This morning, Wayne and Drew came over for a long overdue work day on the layout. Santi tried to talk me into heading out to the Pass, but we have our N scale version of Cajon to work on instead.
We made some adjustments to the lighting; added safety bariers to the hidden tracks; completed the grade transition at Summit; removed the backdrops at San Bernardino; repaired the backdrop at Drawbar Flats and Silverwood; plus ran trains.

Drew spent some time experimenting with his digital camera and the movie editing software that comes with XP. You can see the results here (2.5 Mb). Somehow I think I'll be posting more movies in the future.

Just because something was posted on the Internet doesn't mean it's true, but if it is, there was an interesting post over on TrainOrders. "On Saturday, November 20, BNSF, UP and Amtrak put a record number of trains (by BNSF's count) over Cajon Pass - 118. That was 89 BNSF and 26 UP freights and 3 Amtrak movements. Not counted: an unusually high number of helper movements (16). This eclipsed a record of 111 trains set four days earlier." Now the biggest problem with this is that Amtrak only runs two trains a day. So what was the third Amtrak train? There is no mention of this in the BNSF news releases, nor in a news search on Google.

What a storm! Last night we had a tremendous storm roll into the area. Thunder that shook the house, and no gap between the flash of lightning and the clap of the thunder. When the sun came up, the hills south of the house had snow covering them down to just a thousand feet. I knew that Cajon had to be spectacular. I had some family obligations so I couldn't head out. Santi was out there though, and got some fantastic photos.

Stuart posted his photos of last Sunday's railfan trip here. I can't figure out what happened with that photo of me. It looks like I rubbed a maple bar on my teeth, and I don't know why my feet are pointed like that. I like the dramatic lighting on the trains through the cut at Summit.

After the Cajon Group discussion on the extent of the Union Pacific property rights, I thought I'd post something from the California Penal Code...

369i. (a) Any person who enters or remains upon the property of any railroad without the permission of the owner of the land, the owner's agent, or the person in lawful possession and whose entry, presence, or conduct upon the property interferes with, interrupts, or hinders, or which, if allowed to continue, would interfere with, interrupt, or hinder the safe and efficient operation of any locomotive, railway car, or train is guilty of a misdemeanor.

As used in this subdivision, "property of any railroad" means any land owned, leased, or possessed by a railroad upon which is placed a railroad track and the land immediately adjacent thereto, to the distance of 20 feet on either side of the track, which is owned, leased, or possessed by a railroad.

Within a few seconds of my post, I got a reply from Ted York, "Just don't hinder the operation of the BNSF and you are ok. In the case of the UP just spot them a five dollar bill!" I responded with, "You ain't kidding. My buddy and I were at LAUPT Sunday checking out the Officer's Special when "Security" told us we were in a restricted area and needed to leave. His accent was so thick we could barely understand him. Should've asked if I could buy him a cup of (insert regional hot
drink here).

For those who don't know, Ted York is featured in the current Model Railroad Planning Guide. He has a great HO scale layout depicting Cajon Pass.

Santi has posted his shots from our Friday trip. They can be seen here, but here is a preview. This is a shot from Goat Hill, followed by a shot from the rocks at Sullivan's Curve.

Santi and I spent Friday in one heck of a Cajon adventure. We went to Cajon Station, Sullivan's Curve, Drawbar Flats, Mormon Rocks, Alray and the tunnels, the other side of the tunnels, Hill 582, Summit, Del Taco, Drawbar Flats, Goat Hill, Sullivan's Curve, the top of Sullivan's Rock, Cajon Station, Keenbrook, Blue Cut, Flat tire, Swarthout, Mormon Rocks and gone.

So what's with the goat, you ask? Well, as we headed up the road to what should be known as Goat Hill, we encountered a jet black pigmy goat. If there was ever a definition for couger bait, this goat was it. We tried for several minutes to catch her, but she wouldn't cooperate. Now I'm haunted by dreams of an eviscerated goat carcass on a fire road.