On
Thursday, August 11th, 2011, Eugene Brichacek picked me up at my house
to camp out at Eder, 116 miles east of Davis, California. We got there
around 13:00 in the afternoon, and while we expected a few folks to be
there, we were a bit dismayed to find we were the first, (which after
watching the day's first Z train) proved to be a little agonizing. In
this frst set, we have UP 4552, 4185, 7464, 4075 pulling the ZNPOA to
Oakland, CA from North Platte, NE. Mount Judah, named after the late
Theodore D. Judah, Engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad, is right
behind 7464. Mount Judah over Eder. In
this next set, Amtrak's California Zephyr #6 heads over Donner Pass
with AMTK 199 and 123...and private car Virginia City with Calrailfans
members Roger Skinner and his wife. This
next set shows what type of power is often used on Donner Pass, ranging
from SD70ACe's to SD70M's, to the newer GEVO (UP designated them
C45ACCTE's). Here, UP 8546, 4694,5268, 5252, 5287, 8515, and 4339 pull and push the first MRORV west to Roseville, CA from Roper, UT Next, UP 7413, 8210, 8424 and 5250 pull/push the MRORV's counterpart, MRVRO to Roper, UT. Around dusk, IOAxx rolls over Donner Pass with UP 7729, 5154, 5284, and 7730. On
top of Tunnel 41, also known as the Big Hole for the fact that it's 2
miles long from Norden on the West end, and Eder (actual site is the
space just to the lower left directly in front of the antennas.) Amtrak's
California Zephyr #5 heads up the grade to reach Norden, where it will
begin the descent into the Central Valley on it's final leg of the run
from Chicago, Il to Emeryville, CA. Here is AMTK 85 and 140 with
Mid-America 'City of Angels' and ex-B&M 'Salisbury Beach'. Our fireplace consisted of a former washing machine drum. It kept us nice and warm...indeed.
