Hughson Sunday Nights: The peacefulness of Hughson, California is shattered for less than 40 seconds while a northbound Amtrak California San Joaquin train 718. CDTX 2051, whose earned the nickname 'Sluggo', on account of its slow loading times, is pulling this trainset at a brisk 79mph rushing northward to Oakland at the other end of this corridor.
Present here are two ghosts from the past. Two old Santa Fe Searchlight signals guard this trains and grants it safe passage from one signal block to the another. These signals are becoming few and far in between as the BNSF Railway is replacing them with modern 'Tri-Lights'.
Santa Fe Avenue parallels its namesake railroad from Escalon to Madera and is one of the many routes open to photographers to enjoy the San Joaquin Valley and its trains safely.
No stage or spot lights were used to create this photograph as the trains headlights took care of that for me. What you see here is less than 20 seconds of the locomotives headlight lighting up the night sky and everything in front of it.
