:: Welcome to So Cal Rails :: Railfannin with Dave from Socalrailfan.com ::
7/22/2006 - Railfannin with Dave from Socalrailfan.com
So after being motivated (by a swift kick in the butt!) by Dave to get out and railfan I decided that I'd take a drive up to Riverside to meet up with him for a day of fun on Cajon. The day started off as one of the hottest mornings that I've ever experienced and the rest of the day would prove to be the same. By 0900 it was already climbing to the 100° mark.
The day started off well with lots of trains. The first of which was a UP Manifest led by UP 5726 at Blue Cut.
After that we headed up to Swarthout and if it wasn't for me being an idiot and having the Self Timer on on my camera I'd have images to show for it! So anyway, here's BNSF 4569 crossing the creek.
Next up was my first ever trip to Hill 582 as BNSF 5420 arrives just before we get to the hill.
Since this was my first visit to Hill 582 I must say that I'm amazed at all the hard work and effort that has gone into creating that special haven for us railfans. A big thank you goes out to all who helped to make that spot and those who maintain it.
The day was really topped off with some amazing clouds thanks to the Monsoonal flow that we get from the south eash summer. Here's a view of some of the clouds as an intermodal waits to go over summit and BNSF 4569 makes another appearance.
Around 1030 or so we dicided to make a pit stop for water and other essential supplies due to the heat. After picking up our supplies we find BNSF 7746 making a run up the pass with a cool surprise in the lash up!
Following the same train over to the 138 we stop to grab a couple more shots.
Next up is another GEVO led train coming down at the same location.
The next train that we catch is a UP Manifest led by UP SD70M #4318.
Next up we have the set of 40-2 helpers gettin a train up the hill under some very dark clouds.
Our next stop took us to Dell for a couple of trains under some cool clouds.
Another stop at 138, this time to catch BNSF 7662.
We decided to follow BNSF 7662 up to summit then onto Hisperia.
Fire! Fire! Fire!
Dave and I were crusin around at 1140 and we look up and see a little bit of smoke that is coming up from a brushfire along I15 adjacent to 138, no big deal. We continued on as we had already heard on the scanner that CDF was on the way and at this point is was still a small fire and we figured it'd be out in no time so we continued on without even taking a picture of it. Long story short after chasing BNSF 7662 on to Hisperia we cam back to this view!
Due to the fire all traffic on the UP line and BNSF's #2 main were shut down. With a lack of sleep and trains it was decided that it would be time to leave Cajon for the day. The last image of the day was BNSF 4402 pulling up to a stop due to the back up from the fire.
