Heading to Los Angeles, Southern Pacific GS-4 4449 makes a service stop in Tehachapi after climbing out of the San Joaquin Valley. The low sun this morning creates a mood similar to a plein ai... (more)

A Southern Pacific freight heads east along the "beautiful" Los Angeles River on the Union Pacific's Los Angeles Sub, which it uses to head south ("railroad east") through this part of downtown Lo... (more)

An eastbound Southern Pacific fright heads north, splitting the semaphore signals, on the Portland Division. (On the SP, trains heading toward San Francisco are westbound, and those heading away ... (more)

Rolling east on Southern Pacific’s West Colton Division, Cotton Belt GP35 6505 (ex-SSW 765) and SP GP9R 3880 (ex-SP GP9 3720, née-SP GP9 5884) meet a westbound, led by SP SD45T-2 9216, holding ... (more)

Crossing Tehachapi Creek between Woodford and Walong, the engineer of an eastbound Southern Pacific freight gives a friendly wave as the train climbs over the Tehachapi Mountains, with a typically... (more)

Rounding the famed Tehachapi Loop, albeit on the 4800’ long Walong Siding, this Southern Pacific eastbound freight train has another ten miles until it crests the summit of the crossing of the T... (more)

A Southern Pacific Railroad freight prepares to depart the railroad’s West Colton Yard late in the day. SP SD45T-2 9340, SD45 8956, SD45T-2 9228 and SD40 8443 will have the honors of lifting th... (more)

Climbing out of California’s San Joaquin Valley is a Southern Pacific freight with SP SD40T-2 8505, SP SD40 7328, Cotton Belt SD45 8973 and an SD45T-2 providing the muscle to defy gravity and ge... (more)

A Southern Pacific train of empty beet racks passes through Modesto's "South Ninth" neighborhood on its way from the Spreckels Sugar refinery in Manteca back to Fresno, where the train's cars will... (more)

Bringing up the rear of an eastbound Southern Pacific freight departing West Colton Yard is SP bay-window caboose 4621. Built by Pacific Car & Foundry in 1978, this was one of fifty C-50-7 class ... (more)

Rolling southward freight (eastbound in Southern Pacific parlance), a trio of EMD SD45s, consisting of SP 8898, 9120 and 9100, is nineteen miles from San Luis Obispo, at which point this crew will... (more)

Improvised helpers on the Hill As a Southern Pacific eastbound, powered by SP U33C 8771, U33C 8635, SD45T-2 9212 and SD45 8928, stalled while climbing over the Tehachapi Mountains when ... (more)

An eastbound Southern Pacific train has taken the siding at the east end of the Grover Block to await a meet with a westbound freight with SP 8114 leading. This eastbound, heading toward Los Ange... (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)

"May Gray" has changed into "June Gloom" (low-altitude stratus clouds which form over the cool water of the Pacific Ocean’s California Current, and spread overnight into the ... (more)