The first southbound Swift RoadRailer train operated by BNSF between the Northwest and Southern California highballs Wocus siding on UP's Cascade Subdivision. Given the Santa Fe’s legacy of inte... (more)

Southern Pacific's first two SD70Ms tote the PTPCX down the Sacramento River Canyon on their first westbound trip over the Shasta Route.

A Happy Valley Helper set leads a westbound Espee manifest on the Sunset Route. When we visited the area, the GP35 pairs seemed to be everywhere.

A train of empties roars through Sonora on a hot summer morning. With Baldwin locomotives and a dependency on the timber industry, the Sierra Railroad was a quasi-Northwest shortline in Central Ca... (more)

A westbound freight train on the Shasta Route rolls through the reverse curves near the former siding of Bolam. The train is running along the northwest flank of Mt. Shasta.

An eastbound train on the Siskiyou Line waits short of the west switch at Gazelle for an opposing train out of Ashland. The west switch at Gazelle was the end of a CTC district on the Siskiyou tha... (more)

During February 1996, several Southern Pacific trains were detoured on Willamette & Pacific due to flooding on SP's mainline. One of the detours passes an ancient wigwag on WPRR in Amity, on the o... (more)

The 4449 switches out a customer on the Oregon Electric during a special operation to promote the railroad.

Although we were hoping for a warbonnet on the point of the 199 train in Franklin Canyon, a freshly-painted F45 was okay.

One of the first trains on the Modoc Line after the SP/Rio Grande merger descends the grade eastbound from Sage Hen. The last train ran here in summer 1997; this is now a hiking trail.

A string of boxcars stretching to infinity follows a Yolo Short Line locomotive heading for West Sacramento.

A westbound Union Pacific Z train begins to climb the grade to Sand Pass in the Nevada desert.

The SP's Toledo Hauler crests the Oregon Coast Range at Summit in March 1992. In less than a year, this line was leased to Genesee & Wyoming as the Willamette & Pacific.

Big SP road power rests at Ashland, awaiting the next call to lug a train over the Siskiyous.

When Willamette & Pacific received 17 GP39s that had come off lease to Santa Fe, the new shortline put the units to work as soon as possible. Units renumbered in WPRR's 2300-series were equipped w... (more)