Joshua Trees and Big GEs - Wanderings around California

[Techniquest]

Wow, that's a gorgeous set of photos! hock:

Very interesting discussion of how things are worked too, all stuff I didn't know. What a productive morning you had there so far, the rest of it promises to be just as good!

 

[ac6000cw]

In case any of you are wondering why the locos in the pictures seem to be almost entirely relatively modern stuff from GE, there are a few intertwined reasons:

One is that California is very concerned about 'clean air' these days, so there are financial incentives available to replace older motive power with modern low-emission versions (so the older power tends to get moved elsewhere in the country). The two big western railroads, UP and BNSF, make extensive use of radio-controlled Distributed Power Units (DPU) - modern locos normally come equipped with that capability from new (and it works better on fully computerised 'I can look after myself' locos), whereas old ones like EMD SD40-2's don't usually have that capability. So again older power is less useful/flexible on mainline trains (and it uses more fuel).

As for the lack of EMD power, a quick potted history of the US diesel loco market:

From the early 1940s until the 1980s EMD was the dominant supplier of diesel locos in the US (the SD40-2, introduced in 1972, is the best-selling model in EMD history with nearly 4000 built over a 17 year period - most of them are still in service too. The UK Class 59's are basically an SD40-2 squeezed into a smaller double-cab body). GE started to get seriously into the market in the 1960s - prior to that it been mostly a supplier of industrial switchers (shunters) and the electrical equipment for diesel locos from Alco (a major steam loco builder in the past - UP's 'Big Boy' 4-8-8-4's were from Alco. It left the market in 1969).

Starting with the U30C in 1966, GE slowly began to catch up with EMD on reliability and performance, and had probably more-or-less got there with the C30-7 in 1976. Then EMD introduced the 3500hp SD50 in 1980, largely in response to GE offering 3600hp 'Dash-7' series locos. This pushed the ageing V16 645 series diesel engine too far - the SD50 was plagued with engine and electrical reliability problems (and EMD had build-quality issues as well). This was a gift to GE - it grasped the opportunity with both hands and never looked back. EMD eventually responded with the 3800hp SD60 using the new 710 series engine and computerised traction control - a good loco but EMD's reputation was tainted by the SD50 problems so it wasn't exactly a runaway sales success. GE pushed on with the Dash-8 series in 1983 and the Dash-9's in 1993, building nearly 1100 C40-9W (4000hp) and 2500 C44-9W (4400hp) up to 2004, along with 2600 of the AC4400CW AC-drive version, turning GE into the dominant US loco builder. For more info, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GE_locomotives and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GM-EMD_locomotives

And who runs what today:

BNSF alone operates nearly 1800 C44-9W, which along with the more recent ES44DC and ES44C4 locos (another 1900 units) form the majority of its general freight and intermodal fleet. It's not surprising they turn up on every BNSF mainline train in California... For heavy-haul use (coal/grain/oil etc. trains) it runs 780 AC-drive EMD SD70MAC - the first production US AC-drive locos (in 1993), 640 EMD SD70ACe, 120 GE AC4400CW and 700 GE ES44AC.

UP has been a bit more even-handed when buying over the last 20 years, placing the largest loco order in US history in 1999 for 1000 DC-drive 4300hp EMD SD70M (EMD's response to the C44-9W), with a follow-on order for another 500. More recently it's added 600+ AC-drive EMD SD70ACe. It also runs about 1100 AC-drive ES44AC and 1300 AC-drive AC4400CW - UP has only bought AC-drive locos since the SD70M orders.

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So next time someone asks 'why did EWS/Freightliner/GBRf (etc.) buy locos from the US', just think about those production numbers - GE alone built on average 500 locos per year between 1993 and 2004, which translates into real economies of scale.

Of course, if it's electric locos the boot is on the other foot - US passenger operators buy Americanised versions of European models from Bombardier and Siemens these days - if you want to know why, read the story of the GE E60CP with Amtrak - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_E60#E60CP_and_E60CH

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BTW - in EMD nomenclature, 'GPxx' = 4-axle 'General Purpose' loco, 'SDxx' = 6-axle 'Special Duty' loco, 'Fxx' = full-width body, which means 4-axle passenger locos today, but way back was used for 4-axle 'cab unit' freight power e.g. FT and F2 though to F9 (the ones with the iconic streamlined noses, like the 63 year old F7A in my avatar). The 'Exx' units were twin-engined (V12 567 series) passenger A1A-A1A locos produced up to 1964.

 

[Kristofferson]

I'll admit I scanned the history of Diesel engines, but it makes sense how the current status quo came to be.

Great photos of course

 

[ac6000cw]

I'll admit I scanned the history of Diesel engines, but it makes sense how the current status quo came to be.

I've edited it a bit to hopefully make it easier to read, but condensing 70+ years of US diesel loco history into a few sentences isn't easy

It's a sobering thought that the one remaining loco (in a museum) from the original EMD FT four-unit demonstrator set is now 75 years old - 11 years older than any BR standard steam loco. In historical terms it's almost as significant as Stephenson's Rocket, in the sense that it convinced the railroads of the day that diesel power could out-perform any steam loco then existing, and with lower running costs i.e. that diesels weren't just toys to pull flashy lightweight passenger trains, but serious tools for moving freight economically.

EMD seem to be shooting themselves in the foot again - having put all their hopes into redesigning the two-stroke 710 engine to make it Tier-4 emissions compliant, they failed, so now they've had to design a new 4-stroke '1010' series engine to power future US freight locos. Trouble is, GE are shipping production versions of their new T4 compliant 'ET44' loco (I saw a pair of them on a BNSF freight), whereas EMD have only just rolled out the first few 'demonstrator' SD70ACe-T4 units (customer test units, really), so they are probably at least a year behind GE, with no freight loco design to sell in their home market at the moment...

Incidentally, the new GE ET44's could be an American 'shed' - look at the shape of that huge radiator (picture from Jonathan Camacho at www.rrpicturearchives.net)

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Meanwhile, back with the Tehachapi trains...

Day 4 - Part 2, A relaxed Sunday afternoon on Tehachapi

After enjoying breakfast part 2, I decided it was time to visit the curve east of Cable - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/3...35.1377485,-118.4775678,17z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e2

This involves parking in the Meadowbrook Park lot, then walking half a mile through the park down to the line. Sod's Law being what it is, an eastbound (uphill) intermodal goes past when I'm half way down the path . Oh well, there'll be another one along soon (based on the day so far). I wait, and wait, and wait... Then I hear some odd noises in the scrub nearby, and realise that a family of deer are making their way down the valley towards the railroad. Trying to take some decent photos of them keeps me occupied for a while - one of them seems to be a hopeful train-watcher too:



Still no trains - I try my hand at photographing the blue California 'Scrub Jay' birds that keep flitting about, but they prove too camera-shy (as soon as one is close enough, by the time I've got the camera on it, it's gone...).

Eventually I hear distant train horns - hurrah! - it's a westbound (downhill) train, but I'll take anything at this point, so with 'all the sixes' leading here it is:



Time to move on - I walk back to the car and drive down the Woodford-Tehachapi Rd to see if anything else is about (with a quick side-trip to the lineside at Marcel so I know the way for later). No trains to be found, so I have lunch in the 'Keene Cafe' - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...97,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x2d41a6e6e1783186 - good food, and if you can cope with the hot sun at the outside tables, you can at least hear the trains as they climb the hill (the line is about 400m away). After lunch I drive back up to Woodford Siding just in time to catch this UP 'autorack' train thundering upgrade (GE ES44AC and two EMD SD70M):



As I've never photographed a train at Marcel, I make my way back there to await the arrival of the UP train. It rounds the curve:



...then a close up view of an ES44AC:



...and finally the DPU makes it's way around the S-curve:



The sun is starting to sink towards the hilltops by this time, but that makes for interesting 'light and shade' shots, so I turn around and drive down to Bealville. After a short time a seven loco lash-up on the front of a BNSF mixed freight climbs towards me:



...complete with a somewhat ratty-looking 25 year old GE B40-8W still in Santa Fe 'Warbonnet' red and silver livery:



...and a C44-9W in a rather travel-stained BNSF version of 'Warbonnet' paint:



Incidentally, the driver of the car in the picture above reversed back from the crossing when he saw my camera, so as not to spoil the view - I waved a friendly greeting

We haven't got to the end of the day yet, so more to follow...
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Day 4 - Part 3, The last evening at Tehachapi

I carry on over the crossing down to the bottom of the hill, then turn left onto the road up to Tunnels 1 & 2. I noticed yesterday that if you stand in the right place, it's possible to see the railway on both sides of the creek, since the line does a 180 degree U-turn as it passes through Caliente village i.e. if the train is long enough you can see both ends of the train simultaneaously moving in opposite directions

I don't have to wait long before hearing the noise of an approaching train, but in the meantime I finally manage to photgraph one of the elusive birds!:



A BNSF double-stack train curves into Caliente (out of shot to the left):



...and starts climbing up the creek towards Tunnel 1:



...until both ends are in view:



...and a bit of light and shade:



(The whole sequence is on video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7EM3OAaIrg )

As things are a bit quiet (and the sun is sinking), I decide to use the remaining daylight to chase the train up the pass, so a final 'Bealville Sunset':



and the east end of Woodford Siding (one of my favourite photos of the whole trip):



A 'camera's eye' view of double-stack size versus Mazda 3 - it's about 20 feet from rail level to the top of a double-stack. Those are 53 feet long 'domestic' containers on the train - BNSF is a major carrier of traffic for the big US trucking companies (like J.B.Hunt) between the west coast and the mid-west - it's cheaper than trucking them over that distance:



Looking down onto the west switch of Marcel Siding, just after the Loop and Tunnel 10 (the CA-58 freeway is in the background):



Although it was tempting to try and catch the train at Cable, I decided I might not get there in time (since it involves a reasonable walk from the car park), so I went for a final shot of the train approaching downtown Tehachapi:




So that's all from Tehachapi (after a great two days there) - tomorrow morning it's time move 'base camp' and head many miles north to Donner Pass

 

[Kristofferson]

Those things are ridiculously big. Still not bored of seeing them in action

 

[Minilad]

This is rapidly turning into my all time favourite thread on RailUK. Beating even the legendary MileHighClub thread.
Some wonderfully evocative shots and it just makes me want to do the same. I have been to the States many times, the latest was Texas in October, but never specifically for some railroad action

 

[Techniquest]

Better than the Metre High Club thread? No, that isn't possible!

However I am definitely enjoying the read and the amazing photos! I'd have commented last night but I am running low on mobile data until Sunday, so I had to shut it all off fast!

 

[ac6000cw]

This is rapidly turning into my all time favourite thread on RailUK. Beating even the legendary MileHighClub thread.

Praise indeed!

I have been to the States many times, the latest was Texas in October, but never specifically for some railroad action

Shame on you

...but I'd had several 'normal' holidays there without taking more than an occasional interest in the freight scene, before going on a group trip to the Chicago area in 1996 and getting thoroughly 'hooked'. Nearly two weeks of train-watching, museum visits and an out-of-the-blue surprise ride in a pair of private passenger cars behind an EMD GP40 to North Fond du Lac probably had a lot to do with it...(I'll leave you work out which railroad owned the GP40 at the time).

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In case you're all wondering how much left, this was an 11 day trip in total.

A few days were light on trains because I was doing a lot of travelling, but there is Donner Pass (Roseville to Truckee and some places along the way), Portola museum, the 'Feather River' route, Cajon Pass, Beaumont Hill and the Orange Empire museum still to come (Phew - did I really do all that in one trip ?).

 

[Minilad]

Heres a few from my visit to Texas in October

Preserved loco at Temple Railroad Museum



Trinity Railroad Express loco 121 arrives at CentrePort station



BNSF 5013 passes Temple yard



General view of Temple Yard



TRE 121 at Dallas Union



UP 5301 leads a freight through Dallas Union



BNSF 5518 and 6835 head through Dallas Union



Amtrak 192 at Dallas Union



TRE 570 at Dallas Union



TRE 121 pushes out of CentrePort



Amtrak 137 at Fort Worth



Preserved Geep on the Grapevine Railroad

 

[47403]

FANTASTIC thread, I'm loving this, some staggering photos and great youtube clips too, its a thread that just keeps giving. I'm not big on, other countries loco's but I have a strange fascination about reading about them, if that makes sense? This is, Truly fascinating.

The intermodals, the double container trains just look HUUUUUGGGGEEE!!!!, seemingly dwarfing the loco's themselves, which don't look like they're exactly shrinking violets either.

Please excuse my ignorance here but are these places your visiting well known freight hot spots in the US(I'm assuming so and have obviously researched thus) or are you going just on spec and trusting your patience or the US equivalent of Real Time Trains or Freightmaster?

Cant wait for the next installment

Minilad, some excellent photos to go with this thread, again the US Railroad locos just look huge, especially like the look TRE 121. Thanks for sharing those too.

 

[ac6000cw]

Minilad - that looks like proper railroad action to me - very nice set of photos (I've never been to Texas).

TRE seems to run almost the same mix of equipment as Metrolink (F59/F59PHI plus Bombardier BiLevels), and that is a nicely kept 62 year old GP7 in the last photo. The GP7 was EMD's first 'road switcher' style loco design i.e. equally at home hauling 'road' freights or switching freight cars in the yard, hence the big steps and the 'porches' at each end for crew to ride on during switching moves.

But the really interesting photo is the 'Temple Yard' one - you've managed to get (from left to right) BN green and black, modern BNSF orange, Santa Fe blue and yellow, another variation of BNSF orange, and finally what looks like a blue leasing company-owned loco all in one picture . (Burlington Northern - BN - and Santa Fe - ATSF - were the two railroads that merged to form BNSF in 1996).

 

[Minilad]

I had never been to Texas before either! Great State. I had plenty of TRE action as we stayed in Arlington as that was a good location for other things we were doing. So plenty of TRE trips into Dallas and Fort Worth. A drive down to Austin and San Antonio gave the opportunity to pop into Temple for an afternoon break. Nice little museum there too. So while the holiday wasn't strictly a railroad one I managed to sneak a bit in
I really would love to do a trip like the one you are doing. I did one for aircraft a few years ago around California and Arizona but never specifically for trains. Might have to see if I can persuade the missus to let me go over for a week or two!!

 

[ac6000cw]

Please excuse my ignorance here but are these places your visiting well known freight hot spots in the US(I'm assuming so and have obviously researched thus) or are you going just on spec and trusting your patience or the US equivalent of Real Time Trains or Freightmaster?

Mostly it's 'well known freight hot spots' - places like Tehachapi and Cajon passes are internationally known places of 'pilgrimage'. I've met enthusiasts from Italy and New Zealand there in the past, as well as the locals - on this trip I was chatting at the Loop to two guys from Australia who were doing a mega-trip around the western US (for three months I think).

Tehachapi Pass is a 35-40 trains per day line (counting both directions), making it in freight tonnage terms one of the busiest single-track lines in the world. Cajon is over 100 per day (on multiple tracks).

If you translated that into UK train weights and lengths, you'd probably need at least five to six times as many trains, so a freight train every 5 minutes round the clock on Tehachapi...To actually handle that would need multiple tracks (which would be very expensive/difficult to build in that sort of terrain), so you can understand why US railroading has evolved in the direction of longer and heavier trains - if you don't have 'mix it' with frequent passenger trains, it's a much more economical way of moving the same tonnage.

I don't know of an equivalent of Realtimetrains or Freightmaster in the US (but you can check the progress of Amtrak passenger trains online), so mostly it boils down to heading for likely good spots and keeping fingers crossed. If you are unlucky, sometimes the railroad will a close a line for maintenance for a time during weekday daylight hours. So take a good book or have a 'plan B' to go somewhere else for a while - but when it re-opens you'll probably get a minor flood of 'held' trains, so it's not all bad news . I also have a fairly cheap, old, radio scanner (from Radio Shack) which is sometimes able to pick up the dispatcher/train crew conversations and the messages from 'talking' lineside defect detectors - basically if you can hear messages then at least something might be moving (probably away from you of course - that's life...). There are also 'web radio' feeds of some of that in certain areas. If you are on a line that is not very busy, then once you've found a train it's common practice (if the roads make it possible) to 'chase' the train and take photos at several different locations, but you need to have a reasonable idea of where you are going to do that successfully - so program up the SatNav or scout out the route beforehand.

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Day 5 - Part 1, Roseville here we come..

Up early again - after breakfast and doubtless the odd train, time to get on the road - it's 334 miles to Roseville according to Google maps. I manage to avoid the temptation to take a last drive down to Woodford, and head straight for the CA-58 freeway 'west'. This turns out to have an unexpected bonus - between roughly Cable and Marcel, the railroad runs on a high ledge cut into the side of the valley on the south side of the freeway, and there is a train also heading west! So I move into the slow lane and watch it snake along the ledge and through the short tunnel - a nice start to the journey

Down the hill into Bakersfield, over the bridge spanning the BNSF yard (there are a couple of motels/hotels that overlook the BNSF line in this area, if you fancy staying there), then head northwards on CA-99 towards Fresno. This road closely parallels the UP (ex-SP) mainline up the San Joaquin valley (the BNSF mainline - and passenger route - is a bit further west) so I'm hoping I might see the odd train along the way. Just north of Bakerfield is oil country - groups of 'nodding donkey' pumps dot the flat landscape (this area produces about 10% of the US oil supply). Years ago the one of heaviest regular trains over Tehachapi Pass was the SP 'Oil Cans' which ran from a loading terminal at Saco north of Bakersfield to a refinery near Long Beach - it needed four EMD SD40T-2 on the front, five more mid-train and sometimes one on the rear to get it up the pass. This is a classic video clip of it emerging from Tunnel 5 in 1991 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXpTRpn_fuQ and struggling through Bealville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgNPBtxT2_g (unfortunately it had been replaced by a pipeline by the time I first visited the pass in 1998 )

The miles roll by... I pass a couple of UP freights along the way, and eventually pull off into Fresno for a lunch stop (McDonalds again...). The UP and BNSF lines 'swap sides' here at a flat crossing, so I head over there - a BNSF mixed freight headed by a leased 'Citirail' ES44 soon rolls over the 'diamonds' and heads into the yard:



After moving a bit further north alongside the line, I spot a San Joaquin Valley Railroad GP38-2 switching cars in the yard. After watching it while finishing lunch (and just missing photgraphing a southbound Amtrak passenger train), I decide it's time to hit the road again. Carrying on alongside the railroad for a bit, I come across the SJVR train again stopped at signals - I pull over and get the camera out:



...and heading north (on the UP mainline I think):



The loco livery is basically the Genesee & Wyoming corporate colours (yes, the same company that is buying Freightliner) - the SJVR is one of it's 'shortline' railroads. Thinking that I'd done quite well train-wise for a lunch stop, I get back onto the road and roll forward in a queue of traffic towards the level crossing in the distance - and the red lights start to flash No time to get the camera out again before another SJVR train (on a different, west to east, route) rolls across the diamond crossing of the UP line, headed by several locos in the red, white and blue of former SJVR owner Rail America. I remember thinking at the time that the lead loco looked a bit unusual, so it might have been one of these, a Progress Rail GP re-build using a CAT 3615C engine (picture by Stephie Kolata on http://www.rrpicturearchives.net):

Back on CA-99, I pass several 'protest' signs saying 'Water, not Trains'. The first part of the California High-Speed Rail project is being built in this area, but the state has had very serious water supply problems for many years, so understandably some residents feel that if there is public money available it should be spent on trying to fix the water problem, rather than on what they probably see as 'vanity' projects like HSR (I'll leave you to comment on that one).

I fancy trying to see one of the 'Modesto and Empire Traction' modern Gen-Set locos in action, so I take a detour to the huge industrial park that sits between the BNSF and UP lines in Modesto (where MET provides 'neutral' rail services to customers via connections to both lines). Unfortunately I'm out of luck - nothing moving and although I manage to find the loco yard & workshop, it's surrounded by a tall fence so no worthwhile pictures to be had either (MET was originally an electrically worked system that also ran passenger services, hence the 'traction' part of the name).

So on to Roseville (I want to try and get there before dusk) - after crawling along the interstate past Sacramento at going-home time (excellent railway museum and light rail system there, BTW) I finally reach the Amtrak station in Roseville, which also happens to be alongside the UP loco workshops :



Looking east, the Amtrak California 'Capitol Corridor' train from Oakland via Sacramento stands at the platform:



...then departs east for Auburn (the stylised 'ct' on the loco nose is the 'Caltrans' logo - California Dept. of Transportation):



It's one train per day in each direction east of Sacramento (but roughly every 1-2 hours west of there), plus dedicated bus connections between Sacramento and Auburn/Colfax at other times. Amtrak is essentially the contract operator of these services, with the locos and rolling stock owned by the state. The passenger cars are derived from the basic Amtrak 'Superliner' design with different internal layouts and two sets of powered doors per side.

An EMD SD60M (nearest) and SD70M catch the warm evening sun. The SD60M rides on HT-C bogies, the SD70M has the later HTC-R radial-steering bogies like the class 66 (except they are the lighter 'export' version) - and also comes with go-faster flared radiators for extra macho-appeal :




There are a few more pictures to come for Day 5, but that will do for now

 

[Techniquest]

A most enjoyable read as always, the photos certainly help bring it to life!

As for the California high speed line, it would be ideal but certainly providing a regular water supply would be far higher a priority!

 

[ac6000cw]

Day 5 - Part 2, Roseville sunset

Before the next photo, a bit of background...

In 1864, the first part of the Central Pacific railroad arrived here from Sacramento. Construction carried on eastwards for 85 miles to the summit at Norden (at nearly 7000ft elevation), employing 12,000 workers (mostly from China), who then pushed on via Reno, Nevada to Promontory, Utah to meet with the Union Pacific building westwards from Council Bluffs, Iowa. This formed the first transcontinental railroad on the continent, completed in 1869 with the 'Golden Spike' ceremony at Promontory. Note that rising 7000ft in 85 miles is an average gradient of 1.5%+, so it's a very long climb for eastbound trains (with gradients over 2% for long stretches) through many tunnels and and a few showsheds. For comparison, the approach to Shap Summit from the south is 5 miles at 1.33%, and the 'long drag' from Settle to Blea Moor is 16 miles at 1%. Roseville is also the junction (literally just round the corner to the east) for the line to Klamath Falls and then on to Portland and Seattle, and is the home of UP's main freight classification yard in California, which stretches for 5 miles to the west.

So I'm standing next to one of the most historic railway routes in the US (and at the bottom of one of the toughest climbs as well, especially in the winter). A few tracks away are parked some interesting pieces of equipment (you might need to click on the next two photos to view them at a larger size):



The small things first - over on the far left are some 'blue flags', the US equivalent of our 'Not to be moved' white and red 'flags' (to put on rolling stock being worked on). The brown pyramid shaped thing in the middle is a 'bumping post', the equivalent of our buffer stops.

The main event - on the left are two sets of large rotary snow ploughs (one behind the other, on a different track), originally built as steam-powered machines, then changed to diesel-electric using converted 1950s EMD cabless B-units (with steam generators as well) to power the large blade via four traction motors geared together. Steam is still used to move the front 'wings' via pistons (like hydraulic rams) - the heat from the steam stops everything freezing solid of course . Normally they would be used in pairs, facing in opposite directions with a couple of locos in-between to propel it all i.e. a plough-power unit-loco-loco-power unit-plough arrangement. Whilst the high altitude parts of Donner Pass get on average 30 feet of snowfall every winter, most years the rotaries never get used - constant ploughing with 'flangers' (for the immediate track area) and 'spreaders' (with large, variable length and angle blades) keeps the line open, and stops the snow building up to a level in the cuttings which can only be cleared using the much slower and more expensive to operate rotary ploughs.

That normal snow (and ice) clearance is where some of the locos in the line to right come in. The second one back (a GP38-2) is specially equipped for Donner Pass snowfighting:



Note the circular 'clear view' high speed rotary wiper windows (like the ones on the bridge of a ship) for better vision when ploughing, the canopy behind the cab over the cooling intakes (probably to stop snow being drawn into the traction motor blowers), and the framework on the cab roof. That can be raised to a vertical position to break off large icicles that hang down from the roof of the tunnels and snowsheds (also the reason for the grilles over the centre cab windows).

Even with all that equipment and a lot of experience and skill, Mother Nature still wins occasionally - in 1952 a series of blizzards stranded a passenger train in the mountains, and it took four days to rescue the hundreds of passengers and crew from it.

Something else interesting in the yard - a nice-looking GP38-2 owned by major leasing company GATX (presumably on lease to UP):



A final general sunset picture:



...and it's time to head a few miles east to the 'Heritage Motor Inn' at Rocklin. After checking in, I wander around the nearby food possibilities and settle on the 'Round Table' pizza restaurant. After a nice pizza (and a beer), back at the hotel I get into bed and turn out the light - then the fire alarm goes off...

We all troop out to the car park, and the Rocklin fire dept. arrives and confirms it's a false alarm:



Back to bed - I'm heading east into the mountains tomorrow, my first visit to Donner Pass since I travelled over it 27 years ago by train


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Day 6 - Part 1, What's this at Colfax?

I know this is a raliway forum, but any afficianadoes of classic American cars out there ?

A little question for you all - what is the beautifully kept automobile sheltering from the sun in the two pictures below? (Make, model, and 'model year')





(A little clue - I'm pretty sure it's older than the rolling stock in either of the trains )

 

[Minilad]

Thunderbird?
Late 50s early sixties maybe?

 

[ac6000cw]

I didn't get a chance to ask the owner about it at the time, but I think I've worked out what it is subsequently.

You've got the right type of car and the right period, but I don't think it's a Thunderbird...

 

[Minilad]

I didn't get a chance to ask the owner about it at the time, but I think I've worked out what it is subsequently.

You've got the right type of car and the right period, but I don't think it's a Thunderbird...

No. I've since looked at some pics and it doesn't have the rear fins that Thunderbirds had. It does have a similar frontal appearance though

 

[Kristofferson]

It's a 1960 Corvette.

 

[47403]

It's a 1960 Corvette.

On seeing the car, that was my immediate thoughts too Kris and after checking up, your bang on too. very nice example of 1 too.

I sincerely hope thats your hire car.

 

[ac6000cw]

Well done (I was all ready to give you another clue).

Actually I reckon it's a 1962 version - do a Google image search for both years and see what you think, they are very similar but the rear end differences are a bit of a give-away.

I didn't hear it running, but I'm sure a 327 cubic inch (5.4 litre) V8 would have provided reasonable competition to the V16 diesels alongside in the 'window-rattling' stakes (and that is a 'small-block' Chevy V8 !)

If I'd been in the same place back in '62, not only would the Corvette have been a General Motors product, but the most of the locos and many of the cars, buses and trucks on the highway would have been too - GM had fingers in all sorts of transport pies back then.

A couple more pictures from Colfax on a lovely sunny, warm day - I certainly didn't mind soaking up the sunshine while waiting for a UP freight to depart and the 'California Zephyr' to arrive - late, of course...

Looking eastwards, a well-worn GE AC4400CW (looking like it's never been repainted since it was delivered 18 years ago - even the builder's plate by the steps has almost faded away) idles on the rear of a westbound double-stack. There is a red/brown preserved caboose in the background.



Looking west, vintage SP luggage carts decorate the scene as the CZ awaits departure behind a pair of GE 'Genesis' P42DC's:



...and sets off for Emeryville (130 miles west), two days and 2300 miles after it started out from Chicago:


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I sincerely hope thats your hire car.

We can but dream...

Meanwhile (after a that rubber-tyred digression) - back to the trip report:

Day 6 - Rocklin to Colfax

I set off eastwards that morning from Rocklin, following the railroad as closely as possible. Got quite excited when I spotted a pair of EMD 'Geeps' pushing on what looked like the rear of an eastbound train - then thought 'no, UP wouldn't use those as a 'pushers' these days'. What I'd come across was a local freight train that was switching wagons in and out of an industrial customer. There was too much clutter in the way to be worth taking photos, so I filled up the car with 'gasoline' and carried on to Newcastle.

The two tracks take different routes from Rocklin to Newcastle, and Newcastle to Bowman - the more recently built of the two tracks has a lesser gradient so is preferred for eastbound trains. Nothing moving at Newcastle (although it looks an interesting Wild West style town, full of historic old wooden buildings), so I carry on and then take a short detour off Interstate 80 to the lineside just past Bowman - all quiet again, but it's my first sight of the rich orange-red soil in the cuttings around here, looking lovely with green conifer trees above it.

Back on the interstate to Colfax - about 30 miles east of and over 2000ft higher altitude than Rocklin. I navigate my way from interstate junction to the passenger station and see a UP double-stack intermodal opposite the platform - good! As it was standing on the far, westbound, track (US railroads usually use right-hand running in traditional double-track areas) I realised that I was looking at the rear DPU of a downhill train. But it didn't seem to be in any hurry to move. After a while, a UP pickup-truck arrived and the driver started to inspect the loco and train - so it looked like there was a problem of some sort. By this time, as both the east and west-bound Amtrak 'California Zephyr' were due to call later in the morning, I decided to stay in Colfax for a while and then try to 'chase' the eastbound CZ up the pass.

Eventually the UP freight got moving:



then the westbound CZ arrived:



followed by the eastbound CZ - the conductor gives the 'highball' (right-away) hand signal to the Engineer (driver):



The chase is on...

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If you think those Amtrak P42s look European-ish - they are a bit, the monocoque bodyshell and the two-axle bogies were designed by Krupp-Mak in Germany for GE. The power equipment is all-GE though - the same V16 'FDL' diesel engine as in the C44-9W/AC4400CW freight locos but driving four DC traction motors. Even though the bodyshell was designed for low weight and high strength, they still weigh 120 tonnes - 30 tonne axle load for a 110mph loco - gulp!

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Day 6 - Part 3, The chase to Soda Lake

Given that passenger trains can climb Donner Pass somewhat faster than freights, I decided to head 10 miles east to a crossing Gold Run, and got there a few minutes before the CZ arrived:



So - where next? I reckon the Casa Loma area *might* be possible in the time, so back on I-80, foot down for 5 miles and then off onto Casa Loma Road. I got to the first level crossing literally just in time to see the train roar past (but no time for photos) - oh well, worth a try...but just look at the beautiful landscape colours (I'll be back there later in the trip):



Back to the interstate - I obviously needed a longer run on I-80 to get ahead of the train, so hot-footed it the 15 miles to Emigrant Gap. Worked out which minor road should get me trackside, only to be faced with gates, 'No Tresspassing' signs and tall shrubs, so this is a mediocre 'landscape' shot which gives you an idea of the view (the train did go past shortly afterwards):



Next, thought I'd try my luck 5 miles along at Yuba Pass - got there in time, but too much vegetation in the way for photos so I just listened to the noise of a pair of P42's

Between here and Soda Springs (15 miles east) the railway is some distance from the highway (but visible in places), so I went directly to Soda Springs on I-80, enjoying the stunning scenery along the way <big smile>.

After watching a UP maintenance technician replace something on top of one of level-crossing barrier posts for a while (it was time for an 'afternoon tea' break anyway), distant horns announced the arrival of the CZ, climbing hard:




The 'going away' shot below might become another one of my favourites...

From the left (rear), I think the consist is: sleeper - sleeper - restaurant - 'sightseer' lounge/buffet (with larger windows) - coach - coach - coach - sleeper/crew 'transition' dormitory car (with low-level corridor connection at one end to match the baggage cars) - baggage - baggage - P42 loco - P42 loco.

Each 26m double-deck 'Superliner' weighs about 67 tonnes, the 26m 'Viewliner' baggage cars probably about 50 tonnes each - a total trailing load of around 650 tonnes. With the locos added that's nearly 900 tonnes of train and 8 hp/tonne.



I'm nearly at the summit of the pass...

 

[Techniquest]

Wow there's some gorgeous shots in there!

It's safe to say I'm ridiculously jealous!

 

[Kristofferson]

Glad my Gran Turismo experience paid off identifying the car

More great pics and description!

 

[47403]

Glad my Gran Turismo experience paid off identifying the car

Amazing where you can gain your knowledge, Mine wasn't as much fun as yours Kris, mine came from the more sedate, watching Chasing Classic Cars on the Discovery Channel.

ac600cw this thread continues to entertain, as everyone is saying, theres some fantastic pictures, your getting quite good at this photo malarkey. Some excellent reading, you certainly know your stuff too.

 

[ac6000cw]

Day 6 - Part 4, Donner Summit

After the CZ had gone past, I carry on up Donner Pass Rd - the old 'Lincoln Highway' - to Norden (noticing a large concrete structure on the south side of the road - I wonder what it is?).

Not much to see at Norden now, railway wise, but in steam days this was the place where 'helper' engines were turned around after pushing trains on both sides of the summit. Because of the heavy winter snowfall, it used to have a turntable inside a showshed - search for 'Norden Turntable' to find out more. The former railway area looked like a ballast-strewn wasteland, with very little evidence that there were ever any tracks. Since I forgot to take any general photos of it, and it's Christmas Eve as I'm writing this, here's a snowy Google Streetview of it looking eastwards - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@39.3...4!1s0BxepF7zAjaV0ZrEqLqQHQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 )

At the east end of the 'wasteland' there is this:



...the west portal of the original 1867, 500m long summit tunnel, blackened with 120+ years of steam and diesel exhaust, which is part of what is now a hiking & cycling trail (the two 'dots in the light' in the centre were two cyclists coming towards me). More of the original 'summit' route later, but in 1925 another track - 'Track 2' - with a much longer 3km summit tunnel at a lower elevation was opened as part of a major project to double-track the whole route between Roseville and Truckee. Both tracks were in use until 1993 when Southern Pacific (successor to Central Pacific), decided that maintaining and snow clearing the original 'Track 1' line over the summit - with seven tunnels - was too costly in relation to traffic needs and abandoned a 6.7 mile portion of it (and everything else at Norden).

I drive up and over the summit and go 'wow'!:



I'm standing at about the same level as 'Track 1', with Truckee in the distance at the far end of Donner Lake (destination for tonight and about 1000ft lower down). The 1920s-era road winds it's way down to lake level via a series of hairpin bends, and over on my right is part of the abandoned 'Track 1' route complete with tunnels and concrete snowsheds:





(the east portal of the summit tunnel is just off the right of the picture above - you can see the end of the snowshed 'extension' to it).

The final part of the railroad climb to the summit from Truckee runs in the trees about half-way up the mountainside to the right of lake, where the light coloured patch is. To reach that point, it's already done two 180 degree U-turns as it loops into, around and out of Cold Stream canyon on the other side of the mountain (and there is yet another 'horseshoe' loop before it reaches the summit tunnel). When I rode on the CZ all the way from Chicago to Oakland in 1988 (my first ever visit and train ride in the US) 'Track 1' was still in use - as that would normally have been the westbound track I may well have done that stretch by train. It was memories of that ride over the pass that bought me back here to see it from the lineside, and visit some of the places along the way.

Up here at 6800 ft, even though I'm only 180 miles from the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco, it feels like a million miles away from the horrendously congested urban sprawl of LA (and the air pollution). One can only wonder at the fortitude of the 'pioneer' emigrants who got their horse-drawn wagons over these mountains before the railroad was built (after crossing 2000 miles of prairie, desert and the Rockies to get here from the mid-west). Whatever you might think of the present-day polarised politics and some other aspects of American life and culture, I always get the feeling when I'm here that the optimistic, can-do, 'pioneer spirit' is alive and well in California. It's a lot of the reason why your Apple iMac is using a microprocessor from Intel, connected to an Internet powered by routers from Cisco Systems, running software from Adobe and bringing the world to your fingertips via Google - all Silicon Valley start-ups. On the other hand, if you're reading this on an iPhone, iPad or a zillion other smartphones and tablets, they are most likely powered by chips based on fundamental designs from ARM in Cambridge, UK - so it's not all one-sided

My musings (and a chat with my wife back home - 3's 'Feel at Home' no-charge roaming is a real boon out here) are interrupted by the sound of a freight train climbing up from Truckee. I turn around and head back to Soda Springs. On the way down I catch sight of the concrete structure again and realise that, of course, it is the snowshed protecting the double to single line junction on the west side of the summit (you can see it as a large white thing on Google maps 'Earth' view).

Union Pacific intermodal 'Extra 7679 west' (possibly), rolling downgrade at Soda Springs - another ES44ACx+SD70M+AC4400CW combo:



Time go over the summit again and roll down the other side to the lakeside, then along it into Truckee. As I check into the Truckee Hotel, I notice a bowl full of earplugs on the reception desk (?) - then remember that the railroad is only about 50 metres away...

The interesting railroad action hasn't quite finished for the day, but it's time for dinner first, so...

Merry Christmas !

 

[Techniquest]

Merry Christmas! Another excellent read

 

[47403]

ac, Some more wonderful pictures there and that view frpm the summit, has a lot of wow, thanks for sharing another very informative and excellent read.
Merry Christmas to you too.

 

[ac6000cw]

Amazing where you can gain your knowledge, Mine wasn't as much fun as yours Kris, mine came from the more sedate, watching Chasing Classic Cars on the Discovery Channel.

ac600cw this thread continues to entertain, as everyone is saying, theres some fantastic pictures, your getting quite good at this photo malarkey.

Glad you're all still enjoying it

Quite a few of the photos are frame grabs out of 'Full HD' video I was shooting (tweaked and sharpened a bit). Those are fine for putting on a web page, but you wouldn't want to enlarge them to poster size...

Some excellent reading, you certainly know your stuff too.

Thanks

The 'stuff' knowledge is mostly down to 20+ years of reading the US 'Trains' magazine, other trips, and then using Wikipedia and Google to fill in some of the details.

But I think the basic arrangement of that CZ train is still much the same as it was 27 years ago when I travelled on it - and the cars used to say 'Coach', 'Diner', 'Sleeper' etc. on their sides (some of the actual vehicles might be the same ones too)

The final part of Day 6 is nearly ready...

 

[Techniquest]

Surely it would make sense for them to still say diner etc on the sides of the coaches?

 

[ac6000cw]

Surely it would make sense for them to still say diner etc on the sides of the coaches?

I'd have thought so too, but I can't see any evidence of it in recent photos. Station stops for the long-distance trains tend to be fairly lengthy, so there's plenty of time for passengers to find the right vehicle (and there are 'car attendants' as well as the Conductor to help).

For noise reasons, the sleepers are normally at the rear of the train, which naturally pushes the seated vehicles to the other end with the catering and lounge cars in the middle - the Diner also forms a natural 'barrier' between the two parts of the train. (On the long-distance trains, Sleeper = first class, Coach = standard class, basically).