After 5 days in the desert we didn’t let the horse run free but instead we drove from the Needles sub down to UP’s Yuma sub. The rains we’d experienced the day before certainly had left their mark on the land but in their wake the sky was clear and we were ready to take advantage of the light. Of course grabbing a photo or two of the remaining ponds, like this one at Wister, was imperative.
Desert Pond
At the south end of the Rogoza siding is a United States Border Patrol inspection station. Here the westbound trains are inspected for riders in any open or unsecured cars as well as in distributed power units. Westbounds slow so that the border patrol can inspect both sides then they will stop the train to walk through the DPUs. These guys seem to mean business so attempting to ride northwest from Yuma appears to be a quick trip back south of the border if you aren’t authorized to be in the U.S.
South of the sensitive area of Rogoza is the much more pleasant location of Wister where the Chocolate mountains form a backdrop for an eastbound auto rack train.
Wister and Chocolate
The Yuma sub from Thermal east to near Yuma is still single track and looks much like it did when the Southern Pacific ran it. The signals, pole line, and bridges all say SP despite the fact the sign age and trains shout UP. It’s clear from radio conversations that terms like “east siding switch Bertram” have deeper meaning to the employees than the UP designation of “CP SP648″. As long as the economy remains slow the last vestiges of the SP will hold out but once the economy picks up and the 2nd track goes in, they will be gone.
East Siding Switch Bertram
This is the sunset route. Clear, sunny days with fabulous sunsets are what it’s about. As the sun began to set behind the San Bernardino mountains west of the Salton Sea, a westbound manifest entered the Mortmar siding. With just a car length to spare this westbound crept into the 84 hundred and 83 foot siding for several minutes clearing just as his meet arrived at the west switch. Good planning or just luck?
The Sunset Route
This post brings to an end my review of my trip through the desert. I’m hoping everyone enjoyed my views of Southern California and Arizona. In the future expect to see a few more photos from this trip as I have others that didn’t necessarily fit into the story but I think are compelling. Oh, for those of you that caught the references in the post titles, the horse did have a name. Nitro, Dodge, Nitro.
