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Monday, November 28, 2011

Hill 582

As most of you all know, my big December trip is just around the corner. As I was about to secure the 3 parts, I found a decent part four, Hill 582. I was watching a Cajon Pass DVD I had gotten from a train show that came to Houston last week, and it showed trains from all parts, Devore, Blue Cut, Sullivan's Curve, Stein's Hill, and much more. But one spot that really stood out was this Hill 582. With a park bench, bird feeders, rocks, exotic trees, ranging from eucalyptus to locust, and memorials of past railfans, this seemed like a great spot. I looked up "Hill 582" on Google, and, first site, was a site by the guy that made the hill the way it is today, Don E. Toles. Click on this sentence for the site. It instantly popped out at me. There was also two more slots for parts. I decided we could add one more. So last week when the UP 844 steam train came through Southern California, my grandfather went to Cajon Pass to catch it. He decided to follow the directions on the site I gave him to Hill 582. He made it there. It overlooks four tracks, three owned by BNSF, one by Union Pacific. BNSF mains 1 & 2 are literally right next to the hill. BNSF main 3, which is in the pictures I am about to show you, well, you have to turn around to see it. The UP track is atop a hill from mains 1 and 2. It is called the Palmdale Cut-off.

So, for some reason, this UP stacktrain decided to take BNSF main 3 instead of where it belongs:




A close-up of the details, with the train still going to the right:

There is much, much more to this, but I am tired of typing, maybe more tomorrow.

2 comments:

Gena Philibert-Ortega said...

I have a few family members who worked for the Southern Pacific. One of them was in a really big crash there at Cajon Pass. Cajon Pass can be pretty dangerous place for trains.

CTA said...

Yes, because on both sides, there can be grades up to 3.2%. Thanks for the comment! :)