BNSF West Daggett, CA
Union Pacific’s Los Angeles and Salt Lake route was built along the drainage of the dry Mojave River to avoid mountains in the western Mojave Desert. In a business deal convenient in 1905 that seems illogical today, Union Pacific obtained trackage rights along competitor Santa Fe’s route via Cajon Pass to allow the LA&SL to enter the Los Angeles Basin and avoid building their own route through the same mountains. The logical intersection of the proposed LA&SL and the existing Santa Fe occurred along the Mojave River near a young, rough, desert outpost named after the then Lieutenant Governor of California, John Daggett. West of the new junction at Daggett, the Santa Fe continued to follow the path of the Mojave River west to a final approach to the Cajon Pass.
Today, intermodal traffic to and from Southern California makes the BNSF former Santa Fe mainline one of the most dense freight routes in the country. Although BNSF trains approaching the junction far outnumber UP, BNSF has increased track capacity here to efficiently combine the two. Two UP and two BNSF main tracks now merge at Daggett to form three main tracks west to Barstow.
At West Daggett, a westbound BNSF intermodal glides by a waiting westbound manifest under the rising morning sun. A mix of dust, haze, and thin cloud turn the first light into a fiery reflection. Just minutes later, a new crew will take the train west from Barstow.
BNSF West Daggett, CA
Union Pacific’s Los Angeles and Salt Lake route was built along the drainage of the dry Mojave River to avoid mountains in the western Mojave Desert. In a business deal convenient in 1905 that seems illogical today, Union Pacific obtained trackage rights along competitor Santa Fe’s route via Cajon Pass to allow the LA&SL to enter the Los Angeles Basin and avoid building their own route through the same mountains. The logical intersection of the proposed LA&SL and the existing Santa Fe occurred along the Mojave River near a young, rough, desert outpost named after the then Lieutenant Governor of California, John Daggett. West of the new junction at Daggett, the Santa Fe continued to follow the path of the Mojave River west to a final approach to the Cajon Pass.
Today, intermodal traffic to and from Southern California makes the BNSF former Santa Fe mainline one of the most dense freight routes in the country. Although BNSF trains approaching the junction far outnumber UP, BNSF has increased track capacity here to efficiently combine the two. Two UP and two BNSF main tracks now merge at Daggett to form three main tracks west to Barstow.
At West Daggett, a westbound BNSF intermodal glides by a waiting westbound manifest under the rising morning sun. A mix of dust, haze, and thin cloud turn the first light into a fiery reflection. Just minutes later, a new crew will take the train west from Barstow.