18 years after Union Pacific's acquisition of the Southern Pacific who would have ever guessed that scarlet & grey SD40s could still be found earning a living in Southern California? Tucked away in the Searles Valley south of Death Valley one can still find Espee's once familiar scarlet & grey turning a wheel for the Trona Railway. Preparing to leave the Searles Valley the Trona's mainline skirts the northwest corner of Searles Dry Lake in the shadow of the Argus Mountains. Roaring passed the soda-ash processing plant at Westend, an empty coal bucket is bent for Searles behind a solid brace of former SP EMDs. In a few miles the westbound coal buckets will leave the floor of the Searles Valley at Oxy and begin the 26 mile climb to Searles where the train will be interchanged with the Union Pacific.