Ground Level view of Rotary 972552 clearing snow dragged down from cut south of Stanton on ZAP Line.

Incoming! SPMW 207 cuts through a cold, snowy world as it works east along the #2 track of the Donner Pass Route. Photographing the rotaries is unlike any other assignment. As soon as you g... (more)

Trailing on this morning's rotary move to Emigrant Gap, SPMW 209 catches the light as it passes the Auburn museum on its way up to the snow.

Dreams Do Come True

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. This was my first trip to Donner Pass, a place I'd dreamt of seeing ever since I was young child, and I get to sh... (more)

Dreams Do Come True

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good. This was my first trip to Donner Pass, a place I'd dreamt of seeing ever since I was young child, and I get to shoot ... (more)

SPMW 209 ducks under the last remaining searchlight signal bridge on Donner Pass. Meanwhile, skiers enjoy perfect snow conditions at the nearby Sugar Bowl Ski Resort.

Slowing as it enters Newcastle, SPMW 207 leads the rotary consist toward Tunnel 18 where it will be walked into the western portal by MOW personnel.

Sandwiching a mock high-speed locomotive acting as a display for the future of California's high-speed rail, SP 2467, a 4-6-2 built for the Southern Pacific in 1921, and SPMW 205, a 1920-built rot... (more)

Thirteen feet of snow has fallen across Donner Pass this season, making 2017 the third snowiest winter in recorded history (according to up.com). With the Feather River Route closed for months due... (more)

A Southern Pacific caboose, Chicago Northwestern boxcars and an original Southern Pacific rotary sailing by...could this scene be any better (probably with some snow, sure, but that's for later)? ... (more)

For only the second time in the last 20 years, UP brought out their rotaries to fight the Sierra Cement over Donner Pass. The newly rebuilt rotary #207 enters the shed at Norden.

SMPW 207, Union Pacific's rebuilt rotary that has only plowed through snow once since entering revenue service, meets Donner's venerable snowpack once again as it crawls through the center siding ... (more)

As the afternoon light quickly disappears over Emigrant Gap, SPMW 209, one of Southern Pacific's original rotary snow plows, sits quietly with its rear-marker lights on and its respective B-unit i... (more)

SPMW 207 passes under the last remaining searchlight signal bridge on Donner Pass as it clears the heavy "Sierra Cement" from track #1. The rotaries would plow snow all the way to the Bi... (more)

The legendary rotary snowplows have returned to Donner Pass. California has been hammered with numerous storms this winter. All of these storms have wreaked havoc across the Donner Pass Route. Fro... (more)