Norfolk Southern Railway "Erie Heritage" SD70ACe 1068 leads BNSF Railway baretable train B-KCKLAC3-08A, which departed Kansas City, Kansas, three days earlier and it now a mere 20 miles (32 km) from its destination, Los Angeles. NS 1068 is paired with BNSF ES44C4 6506. This train passed through Cajon Pass in the early morning darkness, hitting San Bernardino around 6:30, and then Corona 24 miles later about 7:00 … And then, 20 miles beyond that, Fullerton at … (checks timestamp on photo) … one hour ten minutes later! (The dispatchers held this train to allow a batch of Metrolink commuter trains to pass by with no delay.)
If this train had not been held, it would have hit Fullerton as the rising sun with in near perfect alignment with the BNSF Railway's east-west San Bernardino Sub. After figuring out where to catch it so the sun was obscured by trees or platform lights, after a bit neither of those stopgaps were going to work. Assu ming the "Metrolink window" was in effect, I headed over to the station's café to grab breakfast (a Snickers, as I was in full railfan junk food mode) and ran into another local fan, David Styffe. I eventually headed up onto this pedestrian overpass, and noted that somehow, the cloud cover was building up (kind of usual in southern California this time of year, as normally it is overcast and then that burns off). Shortly, the westbound signal on Track 2 went yellow, and then started flashing, indicating that this train may be approaching (Track 2 is freight only). David appeared and we checked angles, and he decided to head down to the platforms. I changed my mind quickly enough to grab the same elevator car as Dave, because the clouds would allow us to photograph the better northern side, which on a sunny day would be backlit. (And from the bridge, the fence would have crowded that shot as well.) As the elevator doors closed, we caught a glimpse of the train's headlight around the corner, approaching Fullerton Junction (guarded on the west side by the signals in the distance). As usually, David had one shot in mind, and I had another, so we quickly split and within seconds it was upon us.
In my opinion (and David agrees) sometimes clouds improve a shot. I have not yet asked David, visible in the distance in an orange shirt (and I just realized I also had on an orange shirt … but I swear we didn't coordinate it!), but I was very pleased with my results. (Fullerton, California – September 11, 2025)
