I had second (and third) thoughts about photographing BNSF Officer Special O-THCBAR9-01A at the big curve leading to Cajon Pass' Summit, as it has been done to death (perhaps especially by me), but the train was using Track 3, the harder one to photograph, to climb the Pass, and that line doesn't go around Sullivan’s Curve, one of the locations I was considering. And it was cloudy-ish in the lower part of the Pass, so I headed to the top (hence the location’s name: "Summit") and, as usual, the light was pretty good and the curve was irresistible. So, my apologies for being redundant. This train originated in Thenard, in southern California's harbor area, and is heading to Barstow and, eventually, further east. But rumor has it that some of this train’s 13 cars will be set out in Barstow to be used on a train heading to San Diego at the end of the week, and then on to Los Angeles a week later for the "Stupor Bowel." (Remember, the NFL gets litigious if anyone uses that game's name without paying them a ????-ton of money! I don't want to get in trouble!) But on this day the train was pulled by two 25th Anniversary engines, ES44ACs 6017 and 6163 pulling an impressive-looking 13-car train, consisting of BNSF cars 51 Mt Rainier, 63 Glorieta Pass, 6 Topeka, 67 Trinchera Pass, 4 Missouri River, 60 Stevens Pass, 65 Raton Pass, 64 Marias Pass, 1 Gerald Grinstein, 10 Lake Superior, 11 Fred Harvey, 31 (recently renamed to) Carl R Ice and 32 William B Strong. Great job, BNSF! (Cajon Pass, California – February 1, 2022)
