Under storm clouds and late afternoon sun, a northbound train heads up the remote Modoc line just north of Crest between Wendel and Alturas in northwestern California. This shortcut between Oregon and the Ogden gateway would soon be abandoned after the SP was merged into the UP, with the traffic being rerouted via the UP east from Portland. Between Alturas and Wendel there was no online business and through traffic had fallen to as little as one train a day each way, and in the 1980's SP had "mothballed" the line and rerouted traffic via Roseville and over Donner. When Phil Anchutz got control of the SP in 1988 he promised Oregon lumber shippers better service on their long east traffic, and the line was reopened until the UP merger made it superfluous.
