Trona Railfanning

Watch in HD! North of Los Angeles and northeast of Mojave, California, lies a time machine to an earlier time. In the remoteness of the northern Mojave, lies the shortest FRA regulated railroad in the country, the Trona Railway. Stretching 30.5 miles between Searles Valley Mineras' huge plant at Argus, California, to the interchange with the Union Pacific at Searles. The road rosters an eclectic collection of six axel EMD power, all SD40 variants, making it the only line in the greater Los Angeles area that regularly runs exclusively with second generation, six axel road units. Two different times over the last month, my father and I traveled out to Searles Valley to catch the Trona in action, braving both gale force wind (apologies for the sound distortion as my wind sock only works for winds under 30mph and gusts were nearing 70) and extreme heat (118 in the valley at its maximum) to bring you this video! Watch as classic armor yellow and scarlet and gray SD40's battle the grade in both directions, switching out the interchange at Searles and the plant at Argus, and even a pair of UP trains at the longest tunnel in the lower half of California!
||Equipment List||
|||Photography|||
Canon 7D Mark II - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Canon 5D Mark III - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 Tripod - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
I use hexagonal plates for my tripod mounts, though your usage may vary with those
|||Video|||
Canon XHA-1S - www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Bogen 3040 Video Tripod - No link, but it's relatively easy to find on eBay for about $150
|||Misc|||
ATCS Monitor - groups.io/g/ATCSMonitor
Uniden Bearcat BC245XLT - wiki.radioreference.com/index...
Final Cut Pro X - www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/

[@DanialANoah]

old school 40ft rail on worn out roadbed...locomotives wobbling around like they did when I was a kid...superb!

[@adamwatkins9208]

Great video! Its like you time traveled back in time to the 80s or 70s when SP was really big. That looks like a great place to film.

[@adamwatkins9208]

This video is truly a time machine. Thank you so much for filming this.

[@railwayexpress6678]

Been there when the Baldwin's were running the line. Thank for posting!

[@appalachianrails]

If you can ever get 2005 or 2006 leading, then you're in for a real treat since those ones have Leslie RS3L horns....

[@spacecalander]

Wow miss those tunnel motors, but they sure look like they are working hard for such a short train.

[@blueheart_92]

This is what I like to watch on the weekends this is awesome, great captures!

[@zarniwoop42]

Really miss the Alcos that Trona had. They really took care of them. They were beautiful to see and neat to hear.

[@RailfanJunction]

I can only imagine- we got out here too late to see them.

[@Conrail1225GP15T]

That is a great sight to see. Awesome video.

[@Milcom34]

Really Cool Video....Thank You.

[@amymichaels7379]

awesome video

[@kenkramer6529]

Very nice!

[@willberestartingthischanne9984]

Awesome Video

[@Juan_A_Garcia]

Excelente video, un saludo.

[@easyamp123]

good ol' rent a wrecks, good video

[@DanialANoah]

many thanks again for your efforts, living history,still can't get over those locos bouncing around like old days, does anyone know the grade % headed uphill EB(?) in the beginning of this video?

[@mikeborelli8800]

did you know that's Telescope peak in the background at about 5:14? It's the shorter looking one on the right at about center of picture. 11,000 plus elevation.

[@haroldsmith8698]

SIX OR SEVEN ENGINES FOR HELPERS MUSTBE A LONG TRAIN OR IT IS EXPECTED TOGO OVER A BUNCH OF HILLS

[@nonstopmaximum2141]

11:00 Why is 2002 shaking so violently?

[@josenevarez9674]

I just tried looking up Oxy, California on google maps and it does not recognize it. What other town is it near?

[@SnowSniper678]

The railroad should purchase the older emd power up retired so they could start their own railway company

[@clearboardproductions503]

They are their own company, Trona Railway. They just haven't/don't repaint the units they bought off UP/SP.

[@michaelball760]

@@clearboardproductions503 we repair them otherwise they wouldn't run.

[@SLORailfanning]

Do you know the Trona Railway's Schedule?

[@scotty4579]

great video watch classic EMDS in UP/SP paint schemes it looks a lonely stretch of track

[@RailfanJunction]

There are plenty of snakes to keep you company out there.

[@haroldsmith8698]

NOT SO MANY DURING THE DAY WHEN IT'S WARM BUT AT NIGHT THEY ARE WHAT IS CALL LAYING OUT,
YOU STEP ON ONE IT MAY BITE YOU

[@TheIronweed-vx5lg]

Where do the UP trains originate to interchange with Trona at Searle?

[@RailfanJunction]

Mojave but they ultimately come up from West Colton yard.

[@clevelandmaker7044]

+RailfanJunction man they take me back.....I always was an SD40-2 man
as an MOPAC kid I love to see the classics still get it done!

[@jleveille2]

Love this video the sounds of the EMD'S and the smoke show they put on. I was wondering do you wear boots since there are snakes around. When trains were busy here in Maine I always loved the EMDs Great job

[@bigtruknut]

Why does it take 7 engines to pull the cars?

[@RailfanJunction]

The covered hoppers are fully loaded coming out of Searles Valley and the grade is quite steep around Pinnacles and is I believe >2% for a distance. It is especially heavy when the train has the empty coal train tacked onto the end. For the inbound coal train, half the power was used as helpers to slow the descent into Searles Valley.

[@slv5102]

Hi, I will be going there next month and I was wondering, is there any fixed schedule when interchange will take place at Searles? Would love to see those old Trona locomotives :) Btw, nice video!

[@RailfanJunction]

Thanks Romet- They run Monday thru Friday and the turn up to Searles for UP interchange generally leaves after 2:30. BUT we have no idea what their schedule is currently because of the large earthquake 3 months ago. Nobody has said if they are back to normal.

[@slv5102]

@@RailfanJunction OK thanks. I will try to catch them :)

[@BNSF73]

Is this Line goes from Trona to Mojave? How many Trains a Day ?

[@RailfanJunction]

It goes from Trona to Searles where it connects with the UP/ex-SP Lone Pine branch. The Lone Pine runs from Searles to Mojave and used to run around 100 miles further north to Lone Pine itself. The line was trimmed back to Searles in 1982 when SP decided the traffic north of there wasn't sufficient to maintain the trackage. UP then removed the rail around 1997, which is a shame since there were several online industries at the time of abandonment.
As far as current operations, the Trona railway is usually a one time up one time down a day operation. Most days they bring loaded trona cars up to Searles to interchange with UP. Fairly regularly they will either bring an empty coal train up to Searles or a loaded one down. Recently, they have been bringing in small stone in NS ballast cars for the Navy at China Lake. They also bring in sulfuric acid for the mining process. As far as I know, they do not run on Saturdays at all.

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌐

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌏🌎🌍🌐🌐🌐

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌏🌎🌍🌐🌐🌐🌐🌐

[@davidcurtis5398]

Will someone tell me just what is sooooooo interesting about watching train cars go by for several minutes or hours at 3 mph while all of the cars are just rolling by.

[@trainfan4449]

i like to because of the variety. alwase something on every train that is worth modeling in minuiture. when people cut out alot of the cars its hard to gage how bussy a line realy is.

[@mikeborelli8800]

There is an elusive and romantic attraction about trains that has captured my attention since I was a boy: the loud, plangent sounds of brakes, horns, engines, the enormousness, and even the sometimes unusual personalities of the engineers themselves (I had the occasion to aquaint myself with a few operators). Growing up we lived, literally, as close as was allowed by law to a main line, and my father deplored it while I was always encaptured and would position myself as close as reasonably possible as they passed many times each day, feeling the wind and dust produced by these beautiful juggernauts. This attraction of mine has not abated over the years, and in fact has grown. I admit that a man such as myself (B.A. in music, B.A. in linguistics, M.A. and PhD in same) is not the stereotypical fan of these enormous machines but am confident I'm not so alone. The general attraction of others who enjoy these uploads may not entail such romanticism but is still seen here in these varities of comments of the viewers. So, David Curtis, this may provide some of the answer you're seeking.

[@melperry3576]

David Curtis then why are you watching, troll?

[@davidcurtis5398]

Didn't watch for long but it isn't my "cup of tea" and only little minds would call names.

[@melperry3576]

David Curtis OUCH, did TROLL, bite you. LMMFAO

[@olafmichelson8017]

blah

[@user-kz4ye6lm9v]

🌐🌐