Historical Family Connections

A Southern Pacific freight, led by Cotton Belt SD45T-2 9165, passes through the Shell Oil Refinery (where my father worked during World War II) as it ro... (more)

Cotton Belt EMD GP60 No. 9640 leads a westbound Southern Pacific freight over Cienega Creek Bridge at Vail, Arizona, on April 22, 1990.

Kind of Like What Happened to "the Leader" in the Movie Sleeper...

Cotton Belt 7643 was built in January 1979 as part of an order for 30 GP40-2s. It served parent company Sou... (more)

Passing some Saguaro cactus on the Sunset Route at Wymola, Arizona, is a westbound Southern Pacific intermodal train on April 21, 1990. Leading the train is brand-new Cotton Belt GP60 No. 9693 on ... (more)

Espee Grime

A Southern Pacific freight heads north (railroad east) through Traver, California, on September 14, 1979. Cotton Belt SD45T-2 9374 is on the point this day. There is a ... (more)

This is the neat SP I remember from the mid 90's.... 4 axles and heavily powered up trains. An eastbound detour train has 3 GP 60's and a small B-Boat as they hammer thru Northern Missouri on the ... (more)

A pair of four-axle GEs leads a SD45 and a tunnel motor on an eastbound coal train along the IHB. Tom Golden photo.

With colorful oak brush along the foothills of Loafer Mountain, SP's Roseville to Denver Forwarder charges east up Spanish Fork Canyon with 66 cars on Sept. 24, 1994.

A St. Louis Southwestern B40-8 leads a Pueblo, Colorado to Roper (Salt Lake City), Utah manifest freight through Provo on Sept. 22, 1990. The SSW 8069 was built by GE for the Cotton Belt in Oct. 1... (more)

SSW 6876 leads a freight near Mojave, CA in May of 1994.

A Union Pacific work train blasts through Lake Point headed for a derailment on the Lynndyl Subdivision on Oct. 17, 1999.

We Have All Been Here Before

When many railfans think of the Southern Pacific, they think of dirty, run-down locomotives. But this was generally not the case with the SP - not until... (more)

Silent Sentinel from the Past

Many remember the Southern Pacific's steam engines as oil-fired, but as the railroad worked its way east, coal was the fuel of choice. One of the SP's ... (more)

A Busy Afternoon at Hiland

There's a lot of activity at Hiland, the summit of the Southern Pacific's crossing of Cajon Pass, on July 2, 1978. A westbound sits in the siding as an ea... (more)

SP's Kansas City to Oakland Forwarder moves at track speed through Lakota Junction while General Railway Signal searchlights govern movements through the control point via Dispatcher 78 in Denver.... (more)