The Busy Mainlines of Southern California: BNSF & UP Railroading in the Mojave Desert
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ธ.ค. 2024
- 5/14/23:
Welcome to the 2023 edition of the Western Railroading Series! In this first installment, we take a look at the rail lines traversing the blistering heat of the Mojave Desert in Southern California. We begin right where we left off in 2022 on Cajon Pass and follow the BNSF Southern Transcon east into Barstow, exploring the abundant BNSF and Union Pacific train action of the region. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some truly Western scenes of America's iron highways.
Subdivision(s):
BNSF Cajon Subdivision
BNSF Needles Subdivision
Location(s) In Order of Appearance:
Hesperia, CA
Historic Route-66
Barstow, CA
Daggett, CA
Thanks For Watching & Enjoy!
(c)2023 River Line Productions All Rights Reserved
Great video…loved the desert sunsets and scenery…busy place there 😎🎉👍🏽
Some excellent videography!! 👍
Good video and great action.
Very nice
Hey Riverline, Ill be near Albany in a few weeks, and was wondering how traffic is on the CSX River Sub. It's the closest linhe next to where I'm staying so let me know! I thought you'd be an expert, :)
Sure thing, you’ll get about 25 trains in 24 hours, mornings are pretty busy south of Selkirk, I157, I003, I007 should all be going north and I158, M218, M433, and M403 departing south. If you go to Selkirk itself, the west end of the yard is busier, Game Farm Road in Delmar and Voorheesville are great locations. Mornings are busy seeing the same intermodal trains I mentioned plus some Chicago Line manifests. CP-SK on the east end is where the River Line, Port of Albany Branch, and Boston Lines converge, so that is a busy place- you can pull over on the Route 9W overpass but only for quick catches. I think there is a way to sit down by the junction on the north side of it, but I personally haven’t been there. Most notable there mornings usually see a CP transfer down from Albany with GP20ECO units for power (I can also give you some Albany CP info if you are interested in that). Last thing I will suggest you check out if you want to venture out west a little bit, lock 10 on the Erie Canal at Amsterdam (CP-173 on the Mohawk Sub) is a great location so shoot trains form across the Mohawk River, CSX and Amtrak produce a little over 40 trains a day there so plenty of action and it’s a great park. It also is very close to two noteworthy spots- Amtrak and CSX funnel their lines together just east of this location at CP-169…. On your way there on Route 5S in Pattersonville, NY, csx crosses the Mohawk River on an impressive bridge that is great for afternoon eastbounds, I004 being a great candidate for that. On the Amtrak side, the trackage between Schenectady and CP-169 is 110mph and home to some of the last NYC searchlight signals left in operation. Go to Hutchinson Road near Scotia, NY and check the schedule for westbound Amtraks 63, 281, 283, or 49. They’ll fly by there right next to the signals. Good luck with your trip!
@@RiverLineProductions You are a hero!!! I checked out all the spots on Google maps, looks awesome! Here's what I'm thinking: I'll start at Amsterdam in the early morning and by early afternoon work my way to Voorhesville, following the Selkirk Sub all the way there. I've picked out five spots to hit along the way, so it should yield some good stuff. I will definitely stop by Hutchinson, sounds like a sick shot! When do those Amtraks pass? We'll probably be there for a little bit mid-morning. Also, from where I'm staying, it looks like Saugerties is the closest spot to the River Sub. Any good shots around there where one can see signals? Also, whats a good time to be there? Thanks for all the help!
@@multicolorfilms Amtrak 280, 63, and 284 all pass by Hutchinson in the mid to late morning. Schedules will be on the Amtrak app, Amsterdam and Schenectady are the closest stations in each direction, both about 10-15 minutes max from that location on the train.
That sounds like a good plan for the Mohawk, any one of my Mohawk sub videos should give you a good idea of the timing of trains there. Typically lots of WB in the morning, EB in the afternoon with stuff going the opposing direction mixed in. Morning rush usually starts with I159 or I009 at about 0600.
In terms of Saugerties, the West Camp siding north of town from CP-102 to CP-106 (Saugerties is milepost QR-99, mileage increases going NB) is one of the last sidings on the River Line that still uses conrail Tri light signals. Locations to see them are Malden Parkway, which is the Automatic-100 distant signal and can be viewed with NBs (note this signal may have been replaced although I think it still stands). The ones at 102 and 106 still stand for sure, Patterson Road in West Camp is good for SB trains with the signals although you need a decent zoom lens (video should be fine), and along RT-9W just north of there right by the US postal Service before it ducks under the tracks is a great S curve shot for SBs and a great splitting the signals shot for NBs (each end of the siding is protected by a dwarf signal with a high mast on the main). Embought Road north of Cementon is where CP-106 is, and is a similar shot to the Patterson Road but for NBs. Also, you can pull over on 9W at the 106 signals I believe and shoot there- I’ve never done it but seen lots of shots from that location so must be done. Also, definitely check out the Catskill Trestle in Catskill, NY (CP-111), very impressive place to photograph.
For trains in the Saugerties - Catskill area, mornings should start with I008 and I010 if you’re out predawn. After that, I158, I157, I003, and I007 are very good bets. A NB manifest or a late SB outta Selkirk can be mixed in. Port Newark stack trains I162/159/168/169 kinda are random, the southbounds usually the better candidate to show up in daylight. M410 usually comes in daylight, M567 empty Autoracks usually mid afternoon, M434 a few hours behind them… M218 southbound Autoracks will be afternoon, I004 hotshot in the evening, M433 & M403 always leave Selkirk in the morning unless a delay. The Kingston local L040 runs up to West Camp but that is random. B trains of ethanol and crude oil usually run at least 1 per day and like Florida are good candidates for foreign power. Timing is random. The northbound M422 is random and M404 is usually night run up there I think. M421 is an afternoon train now out of Selkirk I think and M409 runs at night. Good luck!
Also- Saugerties is a great town… definitely explore the downtown area, great restaurants… Miss Lucy’s Kitchen is a must visit for dinner whenever I am there. Also DM me on instagram when you are there I’ll check my Facebook groups and can try to keep you in the loop about what’s coming
@@RiverLineProductions I will, thanks for all the help. I've put all the spots in my Google Keep with all the info. All those lines sound very promising, (much busier than Florida!) I'll text ya when I'm up there, might be some constraints when it comes to railfanning with my whole family, but I'll see what i can do!
Just talk to us, like the narrator on a lot of old Pentrex stuff or RailTrek Media. Talk to us, tell us like we’re in front of you, and not like you’re reading from a script. I tripod is fundamental too.
the one nice thing about this is that union pacific and bnsf don't need a bullshit shard assets like the conrail shard assets it either bnsf or union pacific dispatcher conrail shard assets is the biggest joke😂