Grain trains seem to have become the most common type of train on Union Pacific’s Shafter Sub. in eastern Nevada. Coal still runs here, but seemingly in lesser amounts than only 6 months ago. If you are sitting on a hill around Arnold’s Loop, as I was for this shot, you can first glimpse a westbound train a few miles east of Pilot siding, over 10 track miles away. Put your binoculars on it, and you can tell if it is a UP or BNSF train, whether grain, coal or manifest, and make a guess as to how long it will be before it rounds the loop. This view shows a Pixley, California bound grain train in the process of rounding Arnold’s Loop on the 1% climb to Silver Zone Pass. Ahead are a series of deep, precipitous rock cuts before the roughly 5900’ summit is reached.
