I'm fascinated by geology! Riding dirt bikes around the Mojave I've stopped and checked out lot's of very interesting areas. The varying landscapes of the desert are so cool! I've been to Death Valley many times but only checked out the geology near the south entrance.
Your Experience on the Railroad working 2/3 of your Life on the High Rail sets you apart from most Others. DJS Trains Channel is an Active Engineer for CSX. 👍
Mark, my grandfather worked for LA&SL from 1903 to 1960. He worked on a track gang first. Getting the tracks from Las Vegas toward so Cal. When the railroad started operation in 1905, he became a rear brakeman. As trackside signaling improved, he didn’t have to walk a mile back from the caboose. I have his 55 year Union pin. He worked for 57 years, but they didn’t give him credit for 2 years because he hired on at 14 years old.
I worked with a guy from Vegas whose Dad was an agent at, among other places, Crucero, during that period. Prior to knowing him, I'd never heard of the Tonopah & Tidewater! Thanks for checking it out!
Mark you lucky devil!!!! This old foamer would have built a house right there at Daggett, lol. Also before the merger SANTA FEI milepost start in Chicago, Illinois and BNSF milepost starts in Fort Worth, Texas.
I always took that rt 66 from Fenner to Needles to watch the trains and avoid climbing the steep mountain on interstate 40. I usually went in the truckstop-convient store at Fenner to take a break and get a cup of coffee and a texas size cinammon bun. Mark, 620 miles from Fenner would put the starting point at the rail yard in Belen New Mexico.
I put up another reply re:. Milepost. The original mileposts in New Mexico started in Kansas at 0.0. The mileposts increased through Albuquerque south (Westward) through Belen, Socorro toward Rincon. Milepost 0.0 on the Coast Lines Westward through New Mexico, Arizona and Calif . started at Isleta, not Belen, as Belen only became part of the important route to the west after construction of the "Belen Cutoff" through Amarillo and Clovis in1909.
Hey Mark, I was driving along I 40 Fri the 18th and there were 6 or 7 trains parked all the way to the crossovers west of Ludlow including a UP at Daggett, all West bounds. East bounds were moving and yes he blazed through that curve west of Ludlow. Nice video!
Mark, I have a feeling that the mile posts start roughly 620 miles from where you are standing... Just Saying...LOL. Grew Up in B-field and would stop every once and a while to watch trains round the loop when we went to Tehachapi. Recently started watching your videos and have learned quite a bit concerning the detailed working of a railroad. Thank You and Be Safe.
So I found your channel searching for things about how the railroads work, and I've been hooked ever since. I love the actual detailed explanation of how things actually work in real life more so than just a video of a train going by, keep up God's work brother!
Thank you! I am always glad to hear from a new subscriber/viewer! I have a piece on signs and insulated joints scheduled to come up soon and more ideas behind those. Stay tuned!
@@MarkClayMcGowan Good grief, I don't remember the name of the station, but I will find it. The "short helper" jobs worked between Needles and Getz, about 8 miles East of Kingman. The regular job(s) made 1 turn Needles to ? about 25 miles West of Seligman. My source is and old Richard Stineheimer story in Railroad Magazine "Rolling the Citrus Gold" where he rides a GFX (Green Fruit Express) between Needles and Winslow in the 1950's. I will find that station name and get the miles and distance. Not every train required help, but the length of 1 and 2+ percent grades East of Needles without any relief necessitated helpers.
We had a roadmaster who started her railroad career in San Bernardino and transfered up here to be the roadmaster at Bingen on the Fallbridge sub for a couple of years then she became our roadmaster on the Stampede and Yakima Valley subdivisions for 3 years, she went back home to California to take a trainmaster or yardmaster position in Long beach, I think she regretted she took the position and should have stayed here with us.
This time of year (after the holidays) was always a time for lower traffic volumes and a time for MofW to get longer work windows. This might(?) suggest a reason, in addition to lack of crews, for parked trains Railroads have gotten really good at modeling and scheduling all the intricate demands of running trains, fixing track, etc
Original UP mileposts began in Omaha. With all the mergers, most lines kept their own mileposts and use a road designation at Control Points to differentiate them, such as SP's western lines beginning at San Francisco and called, for example, CP SP358.
I just bought a book on the VE and am familiar with some parts of it, so yes, I can do that at some point. I hope to finish my piece on the SP Eastside Branch next month. I've been working on it for two years but have had so many injuries and the Covid thing, that I am just now finding the time to finish it. Thanks for checking it out!
Unfortunately, my head wasn’t in the game. I was coming back from Salt Lake City and parked overnight in Las Vegas. I generally don’t leave Las Vegas for Los Angeles until early afternoon to mid afternoon, I don’t get paid to sit parked on an interstate highway! I should’ve taken Nipton Road and checked out your path through the desert. Well I’m going up to Salt Lake City again next week so, I guess I have the chance. I think I see three different potential paths Three different paths where the railroad tracks may have run through the dry lake bed on the southside of Baker. I’m gonna have to look at this on Google Maps from an aerial view. It seems odd to me that the surveyors and engineers run railroad track through a dry lake bed! You know the thing is gonna flood sooner or later
Phil Serpico has an awesome book called "T&T: The Nevada Short Line" that is a awesome history and has some great photos of both Soda Lake and Silver Lake stations under water as well as the Crucero interlocking. If you take the back roads through Kelso, you can also head south and hit I-40 above Amboy and skip the Vegas traffic east of Barstow altogether. If we leave leave Vegas on a Sunday, we go Parhump-Death Valley- Trona-Jawbone. It's five hours if we don't stop but we usually hit Panamint Springs to eat. It's still faster than fighting I-15!
Mark, you may know, but if not, some SP guys may. Question is, SP mileposting from San Francisco increased Eastward through Tehachapi and on to Arizona, etc How was the mileposting Westward toward Oregon, and does that result in identical mileposts that UP has to clarify?
All mileposts on the SP Western Lines began at San Francisco. MP 370 on the Valley Line is Cameron. It's Santa Barbara on the Coast Line. The Donner, Siskiyou and Modoc Lines were the same way. It was (and still is) all kept in order by Area, Division and Subdivision timetables and System Special Instructions and the fact that dispatchers don't work two subs at once. The bigger problem the lines tried to avoid were stations of the same, or similar, names. That's why "Keene", which sounded a lot like "King City" was renamed Woodford. UP differentiates CP mileposts by original line, such as CP 350 for an original UP line and CPSP for an SP line.
@@MarkClayMcGowan Thanks. Duplicate or similar sounding names were as "verboten" as the plague on the Santa Fe. A few come close, but findings always resulted in one name being changed.
Does the UP have trackage rights from Barstow to Mojave, or do they have to go all the way down to West Colton and back up the cutoff to get to the Tehachapi pass? Or do the just not run trains that need to go that route?
UP has no rights from Mojave to Barstow. Most trains coming south on the Overland Route aren't destined for the Tehachapi and are broken up in Colton for their eventual destinations in the San Bernardino/Los Angeles area or east on the Sunset Route. Trains from the north destined for the I-5 corridor just come down through Washington and Oregon.
Nice video Mark, the Base by Dagget/Yermo is the USMC repair division and the Base west of there is USMC NEBO logistics which I worked at as a civilian way back in the early 1980's. Looking forward on your signage video. Requesting future videos maybe of Northbound tracks, coast, central valley, and Vegas stuff, Laws/Bishop area. Thanks🛤
Thanks for the Yermo installation info! I have lots of plans for the central valley. The coast line when I can make it but that is a schedule thing since so few trains, other than Amtrak, use it. There are no rails in the northern Owens valley but I do have some abandoned line and museum stuff planned up there, hopefully this spring! Thanks for checking it out!
All you have to do is ask your phone the info you need... Google is on most Androids. I don't know what apple has but I know it uses some app for the internet. Anything I want to know I just speak or type and pop the answer.
I'm an Android guy. To keep ad floods off my browser, I don't use google unless it's absolutely necessary, but in situations such as this, I know that many viewers will know the answer and it gives me an opportunity to interact with them...like this!
I think East Mojave and Death Valley is one of the best places to observe geology and it has some great history
I'm fascinated by geology! Riding dirt bikes around the Mojave I've stopped and checked out lot's of very interesting areas. The varying landscapes of the desert are so cool! I've been to Death Valley many times but only checked out the geology near the south entrance.
I dream of rail-fanning that stretch of the BNSF Transcon….thanks for the tour. Your videos are always interesting.
Your Experience on the Railroad working 2/3 of your Life on the High Rail sets you apart from most Others. DJS Trains Channel is an Active Engineer for CSX. 👍
Mark you do a great job out here. We certainly enjoy the videos. Thanks 👍👍👍❤️
Always on the go enjoying retirement and entertaining us tubers. Thanks again Mark.
Always loved this area trains & trains coming from NC to Ca . Always enjoyed my trips seeing west coast action .
Mark, my grandfather worked for LA&SL from 1903 to 1960. He worked on a track gang first. Getting the tracks from Las Vegas toward so Cal. When the railroad started operation in 1905, he became a rear brakeman. As trackside signaling improved, he didn’t have to walk a mile back from the caboose.
I have his 55 year Union pin. He worked for 57 years, but they didn’t give him credit for 2 years because he hired on at 14 years old.
I worked with a guy from Vegas whose Dad was an agent at, among other places, Crucero, during that period. Prior to knowing him, I'd never heard of the Tonopah & Tidewater! Thanks for checking it out!
Mark you lucky devil!!!! This old foamer would have built a house right there at Daggett, lol. Also before the merger SANTA FEI milepost start in Chicago, Illinois and BNSF milepost starts in Fort Worth, Texas.
I always took that rt 66 from Fenner to Needles to watch the trains and avoid climbing the steep mountain on interstate 40. I usually went in the truckstop-convient store at Fenner to take a break and get a cup of coffee and a texas size cinammon bun. Mark, 620 miles from Fenner would put the starting point at the rail yard in Belen New Mexico.
I put up another reply re:. Milepost.
The original mileposts in New Mexico started in Kansas at 0.0. The mileposts increased through Albuquerque south (Westward) through Belen, Socorro toward Rincon.
Milepost 0.0 on the Coast Lines Westward through New Mexico, Arizona and Calif . started at Isleta, not Belen, as Belen only became part of the important route to the west after construction of the "Belen Cutoff" through Amarillo and Clovis in1909.
Hey Mark, I was driving along I 40 Fri the 18th and there were 6 or 7 trains parked all the way to the crossovers west of Ludlow including a UP at Daggett, all West bounds. East bounds were moving and yes he blazed through that curve west of Ludlow. Nice video!
No more 89' flat cars. Scrapped.
This area moves everything from the Ports of LA/LB
Mark, I have a feeling that the mile posts start roughly 620 miles from where you are standing... Just Saying...LOL. Grew Up in B-field and would stop every once and a while to watch trains round the loop when we went to Tehachapi. Recently started watching your videos and have learned quite a bit concerning the detailed working of a railroad. Thank You and Be Safe.
There's always a smart-ass in the crowd! It's usually me! LOL. I do appreciate the humor. I'm glad you found the channel and are enjoying it!
So I found your channel searching for things about how the railroads work, and I've been hooked ever since. I love the actual detailed explanation of how things actually work in real life more so than just a video of a train going by, keep up God's work brother!
Thank you! I am always glad to hear from a new subscriber/viewer! I have a piece on signs and insulated joints scheduled to come up soon and more ideas behind those. Stay tuned!
Topock (Tow-pock) was once the bottom of the longest helper grade in the US, and a water stop for steam.
Where did they cut out helpers at the top?
@@MarkClayMcGowan Good grief, I don't remember the name of the station, but I will find it. The "short helper" jobs worked between Needles and Getz, about 8 miles East of Kingman. The regular job(s) made 1 turn Needles to ? about 25 miles West of Seligman. My source is and old Richard Stineheimer story in Railroad Magazine "Rolling the Citrus Gold" where he rides a GFX (Green Fruit Express) between Needles and Winslow in the 1950's. I will find that station name and get the miles and distance. Not every train required help, but the length of 1 and 2+ percent grades East of Needles without any relief necessitated helpers.
@@MarkClayMcGowan Found it! Yampai, Az.
We had a roadmaster who started her railroad career in San Bernardino and transfered up here to be the roadmaster at Bingen on the Fallbridge sub for a couple of years then she became our roadmaster on the Stampede and Yakima Valley subdivisions for 3 years, she went back home to California to take a trainmaster or yardmaster position in Long beach, I think she regretted she took the position and should have stayed here with us.
Nice catch of the Ferromex locomotive
I've been seeing a lot of these in BNSF consists over the last year or so. Thanks for checking it out!
Coast Lines mileposts still begin at Isleta South of Albuquerque.
Lots of rail traffic moves through there. Just be careful of the washout on right of way roads. Very soft sand and silt from flash floods over time.
Very cool video with a variety of things going on including the catch of the MoW . Enjoyed watching and looking forward to you next video.
I'm thinking either Albuquerque or Belen, NM. Fresno is Milepost 1000, at the intersection of Blackstone and McKinley.
Someone said Isleta, south of Albuquerque
@@MarkClayMcGowan sounds right..
This time of year (after the holidays) was always a time for lower traffic volumes and a time for MofW to get longer work windows. This might(?) suggest a reason, in addition to lack of crews, for parked trains
Railroads have gotten really good at modeling and scheduling all the intricate demands of running trains, fixing track, etc
It's good to see Old Santa Fe BNSF war bonnet and by the way where does the UP miles start thank you keep them coming
Original UP mileposts began in Omaha. With all the mergers, most lines kept their own mileposts and use a road designation at Control Points to differentiate them, such as SP's western lines beginning at San Francisco and called, for example, CP SP358.
Can you make a video where you explore remnants of the Visalia electric railroad?
I just bought a book on the VE and am familiar with some parts of it, so yes, I can do that at some point. I hope to finish my piece on the SP Eastside Branch next month. I've been working on it for two years but have had so many injuries and the Covid thing, that I am just now finding the time to finish it.
Thanks for checking it out!
u ever see any searchlight signals in service
I saw a few on the trip and I know there are still a few around here used as branch line entering signals.
Unfortunately, my head wasn’t in the game. I was coming back from Salt Lake City and parked overnight in Las Vegas. I generally don’t leave Las Vegas for Los Angeles until early afternoon to mid afternoon, I don’t get paid to sit parked on an interstate highway! I should’ve taken Nipton Road and checked out your path through the desert. Well I’m going up to Salt Lake City again next week so, I guess I have the chance. I think I see three different potential paths Three different paths where the railroad tracks may have run through the dry lake bed on the southside of Baker. I’m gonna have to look at this on Google Maps from an aerial view. It seems odd to me that the surveyors and engineers run railroad track through a dry lake bed! You know the thing is gonna flood sooner or later
Phil Serpico has an awesome book called "T&T: The Nevada Short Line" that is a awesome history and has some great photos of both Soda Lake and Silver Lake stations under water as well as the Crucero interlocking.
If you take the back roads through Kelso, you can also head south and hit I-40 above Amboy and skip the Vegas traffic east of Barstow altogether. If we leave leave Vegas on a Sunday, we go Parhump-Death Valley- Trona-Jawbone. It's five hours if we don't stop but we usually hit Panamint Springs to eat. It's still faster than fighting I-15!
Mark, you may know, but if not, some SP guys may.
Question is, SP mileposting from San Francisco increased Eastward through Tehachapi and on to Arizona, etc
How was the mileposting Westward toward Oregon, and does that result in identical mileposts that UP has to clarify?
All mileposts on the SP Western Lines began at San Francisco. MP 370 on the Valley Line is Cameron. It's Santa Barbara on the Coast Line. The Donner, Siskiyou and Modoc Lines were the same way. It was (and still is) all kept in order by Area, Division and Subdivision timetables and System Special Instructions and the fact that dispatchers don't work two subs at once. The bigger problem the lines tried to avoid were stations of the same, or similar, names. That's why "Keene", which sounded a lot like "King City" was renamed Woodford. UP differentiates CP mileposts by original line, such as CP 350 for an original UP line and CPSP for an SP line.
@@MarkClayMcGowan Thanks. Duplicate or similar sounding names were as "verboten" as the plague on the Santa Fe. A few come close, but findings always resulted in one name being changed.
Nevada is the most beautiful state in this country imo.
You must really enjoy the high desert! Everyone has their favorite terrains and I will certainly not begrudge you yours! Thanks for checking it out!
Keep up the good work
Does the UP have trackage rights from Barstow to Mojave, or do they have to go all the way down to West Colton and back up the cutoff to get to the Tehachapi pass? Or do the just not run trains that need to go that route?
UP has no rights from Mojave to Barstow. Most trains coming south on the Overland Route aren't destined for the Tehachapi and are broken up in Colton for their eventual destinations in the San Bernardino/Los Angeles area or east on the Sunset Route. Trains from the north destined for the I-5 corridor just come down through Washington and Oregon.
Belen NM is the mile post bnsf o.o. Freso is the end. 998. See just asked GOOGLE.
Thanks for the info and for checking it out!
Nice video Mark, the Base by Dagget/Yermo is the USMC repair division and the Base west of there is USMC NEBO logistics which I worked at as a civilian way back in the early 1980's. Looking forward on your signage video. Requesting future videos maybe of Northbound tracks, coast, central valley, and Vegas stuff, Laws/Bishop area. Thanks🛤
Thanks for the Yermo installation info! I have lots of plans for the central valley. The coast line when I can make it but that is a schedule thing since so few trains, other than Amtrak, use it. There are no rails in the northern Owens valley but I do have some abandoned line and museum stuff planned up there, hopefully this spring! Thanks for checking it out!
Thats cool seeing BNSF let "my little pony" ride shotgun lol
All you have to do is ask your phone the info you need... Google is on most Androids. I don't know what apple has but I know it uses some app for the internet. Anything I want to know I just speak or type and pop the answer.
I'm an Android guy. To keep ad floods off my browser, I don't use google unless it's absolutely necessary, but in situations such as this, I know that many viewers will know the answer and it gives me an opportunity to interact with them...like this!
Supply chain, or politics? we all are getting played! thank you stay safe!