Stone, Heavy Grades, and Passenger Trains in Southern California

Click here to read part one

After arriving in the suburban Los Angeles region for the night, it was back up through Cajon Pass - by road - to Victorville once again. This time, the focus would be the Mojave Northern Railroad, which interchanges with the BNSF Transcon at the Cemex cement plant in Victorville, and travels 11 miles northeast through the high desert to White Rock Quarry. Having very vague information on their operations, this was certainly a roll of the dice, as from what I could ascertain, they only run up the line once or twice a day, and the best information I could find was from 8 years ago. Nevertheless, I wanted to cross this line off of my list, so, based on the 8-year-old information, I set out into the desert around 7am, with hopes to catch them departing Victorville for the quarry at 8. Upon arrival at my first spot - a bridge over a dry run just east of the cement plant - I could just about glimpse some movement in the yard, but after almost 45 minutes of waiting, it didn’t seem like anything worthwhile was happening. I decided to move down to the interchange alongside the Transcon to see if they were perhaps building a train at the facility. This turned out to be a good move, as I found the UP Southern Pacific heritage unit sitting on a stopped manifest on the main. It was, unfortunately, a mid-train DPU, but this was made up for by the fact that it was paired with a Southern Pacific boxcar.

Not long after stopping to shoot the heritage unit, the train departed east. A BNSF manifest was switching at the mill, but I couldn’t get a good look at what the Mojave Northern was doing, so I crossed the railroad to take Route 66 alongside the yard for a better view. It didn’t look like much was going on, but an eastbound intermodal with a former Burlington Northern “Executive scheme” EMD caught my attention, and I chased it to Oro Grande for a decent video spot. Returning to the Cemex plant, I had a much better view of the yard traveling west, and wouldn’t you know? The Mojave Northern was just entering the branch for a trip to the quarry! In a move that I can only attribute to the Lord, I was somehow able to get ahead of the train and set up at my original location on the opposite side of the Transcon - even though this involved a traffic light and briefly hopping onto the interstate for one exit. The train by contrast, only had a quarter mile of straight track to reach that spot, and hadn’t yet made it there! Snagging the shot I had waited fruitlessly for two hours earlier, I chased the train up into the desert, getting a nice selection of further video shots. The Mojave Northern has a small roster of EMD power, including a couple of ex-UP SD60s. Today’s train, however, was powered by their latest acquisition; an MTU-powered Knoxville Locomotive Works SE24B - clearly also based on a rebuilt EMD platform. The chase took about 40 minutes and was well worth the extra wait. From here, it was time to set sights on Cajon Pass.

Approaching from the east, my first stop was Cajon Summit, where the 2.2% slug that the Transcon takes from San Bernardino finally levels off. Here I ran into a railfan visiting from Switzerland, who, as it turned out, had visited many of the same spots as me the previous day, only a few hours later. It wasn’t long before the rumble of GE road power filled the air, as a westbound intermodal began its descent through the pass. This was followed shortly by an eastbound manifest working its way up the grade with a “Fakebonnet” in the consist. With two trains captured here, I headed into the pass, to Hill 582 - a railfan park set up alongside the BNSF main tracks. Getting to this spot was slightly harder than anticipated, and I was certainly glad that I had rented an SUV. Following a maze of dune buggy roads, and at one point paralleling the lowest main track, essentially on the ballast, I was able to find the spot, where another railfan was already set up. A manifest was just coming to a stop on the grade to allow several higher priority intermodal trains to pass, and I enjoyed watching and hearing several of these pass on both the BNSF and parallel Union Pacific Palmdale Cutoff before continuing further down the line. As I departed, I noted what appeared to be a manifest heading west on the UP tracks, and decided to try and catch it at Mormon Rocks, about halfway down the grade.

Arriving at Mormon Rocks, I could hear the flange squeal of the train coming down the grade, but to my dismay, I had miscalculated, and it was actually on the lower BNSF main. This was fairly disappointing, as the UP cut through Mormon Rocks makes for a spectacular shot. The dismay was short-lived, however, as a horn from another train echoed through the cut just moments later, and an unanticipated UP intermodal rounded the curve with a freshly painted leader. After getting video of it, I doubled back to the slightly lower BNSF main just in time to catch an intermodal climbing eastward. As it ascended the grade, a westbound also appeared, featuring helpers on the rear. With trains now caught at two more spots, I continued down to Swarthout Canyon Road, near the base of the steepest part of the grade. The tracks had fallen silent at this point, and it would be almost an hour and a half before the sound of a hard-working locomotive consist filled the air once more, as another intermodal tackled the eastbound grade. It was already late-afternoon by this point, so I decided call it a day and head back into suburbia to catch some commuter action during the evening rush.

My first stop was Pomona Downtown station, served by Metrolink and Amtrak, along the Union Pacific mainline. Not long after I arrived, a headlight appeared to the east and the very same UP intermodal that I had caught at Mormon Rocks about three hours earlier came through. The lighting wasn’t great, however, so I decided to head over to the popular railfanning spot of Fullerton, about 20 miles to the southwest. Fullerton is home to a pleasant, palm tree-lined commuter station that sees Amtrak long-distance, Surfliner, and Metrolink trains, in addition to fairly frequent BNSF freight movements. A healthy group of young and old railfans was set up upon my arrival, and a steady stream of Metrolink, Amtrak long-distance, Surfliner, and BNSF trains entertained all as the sun began to set. Just as the last rays of light started to fade into the night, the Federal Railroad Administration’s “Metroliner” High-Speed Research Car made a surprise appearance, topped and tailed by two now rare Metrolink F59PH locomotives. The car was traveling the Surfline to San Diego to evaluate potential speed limit increases. Thanks to JonRailVideos, I didn’t miss this, as I was about to leave less than 30 minutes before it came through, and he, who was also set up here, advised that it would be worth the wait!

In part three, we visit Commerce Station alongside the BNSF Los Angeles Engine Terminal, before heading east again to the Southern California Railway Museum…