A rare find A set of EMD demo GP60s arrive at the Southern Pacifics Yard at West Colton in the winter of 1987

Southern Pacific's West Colton Yard opened in 1972, and for use on the hump the railroad purchased six SD38-2s to be mated with slugs built from retired Alco C-628s and C-630s. But the SP kept ex... (more)

Rolling off the Palmdale Cutoff, a 78-mile line opened in 1967 (nearly 55 years ago!) to allow some Southern Pacific traffic to bypass congested Los Angeles, on which trains from the SP’s Sunset... (more)

A trio of SD40-2s, or what Union Pacific now calls "SD40N"s, work a cut of cars in the railroad’s West Colton Yard: UP 1554 (ex-UP 3225), UP 1609 (ex-UP 3413) and UP 1675 (ex-UP 3254,... (more)

In the 1970s, the Southern Pacific railroad was predictably unpredictable – One never knew what one might find when railfanning the SP. And it got even more interesting for a few years when the... (more)

BNSF 9002 along with an NS unit double down on a long westbound intermodal at Colton.

Dash 9-44CW #4673 in H3 paint.

Union Pacific train KAILC 02 (intermodal, Atlanta GA to Los Angeles CA) approaches the railroad’s West Colton Yard in Colton, California, on a hot (98º/36.67ºC) July 5, 2017, afternoon. But t... (more)

From 1902 until 1968, the Southern Pacific and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific combined to operate the Golden State Limited. Connecting Chicago with Los Angeles, this train’s route was, f... (more)

IDILB approaches Pepper Ave in the late evening.

A pair of BNSF trains are occupying two departure tracks in Union Pacific’s West Colton Yard. BNSF H-WCLBAR1-04, a manifest freight with some coal loads up front, behind ET44C4 3682, sits next ... (more)

UP MSCWCW nears the end of its journey as they pass under the now-replaced searchlights at CP-Rana with 1996 leading.

All trains originating at Southern Pacific’s West Colton Yard depart eastbound, and westbound trains, such as this LA Basin “Hauler,” depart eastbound and use the balloon track to make a 360... (more)

Union Pacific’s Alhambra Sub makes a pair of S-curves – think of a graphed bell curve – to get to West Colton Yard as they pass under the UP’s Mojave Sub just east of the yard. Getting ba... (more)