Desert Z Train
There are some places in the railfan world so remote that just getting to them is an accomplishment in itself. In April 1988, my friend Mike Devlin convinced me that we needed to make a weekend trip to Sand Pass, Nevada on the old Western Pacific.
In those pre-internet days, we took off late on Friday night from our homes in Klamath Falls, Oregon and hoped for the best. It was a great trip. If you're into the desert, Sand Pass is a great place to go. Not far from where this picture was taken, we found empty blasting powder cans that were undoubtedly left there by the crews that built the railroad.
The only downer that weekend was that the trains ran with the rattiest looking power (SD40s and C30s) we ever saw on Union Pacific. By the end of the weekend, we were saying that faded UP units were wearing "Drew Lewis Austerity Yellow."
This OANPZ was the first of three eastbounds to roll through on Saturday afternoon. At the time, the 9100s were the latest, greatest power on the system. The power set on this train was definitely the belle of the ball for the weekend.
Desert Z Train
There are some places in the railfan world so remote that just getting to them is an accomplishment in itself. In April 1988, my friend Mike Devlin convinced me that we needed to make a weekend trip to Sand Pass, Nevada on the old Western Pacific.
In those pre-internet days, we took off late on Friday night from our homes in Klamath Falls, Oregon and hoped for the best. It was a great trip. If you're into the desert, Sand Pass is a great place to go. Not far from where this picture was taken, we found empty blasting powder cans that were undoubtedly left there by the crews that built the railroad.
The only downer that weekend was that the trains ran with the rattiest looking power (SD40s and C30s) we ever saw on Union Pacific. By the end of the weekend, we were saying that faded UP units were wearing "Drew Lewis Austerity Yellow."
This OANPZ was the first of three eastbounds to roll through on Saturday afternoon. At the time, the 9100s were the latest, greatest power on the system. The power set on this train was definitely the belle of the ball for the weekend.