A Late Winter's Adventure - Day 3 - Needles Sub

Barstow arguably is one of the best staging spots for a railfan adventure - striking distance to the Big 3 (Tehachapi, Cajon and Needles sub) and some of the lesser busy areas (Afton and Cima). In years past we would call Barstow home for several days in a row - working out onto the Needles sub. This year we would leapfrog from Barstow to Kingman before returning back to Barstow over a 3 day period.

The focus of this day would be the Needles Sub - For me, the Needles sub is as heavy duty and fast running as it gets - its BNSF's national life line of commerce. If the Powder River Basin is the gold of the crown, the transcon has to be the shiny beset jewels. 60-80 trains ply the line every 24 hours. Stretching 172 miles from Barstow to Needles, one not familiar with this area may think the desert is a flat desolate area. Desolate in some places, sure, but flat - no way. The mainline crests several grades during its stretch. Summits such as Pisgah, Lavic, Squaw Summit, Bolo Hill and Goffs create opeational challenges. Very few trains fail to make it across the subdivision in the allotted hours. Some Z-train crews are on the long pool - San Bernardino or Bakersfield through to or from Needles.

The summit at Lavic was to be our first stop for first light. Eastbound trains climb out of the dry lake bed at Hector through Pisgah where the first crest is made before heading down through a quick dip before climbing to the next summit at Lavic. From there its downgrade to Ludlow.




Lavic Curve at Sunrise


Z-RICWSP (Richmond, CA - Willow Springs, IL) coming out of dip into Lavic.


Q-LACCHI (Los Angeles, CA - Chicago, IL) starts downgrade towards Ludlow - Pisgah lava crater distant.

Creosote bush is punctuated with pumice and volcanic rock in the area - the nearby lava fields and Pisgah crater reminds the violent creations of the area.

Bolo Hill was our next area to check out. Previously Kit Courtier showed us how to get into the Bolo Hill area which is an excellent shooting location for east and westbounds. With my handy Garmin Nuvi, I marked the spots as waypoints Bolo 1, 2 and 3 for future quick shooting references. Having been on the Needles sub over a dozen times in the past 10 years, I am always finding new and unique photo locations. Many of them off are of Route 66 - requiring a little patience and luck.


Z-NYCLAC (New York City - Los Angeles, CA) making 70 per on Bolo Hill


Z-WSPNBY (Willow Spring, IL - North Bay, CA) at Bolo Hill - Cadiz distant.


Warbonnet led Q-STOALT (Stockton, CA - Alliance, TX) at Bolo Hill with Amboy crater distant.

Alphabetic towns laid out going east its an easy way to remember station locations; Amboy, Bolo, Cadiz, Danby, Essex, Goffs, Homer, Ibis, Java, Kleinfelter, Lava....East from Amboy is the grade to Bolo, then dropping back down to Cadiz before the long pull out of the Bristol Dry Lake bed to the crest at Goffs. From Essex to Goffs is a favorite spot to pace trains along old Route 66.


Q-ATGLAC (Atlanta, GA - Los Angeles, CA) cresting Goffs hill.

Along the base of the Dead Mountains is the Piute Valley - this is where the rail line picks up the drainage of the Piute Wash to find its way down to Needles. The area around Java has been an attraction as of late of us - with the sun in mostly favorable angles for the morning through evening. Ibis can be a great location for fading evening light as well.


M-BELBAR (Belen, NM - Barstow, CA)Climbing out of the Piute Valley


M-SLABAR (Slayton, TX - Barstow, CA) at Java


Z-KCKLAC (Kansas City - Los Angeles, CA) at Java


Kleinfelter


Pulling hard into Ibis


Meet at Ibis

As the evening descended upon us, we decided to move east for our hotel in Kingman, enjoying a desert thunderstorm that night while sitting outside having dinner. Truly a great trip so far....