A westbound Southern Pacific intermodal train, full of those "long" 40' containers (two per 89' flat!) has just crossed the Santa Fe's Third District. This train has just met an eastbound ore empties, which has a yellow signal as it heads back to Ferrum Junction, in the lower Mojave Desert, for interchange with the Eagle Mountain Railroad to get reloaded with iron ore for the Kaiser Steel Mill in Fontana. SP U33C 8670, SW1500 2555 and SD45s 9006 and 9045 will soon pass West Colton Yard, where the SP's Yuma District ends and the Basin District begins. This train is ultimately headed for one of the SP's yards in the Los Angeles Basin, where the containers will be offloaded for the trip to the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to cross the Pacific for loading in Asia. It was not unusual to find SP's SW1500 switchers assigned to long distance trains, too, as they had full Multiple-Unit capabilities. (Colton, California – October 1, 1979)
