SP cab-forward 4135 leads 61 cars westbound at 10 MPH, after exiting a snowshed in the vicinity of Donner Pass, on August 4th 1935. Otto Conrad Perry photo, from my collection.

UP 5383 is leading a westbound intermodal train over Donner Pass.

Donner Pass: Part 2. On the weekend of November 13th, I made a second trip from the Bay area to the UP Roseville Sub to photograph some locations I missed on the first trip. One of those locations... (more)

Following a slow grind up the hill, an Oregon-bound manifest, rerouting across Donner Pass, passes underneath the iconic Norden searchlights.

An Eastbound Union Pacific manifest freight is seen pulling up the steep grade Donner Pass through the snowsheds at Norden. This is a legendary location on the former Southern Pacific. The searchl... (more)

An Eastbound Union Pacific manifest freight is seen pulling up the steep grade Donner Pass through the snowsheds at Norden. This is a legendary location on the former Southern Pacific. The searchl... (more)

A Westbound Union Pacific global Z train is seen exiting the snow sheds at Norden and passing under the Southern Pacific searchlight signals. The signals are on borrowed time as their replacements... (more)

The Westbound California Zephyr is seen coming down from Donner Summit at Norden. The air is thick with smoke from the ongoing wildfires in the Pacific Northwest.

An Eastbound Union Pacific intermodal is seen pulling up the steep grade Donner Pass through the snowsheds at Norden. This is a legendary location on the former Southern Pacific. The searchlight s... (more)

An eastbound UP intermodal climbs up to the Norden snow shed, passing under the signal bridge.

An eastbound intermodal struggles up the last couple miles to the summit of Donner Pass with endangered searchlights overhead. New replacement signals are set up behind where I was standing for th... (more)

Despite having crested the grade about 3/4 of a mile back, C45AC-CTE 7895, three additional head-end units, and two DPUs are still slowly dragging (and pushing) the tail of the MOGRV out of Tunnel... (more)

Exercising trackage rights over UP's "Sierra Crossing" (formally the Roseville Subdivision) as the QPVBCJ 04, BNSF H PVOSTO1 04A emerges out from the Norden snow sheds to begin the long ... (more)

UP 8248 is leading a doubled up 2x2x1 empty grain train over Donner Pass as it nears the summit between CP RV191 and CP RV192. For an empty it was really grinding to make the grade, though by time... (more)

After cresting the summit of Donner Pass a couple of miles back, the MOGRV exits the Norden snowshed led by a clean UP 6355. This unit is on home rails, having started its life as an SP AC4400CW. ... (more)