So the "Where am I?" thread got me interested in the Cajon Pass area. It's been literally decades since I have 4-wheeled around there, and I think I assumed that all the trails would be locked down, like they are just about everywhere else in So Cal. Some roads are gated, but I was pleasantly surprised at the good access, even in the high fire danger weather we have right now.

Cajon Pass is one of the busiest railroad corridors in the US. I met some railfans, and they said it is an average of 70 trains per day. Easy for me to believe too. There are 3 main rails for BNSF, and 1 for Union Pacific (formerly Southern Pacific, and some stuff still has the SP logo on it).

If you like riding dirt roads, think about a trip out there. There is plenty of 2WD stuff, most of it in fact. But I used 4WD plenty too. I'll share a few pics. These are all along the tracks a couple of miles east of I-15, north off of hwy 138.

 

Gotta make sure there is a Ford in this. I towed my Jeep out there. If you zoom in, you can see people rappeling down the Mormon Rocks.


First stop was the Hill 582 Memorial for railroaders who have perished.




That green ammo can is a geocache. I found 12 caches in the area.



Shot this first train of the day from the Hill 582 site.


And this one was only a few minutes later.


I'm not sure what was up with this guy, but he stopped, blew his horn, and it seemed to me as if he was posing for the camera. He bumped forward a couple of times. Maybe he thought I was shooting video. It seemed like odd behavior.


If you want to get up close and feel the rumble, this is the place to do it.





Seems like a train was always in view somewhere.


More trains.





They are moving pretty fast going south, but going north they are really grinding it out. I paced this guy at 15mph and shot through my windshield.


This gizmo is an automatic rail/wheel greaser. That hopper is filled with grease, a very heavy molybdenum based stuff.


This is the ejector fitting. There is one on each rail.


And this is the sensor, a few feet away, that signals the controls when a train is passing over.


The grease gets all over the area, as you can see by the discolored area.

 

awesome pictures bill!

 

Great pictures, I used to go up Cajon Pass to take pictures and watch the trains years ago. Thanks for the memories,

 

Thanks Bill, just added this to the list!

 

Ditto. I didn't even know there was such a place as this Hill 582. Apparently it's pretty famous.


Cajon Pass - History of Hill 582 by Don E. Toles

 

Steve,

We did this one in the "Where in SoCal" thread:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post13325374

Pop

 

They say the mind is the first thing to start going .....

 

Pop, that's the post that piqued my interest in going up there. In fact, it is the first stop I made, including the geocache. I picked up a dozen caches for the day, out of maybe hundreds within a very few miles.

I had thought about running Cleghorn, but you need an Adventure Pass, which pisses me off generally, even though I have an unused one in the glove box. It's probably 5 years old, but has not been punched, so I assume it would still be good. I'll save it for some event more worthy.

I've only scratched the surface of the dirt roads up there. There is probably more to the west of I-15 than where I went on the east.

 

Great pictures Bill. As others noted, a place to go sometime soon. The wheel/rail greaser is pretty interesting. The last thing you would think you would want or need, climbing up or "sliding down" the tracks on this stretch.
I'm sure I'm missing something here.

 

I also had not thought about the need for grease on the rails. But watching the cars go by, the inner flanges were greasy. I can't explain why the grease applicator in that picture is on the outside of the rail, except that it possibly shoots the grease across the rail at the flanges. It is angled inward a little.

As far as slipping, that's probably only an issue in an emergency stop, and the locomotives have the ability to spray sand on the rails. I've only seen locomotive wheels slip on acceleration in movie westerns.

I googled enough to know that these systems are available, but not much detail on the technology. We must have someone around FTE that works the rails.

 

its interesting that you can get that close to the rails and not have them freak out and call big brother on you....i know when i took my engagement pictures at the Fullerton train station they had a fit when we were on the tracks.

 

Just guessing, but going around a tight corner would cause extra friction on those cars being pulled? Times 100 cars is a lot of drag. Would the greased flange help ease them around corners? I've experienced the same after hours of playing with the Duplo train.. Wife won't be happy if 80 and I break out the grease gun...

 

Maybe the grease is to allow the inner wheel to spin a little on tight curves, since the cars have solid axles. The curve in that pic doesn't look particularly tight, though, and it looks like both rails are getting greased.

 

I made a point of not getting up on the roadbed, at least while anyone was watching. Partly for my own safety, but also thinking that if we all behave then we won't lose the privilege.

The rails actually sing well before the train reaches you. Pretty eerie. I was parked in the shade having a drink, and I heard a high pitched whine, which didn't sound like it was coming from the rails, but it was. There are enough curves that the train can be right up on you quickly. Especially the southbounds.

You guys seem interested. Maybe we should have a G2G out there.