Eastbound SP "Monolith Local" leaning into the super elevated curve near Sandcut

An eastbound SP manifest cuts in a mid-train helper at Bena. In a moment the man on the ground will raise his hands to indicate to the engineer that he's approaching a "hook."

At dusk, a heritage I GE awaits a train at Bena

A hot Z9 passes through the area between Bena and Illmon as it heads North towards Bakersfield.

Racing along Bena Road, UP 2539 South is the first in a small fleet of Southbound trains that will be heading up the hill on a warm fall day in the Tehachapi Mountains.

A Coaster F40PH-3C hitches a ride on this BNSF manifest heading to the West Coast.

BNSF 7984 leads a doublestack past milepost 329 on the Mojave Sub.

Stopped by the high and wide detector, the DPUs of a southbound BNSF manifest wait at Monolith while their train is inspected under the cool, brisk night sky.

Times up! The crew of a southbound UP manifest train has ran out of time and calls it a day while a new crew begins theirs. In the background, a BNSF grain train prepares to pass them on the sidin... (more)

SP 7874, sporting the SP- Santa Fe "kodachrome" merger paint scheme, sits at the spur track near the east switch at Bena.

Under another golden California sunset, a rare BNSF Gevo leads a Barstow-bound manifest under the iconic (and now, sadly, long-gone) Southern Pacific cantilever signal bridge at Sandcut. The water... (more)

Westbound through the interlocking at Sandcut, a high priority Z train splits the former Southern Pacific search signals on its westward trek across the Tehachapi Pass to Bakersfield from Barstow.... (more)

Brand new UP 8214 leads this NB West Colton to Roseville freight near Bena in the Tehachapi's.

California is living up to its "Golden State" monicker as UP's Susan G. Komen breast cancer awareness unit leads a northbound stack train over the second crossing of Caliente Creek and into... (more)