Some things are reasonably straightforward: eastbounds typically photograph better from most locations before lunch, westbounds after lunch; from Fools' Day to Halloween the sun will be north of the tracks; a fair amount of westbound containers tend to come into LA on Sundays, and a fair number of eastbound containers are still outgoing from LA from Friday evening thru Saturday.

YRMV!