Mundane
This was basically a house money shot. I had already accomplished the scenic "wow" shots of this train, as it trundled back to Trona I debated not even taking this picture. Nothing special... but the light was great so why not. Well, good thing I ignored the impulse to be a moron, because this exact shot is no longer possible. TRC 2007 and 2009 have been cut up this past week and will never again ply the desert. Acquired in 2002, Trona would end up with 3 former UP SD40-2's. The deck was stacked against them from the beginning. To start, they were already ratty looking and were replacing some gorgeous looking SD45-2's, painted in a resplendent red and silver scheme. Then of course, they weren't as neat as the former SP units on property still sporting their scarlett and grey. Third, a more common locomotive there was not. Union Pacific rostered 1,079 SD40-2's at one time, part of the staggering 4,029 produced by EMD between 1972 and 1989. At some point though, they transcended being mundane and entered the realm of cool again. In the age of GE dominance and Tier 4 nonsense, Trona's 7 EMD's became the rock against which progress gnashed its teeth. Watching these ugly beasts climb the grade, roaring through a hellish landscape on only two steel rails as they climb nearly vertical out of the basin.... I guess they aren't so mundane after all.
Mundane
This was basically a house money shot. I had already accomplished the scenic "wow" shots of this train, as it trundled back to Trona I debated not even taking this picture. Nothing special... but the light was great so why not. Well, good thing I ignored the impulse to be a moron, because this exact shot is no longer possible. TRC 2007 and 2009 have been cut up this past week and will never again ply the desert. Acquired in 2002, Trona would end up with 3 former UP SD40-2's. The deck was stacked against them from the beginning. To start, they were already ratty looking and were replacing some gorgeous looking SD45-2's, painted in a resplendent red and silver scheme. Then of course, they weren't as neat as the former SP units on property still sporting their scarlett and grey. Third, a more common locomotive there was not. Union Pacific rostered 1,079 SD40-2's at one time, part of the staggering 4,029 produced by EMD between 1972 and 1989. At some point though, they transcended being mundane and entered the realm of cool again. In the age of GE dominance and Tier 4 nonsense, Trona's 7 EMD's became the rock against which progress gnashed its teeth. Watching these ugly beasts climb the grade, roaring through a hellish landscape on only two steel rails as they climb nearly vertical out of the basin.... I guess they aren't so mundane after all.