As the long shadows before sunset eat up the contours of the Sierra Nevada Foothills, an eastbound UP manifest headed for North Platte, NE, emerges from the deep cut just west of James. In a few minutes, the heavy freight will enter a curved tunnel and emerge several feet higher than where it now is.
The EMD SD (special duty) series are a strong and reliable kind of locomotive which still serve America's rails today. They have proved themselves reliable by clocking in several million miles of freight service over several decades.
