A four-unit set of Southern Pacific U30Cs (7931, 7915, 7911 and 7905) is in charge of an eastbound freight on December 26, 1972. This train is headed for the railroad's West Colton Yard, and is getting there by way of the then five-year-old Palmdale Cutoff, which SP built in the mid-60s over Cajon Pass to alleviate the congestion of the Los Angeles Basin. SP committed $22 million to the project, building 78 new miles of single-track railroad (with a maximum grade of just 2.2%), plus six 8,000-foot sidings, connecting Colton with Palmdale - essentially connecting northern and southern California via a third alternative. Santa Fe had turned the SP down so often regarding trackage rights that they decided to build their own railroad across Cajon Pass to get to the Tehachapi Mountains and the San Joaquin Valley beyond, and on to Oakland and Sacramento. The Cutoff was the longest stretch of new railroad in a quarter-century, opening in 1967.
