On a beautiful snowy morning, UP 580 sits with its flanger set in Truckee.

2010 and 2011 were disappointing winters for me in terms of my typical Donner trips. In 2012 I was stationed at Langley AFB and I was blessed with the birth of my two sons in that time. All of the... (more)

In 2009 I had a series of good trips up to Donner Pass that resulted in heavy snow and a numerous opportunities capturing the flanger doing its thing and helping keeping the rails open. Here the 5... (more)

UP 580 works on some light snow heading east just west of the crossing at Soda Springs, CA.

In Feb of 2011 Mother Nature was dumping on Truckee. As the snow falls UP 580 is trying to get into the battle...in the way is 2 feet of fresh snow. To overcome that the conductor is knee deep in ... (more)

A Union Pacific Flanger works through Soda Springs. A nice weather window to get some track grooming done before the snows hit again.

It can be difficult to comprehend the size of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Trains, massive in their own right, seem to to be dwarfed by the endless snow covered peaks of the Donner Pass Route. Uni... (more)

Ex Southern Pacific, GP 38-2 No. 580, undergoes needed servicing at Union Pacific's Locomotive Maintenance Operations in Roseville California.

Amidst heavy snowfall, the Donner flanger set eases to a stop for a red at Norden. While there, a member of the crew braves the elements to try to clear some ice and caked snow off the flanger.

Imagine the view from the cab! Imagine what I looked like after the flanger passed me! Just another typical day cleaning up the rails on Donner.

UP 580 pops out of the fog as they head west for the balloon track.

The flangers have just met #6 at Soda Springs, and start making their way West on a cold New Years Eve.

While snowshoeing back to the cascade bridges, this westbound flanger snuck up on me in the very early morning hours.

"Where's the snow?"