Tracking West
The Year Before
It has been a few years since the searchlights at Norden were torn down, but here's a photo from when they were still standing.
The day started with a couple friends and I waiting at Roseville for ZLTG2. We followed it up the hill to Truckee, making a stop at Norden. At the time, these were the only active searchlights on Donner, but were living on borrowed time. Due to this, it seemed like everyone was trying to make it a goal to shoot Norden as much as possible while the SP era signals still stood. Not long after this shot was taken, the replacement signals were put up, but would not enter service for about a year.
Just over a year after this photo, in late November of 2021, the searchlights were officially removed from service. While the east end signals were taken down first, the signal bridge would take a minute to cut down, but sometime around Thanksgiving that year the signals and bridge would be completely gone. I'm glad I got the shots I did when the signals were still up, as going to Norden these days it feels off not seeing the searchlights there. Today, no searchlights remain active on Donner, and in the years following Norden there have been other SP era bridges knocked on the hill. The most recent of those was Truckee, which happened last summer. Thankfully, a handful of these bridges still remain, even if they are just dormant.
The Year Before
It has been a few years since the searchlights at Norden were torn down, but here's a photo from when they were still standing.
The day started with a couple friends and I waiting at Roseville for ZLTG2. We followed it up the hill to Truckee, making a stop at Norden. At the time, these were the only active searchlights on Donner, but were living on borrowed time. Due to this, it seemed like everyone was trying to make it a goal to shoot Norden as much as possible while the SP era signals still stood. Not long after this shot was taken, the replacement signals were put up, but would not enter service for about a year.
Just over a year after this photo, in late November of 2021, the searchlights were officially removed from service. While the east end signals were taken down first, the signal bridge would take a minute to cut down, but sometime around Thanksgiving that year the signals and bridge would be completely gone. I'm glad I got the shots I did when the signals were still up, as going to Norden these days it feels off not seeing the searchlights there. Today, no searchlights remain active on Donner, and in the years following Norden there have been other SP era bridges knocked on the hill. The most recent of those was Truckee, which happened last summer. Thankfully, a handful of these bridges still remain, even if they are just dormant.