Crossing Searles Station Road in Searles, CA, two of Trona Railway's fleet of approximately 50-year-old UP and SP castoffs smoke it up for the last bit of grade they will face.
The Trona Railway arrives at the lonely junction in Searles, where they will shove their train for the UP up the remaining stub of the SP Jawbone Branch and then grab the second half of a coal tra... (more)
Trona's Searles' Turn passes by the "alien-looking" Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are tufa spires, some as high as 140 feet, that rise from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin, and are a ra... (more)
Trona's Searles' Turn has just begun its run out to Searles Junction as it rounds a curve near West End. Power is a mix of old SP and old UP SD40 variations.
The Trona Railway heads south past the Searles Valley welcome sign outside of Trona.
A short Trona Railway Searles Turn near West End, Trona CA, 07/31/23.
Soon after clearing the storage yard at Oxy far in the distance, the engineer has all 5 of his sun beaten locomotives in the corner as they start up the stair step grade that will soon have the tr... (more)
Six SD40-2 variants lead the westbound Trona interchange train into Searles Jct. In the foreground are empty hoppers on the stub-ended UP Lone Pine branch awaiting pickup.
Six SD40-2 variants lead the westbound Trona interchange train near Spangler, CA on a beautiful Fall afternoon in the Mojave desert.
Six graduates of Electro-motive's La Grande, IL erecting hall, class of the SD40 series, bring the westbound empty Trona 'coal buckets' out of the Searles Valley and towards an interchange with th... (more)
Arriving at Searles, 6 Trona EMD's will set out there train for the UP before returning to Trona.
Just after crossing Searles Station Road, the westbound Trona road freight sounds great grinding up hill with the throttle's wide open!
