Rolling southward freight (eastbound in Southern Pacific parlance), a trio of EMD SD45s, consisting of SP 8898, 9120 and 9100, is nineteen miles from San Luis Obispo, at which point this crew will... (more)

“Madame Queen” the diesel-devotees called her - or the “Queen Mary,” she was SF-1, under her original EMD (General Motors) serial number 744 of December 1937. She was 1800 horsepower, and ... (more)

Southern Pacific train No. 52, the southbound "San Joaquin Daylight," running south of Caliente in the Tehachapi Mountains of Southern California in January 1960. Photo by Southern Pacif... (more)

Marching down the New Mexico mainline of Southern Pacific comes a big 2-8-8-4, looking "right nice" with the cab behind the boiler, and real coal heaped high on that tall-sided tender ba... (more)

The well-known red, orange and black of "Daylight" was the stamp of approval among seasoned travellers in the West on July 10, 1949, when this flashy new streamliner took to the rails of... (more)

An intermodal train bound for Los Angeles rolls through Northern California on the Shasta Route. Today, you can see lots of trailers here anytime - a massive Wal-Mart distribution center was built... (more)

A 66-car Southern Pacific intermodal train approaches Tunnel 2 on the Tehachapi grade. Three SD45’s and a pair of SD40T-2’s muscle the tonnage over the mountains.

On a clear winter afternoon, a westbound train on the Shasta Route heads for Roseville. After rebuilding at Sacramento, lead unit SP 6768 was briefly SP 9501. It was renumbered for the proposed S... (more)

It used to happen everywhere. 9169's engineer leans out to grab orders. The conductor will grab his when the caboose rolls by.

Three Southern Pacific GP9 helpers in Black Widow paint scheme at Walong, California in March 1961. Photo from my slide collection, photographer Robert C. Madsen.

A westbound SP freight with a set of A-B-B-A F7's in Black Widow paint scheme , roared pass the photographer at Alhambra, California in July 12, 1957. Photo from my collection, photographer Rober... (more)

SP 8489 west leads the BSMFF (Blue Streak) the wrong way down the eastward main past a semaphore signal near at Cienega Creek bridge due to a derailment on the #2 track.

An eastbound Modoc Line train drops down the grade into Horse Lake, a couple of weeks after the line was reopened upon the SP/DRGW merger.

Southern Pacific train 2-834, the second section of an eastbound (compass south) freight that originated in Santa Barbara and was bound for Los Angeles Yard, passes by the Chatsworth station, in t... (more)

Thunder on Tennessee Pass
The summer monsoons in Colorado’s high country have arrived again on the afternoon of August 2, 1996, as an eastbound Southern Pacific freight that has been ... (more)