As an eastbound stack train speeds downhill toward Bagdad and Amboy, BNSF 4784 West roars up the stiff grade through the giant S-curve at Klondike. This split alignment was installed in the mid-19... (more)

Looking like a model on a well-scenicked model railroad, UP 9108 West approaches the east portal of tunnel 9 deep in the Feather River Canyon. Rock slides in this area are common, and UP routinely... (more)

Late on a beautiful afternoon in the Sierra Nevada, SP 192 West departs Truckee, CA.

Under threatening skies, Rio Grande and UP power leads an SP eastbound over the westbound main at Rocklin, CA. The eastbound is on the "uphill" track, installed in the early part of the... (more)

Early in the morning, with fog burning off as the sun climbs, EMD FP45 No. 98 leads a 971 train through the multiple reverse curves of Cable.

With a pall of dark clouds to the southeast, SP SD9E No. 4401 sits in front of one of the old hump towers in Roseville Yard. After UP took over here, it completely tore out this part of the yard, ... (more)

As shadows start to envelope the deeper reaches of Franklin Canyon, a super-hot 199 train roars uphill toward Glen Frazer. In the distance, Mount Diablo still basks in full summer sunshine. Before... (more)

As a couple of fishermen try their luck on the Old River, a westbound Santa Fe manifest approaches the lift bridge at Orwood. The west man is coming off a wooden trestle that connects Middle River... (more)

With temperatures well below freezing, a quartet of Rio Grande tunnel motors pull an eastbound UP manifest through Golconda, NV. The line follows the circuitous route of the meandering and bracki... (more)

Behind a pair of SDP40Fs, Amtrak No. 5 glides downhill toward whee it will pass under the uphill track. Like SP's FP7s, the SDPs have icicle breakers on their roofs to snap off ice hanging from th... (more)

As a Santa Fe westbound rolls downhill with coiled steel near the head end, an SP work train waits to exit the short siding. Up to the early 1980s, both the north and shorter south siding were con... (more)

On a beautiful afternoon on the California coast, SP's Davenport Local switches the yard at its namesake town. In the background stands Davenport Cement, which used coal off the Rio Grande to help... (more)

Delivered in early 1978 from EMD, SP GP40-2 No. 7625 still shows off its shiny red paint as it leads a westbound manifest through San Timoteo Canyon. This part of the canyon, a little east of Ordw... (more)

After sundown, with a pair of grain hoppers sitting in the set-out track, Santa Fe 3549 West roars past headed for the summit and Richmond beyond. It's rare to see a GP38 in these parts, as 4-axle... (more)

A UP OAAP6, an APL stack train out of the Port of Oakland in northern California, roars uphill through Serpentine Canypn toward Virgilia. After Sea-Land, American President Lines was one of the co... (more)