Nomad of Mid-America
The Searles Staircase
A foursome of products straight out of a 1970s EMD catalog--all 40 series, two in the "tunnel" configuration and two standard variants--slog out of the Mojave Desert floor with empty hoppers of coal gobbled up by the hungry generating units adjacent to the robust trona mine of Searles Valley Minerals. The 30-mile, 1500-ft climb to the Union Pacific interchange from the ancient dry lakebed at which the mine derives its lode of salty wares proves an arduous task for the Trona Railroad and its aging fleet of horsepower producers, the second unit ailing from said struggle as it belches black smoke in protest of the hard labor forced upon thee in its waning years. Despite its reputation as one of the driest and hottest locales on Earth, spring brings hospitable conditions to the desert and permits the proliferation of wildflowers to carpet the groundscape typically devoid to all but the most hardy of shrubbery.
The Searles Staircase
A foursome of products straight out of a 1970s EMD catalog--all 40 series, two in the "tunnel" configuration and two standard variants--slog out of the Mojave Desert floor with empty hoppers of coal gobbled up by the hungry generating units adjacent to the robust trona mine of Searles Valley Minerals. The 30-mile, 1500-ft climb to the Union Pacific interchange from the ancient dry lakebed at which the mine derives its lode of salty wares proves an arduous task for the Trona Railroad and its aging fleet of horsepower producers, the second unit ailing from said struggle as it belches black smoke in protest of the hard labor forced upon thee in its waning years. Despite its reputation as one of the driest and hottest locales on Earth, spring brings hospitable conditions to the desert and permits the proliferation of wildflowers to carpet the groundscape typically devoid to all but the most hardy of shrubbery.