Nostalgia & History > Hinkle OR, 1981

In May 1981, a fellow railfan and myself made a 1600 mile trip from Saskatchewan to Sacramento for Railfair '81 at the California State Railroad Museum.  For me, the highlight of the trip was a few hours spent at Union Pacific's Hinkle Yard.  After introducing ourselves and signing a waiver, we were given an escorted tour of the yard, including a visit to the yard tower.  (I'm quite sure the fact that my friend was a CN engineer worked to our advantage.)  For a kid growing up on a secondary mainline with GP-9's and just a few trains a day, this was the big leagues!

#1)  A Westerm Pacific bay window caboose passes by on a westbound freight.
#2)  Union Pacifc, Conrail and MKT units depart with an eastbound
#3)  Same eastbound, passing by yard engines at the east end of the yard

Cheers,
Dwayne
 

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#4)  Working on a GP30, and even the forklift has a nice paint job.
#5)  A Norfolk Western unit on a westbound.

Cheers,
Dwayne

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That was quite the long-distance adventure for you two. 

​Good catch on getting SD45 #4 in one of the shots leading a train...don't think those units had much time left on the mainlines before they were parked long term at Yermo later that year or the next.