A warm afternoon on the western slope of the Tehachapi mountains finds a northbound BNSF manifest crossing Caliente Creek at Ilmon as it heads toward a crew change Bakersfield.

Eastbound UP baretable train starting up Tehachapi grade at Ilmon

All 98 cars and the three mid-train DPU's are visible as the UP 2669 heads East between Ilmon and Caliente.

The Oil Cans head east toward Ilmon with a rebuilt T-2 in the lead. Not long after this photo was taken, the train stopped, with tank cars directly below the photographer's location. On top of one... (more)

A hot 199 train hustles westward through the dry environs of Caliente Creek near Ilmon.

Helm Leasing SD40M-3 6080 leads a colorful consist on a Burlington Northern Santa Fe intermodal train near Ilmon, in California's Tehachapi Mountains, on November 29th, 1997. Built in January 197... (more)

Hopefully headed for the wash rack next, this very dirty UP ES44AC eases the daily Roseville, CA to West Colton, CA manifest train into a 15 MPH slow order just south of Ilmon which is the base of... (more)

a Santa Fe westbound was descending the Tehachapi grade approaching Ilmon

Now on the final leg of it's 1,000+ mile trip from Seattle, Amtrak 166 leads the "San Joaquin Starlight" over the bridge at Ilmon.

Late afternoon light at Illmon, as the CNW heritage unit races towards Bakersfield with the ILBOA.

Close-up of the connecting hose between tank cars on SP's unit oil train, run between Saco and Dolores, CA. The shipper would fill interconnected sets of cars at the same time, with the crude pass... (more)

SP 8486 East, with plenty of power up front, passes the Mormon Rocks on the western slope of Cajon Pass. The train is using the Palmdale-Colton Cut-off, which SP built in the 1960s to bypass the c... (more)

A Coaster F59PHI takes a ride with this colorful power freight train.