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| Jason and Jim in Cajon Pass waiting for 3751 |
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| The reason we were there. Santa Fe 3751 |
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Jason said this was a private excursion consist. |
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| The days view. |
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| Two guys showed up Monday morning driving this cool truck. |
Well, once again it was time to go chasing Santa Fe 3751 through Cajon Pass on its way out of state. Just like last time, ten years ago, it was Jason, Jim, and yours truly out having fun. Because of schedule changes the last couple of months, 3751 ended up leaving Union Station in downtown L. A. on Monday instead of what I think was supposed to be a Saturday departure. This ended up working out better, as mine and Jim's work schedule was such that a sunday night ,Monday day trip was best. We headed out late Sunday afternoon, stopping to pick up some chicken for dinner and stuff for breakfast and munching at the local store off the 210 at Day Creek. We arrived at a new spot for spending the night that was close to where we normally go when dat tripping up Cajon Pass. It is an elevated spot a little further away from the tracks that gives a great view both up and down track. We ate dinner and watched as the sun headed down, all while Jason got to shot more footage than normal. Seems there was more traffic than normal, maybe because of Mondays 3751 trip up the line. As is happens most of the time for me, once I fall asleep, the first train or two might wake me up, but after that I am oblivious to the noise made by 5 gabillion tons of steel heading up or down the pass at unknown speeds. I am sure Jason hears each and every one of them, but that is something he enjoys to the very end. Monday morning arrived,and as I turned over in my sleeping bag, starting the waking up process, I heard Jason talking to someone that I just assumed was Jim. They were chatting away, talking about who knows what, mostly trains I just assumed. Then I turn over to where I can see Jim is still in his sleeping bag, sound asleep. That of course gets me to wondering who it is Jason is carrying on this discussion with. Turns out someone else had already gotten up there that morning to also soot video and pics of 3751 and was having a good time talking shop with Jason. That is one thing about Jason that amazes me, his ability to meet anyone and start up with the train conversations. Within another hour or two there are maybe 6 or 7 more people on our little mountain top waiting for 3751. With Jason having knowledge of the departure time and approximate timeline for it's travels, we head down the road to just below where Joe's Diner used to be. There is a long couple of mile stretch where the tracks are right nest to the road and one can get drive by footage of the train as it goes by. We wait around, and as the first ones at this particular spot, we have the place to ourselves, for about 10 minutes. By the time the train goes by us, there are anywhere from 15 to 20 cars parked on the road side waiting with us. Guess the area is better known than we thought. After 3751 goes by us, we try our best to get some drive along shots, but that doesn't work out as well as hoped for. Seems that we still have some learning to do as far as train video shooting goes.We get back up to Summit just before the train comes through, and that place was also so packed one could not find a place to park in the dirt lot overlooking the tracks. We went just a little further and got footage right at the top of the pass. We wait till all the traffic is thinned out before heading home, as there were LOTS of people up there for this. All in all, we had a fun almost 24 hours of camping out and trains. We stopped on the way back out by Chuck's and had pizza and beer. Heck, just one more year and Jason will be legal, but thankfully, he doesn't touch the stuff. Another great time out and about.
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