School got out Wednesday March 12, 2003 for Spring Break!  Our family had planned a vacation to California so on March 13 we left at 6:30am and started driving.  The first train was at Cheney while we got gas.  It was a westbound stack with 55 cars (BN(BNSF) 7029, BNSF 7854).  We paced it until Fishtrap were it met an eastbound stack (BNSF ????, ????, BN(BNSF) 2357, 2873).  Continuing on we didn't see anything more until Pasco.  At the east end of Pasco yard, an eastbound manifest (8002, 7331, ATSF(BNSF) 7504, 6472, 6901) waited to depart.  In the yard there were two SD9s (BN(BNSF) 6121, 6185) working the hump.  Also there was BN(BNSF) 1521 in Operation Lifesaver Paint.  Then farther on down were some old engines including BN 5114, 5545, 5092, ATSF 8156, 2159 and 2125.  I got some photos of them and then we headed back to the freeway.  As we crossed the yard I saw a eastbound manifest waiting to leave (BNSF 5489, 4844, SF 698, ATSF(BNSF) 6512, 6936).  In Hinkle, OR I saw a lot of UP, CEFX and a couple CP units but I didn't get any numbers.

    The next train was a detoured BNSF which was waiting in a siding just out of La Grande, OR.  It was a westbound (BNSF 6734, BN(BNSF) 7881, ATSF(BNSF) 6766) with manifest and even a few log cars.  In La Grande there was a westbound UP stack with two AC44CCTEs on the front.  Just before we reached Bakers City I saw an eastbound manifest with 5 units.  At 11:40am a westbound stack (UP 4140, 6391, 6692) passed a westbound hopper which was waiting in Quartz siding.  The westbound hopper had the unpatched SP 324 up front along with UP 7093 and 8070 while UP 5871, 5878, 5873, 5841, 5882 functioned as DPUs about mid-train.  At Durkee, OR we caught up to an eastbound hopper train (UP 9719, 9428).  Continuing on, at Weatherby, OR  we caught up to another eastbound (UP 5861, 5891, 5843, 5894, 5844) although it was a manifest this time.  It passed a westbound manifest which was in the hole (UP 3861, 3731).

        We didn't see anything else until we came to Wilder, ID.  Where we found the Idaho Northern & Pacific 4502 moving a couple of cars.  Parked in a siding were some of the oldest and worst looking engines I had ever seen.  They were D&RGW 3079, SP 7340, 7373, 9195, 9314, 7470, 9260, 7372.  I got pictures of most of them before we left.  Just before Reno, NV we crossed over a loaded coal train but it was too dark to see direction or anything.  Then in Reno there were 2 BNSF locomotives but again it was too dark to see much.  That was it and we arrived at my Grandpa's in Placerville around 10:15pm.  Friday and Saturday we didn't do too much but Sunday we got up bright and early and headed for Sacramento, CA.

    In Sacramento we drove to my other Grandparent's house and met my Uncle there.  He had bought tickets on Amtrak so we picked him up and drove down to the station.  Our train was the California Zephyr and we had tickets all the way to Salt Lake City, UT although we were going to get off at Truckee, CA.  We arrived at the station at 10:45am and saw a westbound manifest pulling through (UP 5756, 9304, CNW 8635).  Stopped on the other side of the platforms was Amtrak 2051 with 5 cars.   At 11:20am an eastbound Amtrak (Amtrak 500) pulled in and stopped.  Our train arrived at 11:30 with 10 cars and Amtrak 160, 207 and 194.  We boarded a coach and found our seats.  When the train started to move most of us all walked up to the lounge car and stayed there for most of the trip.  In Roseville, CA we passed an eastbound empty coal train (UP 9033, 4774).  Between the yard and the engine facility there were tons of engines.  Some of the ones that we saw were, UPY 680, CSX 330, UPY 1403(still in SP paint), SP 7118 and 3138(unpatched), D&RGW 3116(unpatched) and UP 1178.

    Leaving the yard behind we continued up towards Donner Pass.   At Colfax UP 2923 an SD40T-2 was sitting in the yard.  At Gold Run, our train met a westbound Amtrak (Amtrak ???, ???, 185).  At 2:30 we met a westbound TOFC which was at Soda Springs (UP 4623, 4268).  Then the engineer came over the radio and said that there would be snow removal equipment coming up shortly and to make sure that all windows were closed.  Well the only thing that came was UPY 572(still in SP paint) and UPY 589 with 1 car that looked like a caboose.  Anyway, the next thing was an eastbound which we passed when we were almost to Truckee, CA (UP 5743, 4765, 4776, 5823(DPU), 9369(DPU)).  We got off the train and I waited for the eastbound to come through.  Then we all got in the car which my aunt had driven up and drove over to Squaw Valley.  We checked into the Squaw Valley Hotel and then relaxed for the rest of the evening. 

    The next day my uncle, my dad, brother and I all went snowboarding or skiing at Squaw Valley.  The weather was really unpredictable all day with anything from sun to snow and sleet.  We had a wonderful day though and stayed until about 3:15pm.  Then we packed up and drove back to Sacramento to my Uncle's place.   We spent the evening there and then we to my Grandparents for the night.

       Tuesday my dad and I left around 9:00am and headed for Stockton to do some railfanning.  On the way we saw a southbound stack at Lodi (UP 9074, 9804).  We got to Stockton around 10:20 and drove to a McDonalds where we were going to meet Jim Groenke (Groenke rhymes with donkey).  Jim is the one who set me up with all the equipment for running the Spokane, WA stream at railroadradio.net.  He pulled up a couple of minutes later and then we drove to the BNSF-UP diamond.  On the way we stopped at the UP yard and drove through it once.  In it was the Harbor Belt Line 102 as well as UPY 588.  Then a southbound manifest arrived at the yard with UP 8782 (in SP paint still) on the point and UP 3499 and UP 3570 with it.

    We then drove over to the diamond and sat around to wait.  The diamond is set up with the UP (ex-SP) running north-south and the BNSF (ex-ATSF) running east-west.  There are connecting tracks so that a southbound UP could change to the BNSF and go east or vise versa.  The other connecting track is set up so that an eastbound BNSF could change and go south on the UP or vise versa.  The diamond is controlled by BNSF even though SP's tracks were here first.  The first train was a BNSF westbound coal empties (BNSF 4427, 332, SF 918).  It took the connecting track to UP and became a northbound.  Then at 11:35am a northbound UP reefer train showed up (UP 8850 (still in SP paint), 3404) with 13 cars.  The next train was a westbound Amtrak which took the connecting track to UP.  It was a Bakersfield-Sacramento train #701 with 4 cars (Amtrak 510).  Five minutes later an eastbound Amtrak came through (Amtrak 2009).  It was an Sacramento-Bakersfield train #714 running cab forward with 4 cars.

        The next train was an eastbound BNSF TOFC with only 18 cars (BNSF 4773, 4675, 4694, SF 615).  Then at 12:15pm a westbound local came out of the BNSF yard with 52 manifest cars (BNSF 2956, ATSF(BNSF) 2586).  At 1:00pm a northbound UP came into view but stopped short of the diamond.  A couple of minutes later a UP northbound stack and TOFC (UP 4549, 9600, 4447, 4838) came out of the yard and passed the first northbound.  After it cleared the first UP northbound manifest moved through (UP 5710, 4268, 5750, 9616, 5773, 9316, 9832).   After that my dad got the video camera out so we could get both stills and video.  We drove back to the McDonalds because we had left our car there and we needed some things out of it.  While we were gone a westbound BNSF manifest took the connecting track to UP.   On the scanner the engineer first said that the lead engine was BNSF 4455 but after a while they called the UP dispatcher and told them it was BNSF 4983.  The UP dispatcher was pretty ticked that they had told him the wrong number and he said that if BNSF didn't quit doing that, the UP would stop allowing BNSF onto its rails!

    Anyway the next train was a westbound BNSF stack and TOFC (BNSF 4731, SF 848).  Then just 15 minutes later another westbound BNSF followed it although it was just 39 TOFC cars this time (BNSF 1028, 4451, 789).  The next train was a northbound UP stack and TOFC with 78 cars (UP 5041, 4103, 4712).  Then after it cleared the diamond an eastbound BNSF train appeared.  It happened to be the two engines that went by on the local but this time they had no cars with them.  At 2:55pm a westbound Amtrak with 4 cars barreled past (Amtrak 2012).  It was a Bakersfield-Sacramento train # 713.  Thirty minutes later an Eastbound Amtrak showed up (Amtrak 2011) running cab forward.  It was a Sacramento-Bakersfield train #716.   A westbound manifest with 51 cars took the UP connecting track (BNSF 5338, 7321).   After that Jim needed to get home so he took us back to our car and he left.   My dad and I drove back to the diamond and then to the BNSF yard.  In the yard we saw ATSF(BNSF) 2855(RC equipped), 4255, 4220.  Back at the diamond a BNSF westbound TOFC train flew by (BNSF 4172, 4770, 1090, 4775).

        Then UP 1516 (still in SP paint) came through going west on the BNSF.  It stopped after the diamond and proceeded to back through the connecting track on the UP tracks.  Then it continued to back into the UP yard.  At 5:20pm a westbound Amtrak (Amtrak 2007) with 4 cars came through.  It was a Bakersfield-Sacramento train #715.  Then before he was out of sight a southbound Amtrak (Amtrak 510) took the connecting track from the UP to the BNSF.  It was a Sacramento-Bakersfield train #704 running cab forward.  Then a northbound ACE train came up past the diamond to the ACE station running cab forward.   While stopped at the station, a southbound UP manifest train of 47 cars with an unpatched SP in the lead barreled past (SP 7951(unpatched), UP 9989, 2402).  The ACE train came out of the station and started moving back south but just before the diamond it got stuck.  It had to wait while the unpatched SSW 7293 took several cars out of the UP yard northbound and then onto the connecting track to BNSF.  After he had moved the ACE continued through the diamond and into the UP yard empty.  Then at 6:15pm a northbound UP manifest came into view with two SD40-2s (UP 3320, 3298).  Just as the last rays of light were leaving a westbound BNSF manifest and log train with 64 cars took the connecting track to the UP (BNSF 6311, 521, ATSF(BNSF) 6493).  After the train had vanished we left the diamond and headed back to Sacramento, CA.

    The next day our family went golfing with my grandpa and then went out to eat lunch.  In the afternoon we relaxed and then drove up to a friend's place near Placerville, CA.  He has a massive HO scale layout.  It has two levels and a helix to get between them.  Everything is double track and it is all DCC.  He also has hundreds of locomotives and many more cars.  I had a ton of fun and even tried running a UP stack train with 3 units up front and 1 in the rear as a DPU.   It was a lot harder than I thought and I ended up derailing the train but I had fun.  We ate supper there and then continued to run trains till after 10pm.   Then we left and drove back to Sacramento.

    The next day we were up by 5:30am, packed up and left by 6:15am heading for home.  We decided to take the same route home through NV, ID and OR instead of through Northern CA.  The first train was an eastbound UP vehicle train which was almost to the top of Donner Pass.  Then moving through Truckee was an eastbound manifest.  At Reno, NV there was a westbound manifest at 8:45am (UP 5003, 9148, 2478).  In the yard was a westbound Amtrak (Amtrak 129, 140).  At Cressid, NV there was an eastbound manifest stopped in the siding (UP 4258, 9276) with 116 cars.   Then just a little bit farther a short westbound TOFC train (UP 91??, ????(SD70M)).   At Granite Point an 89 car westbound manifest came into view (UP 7068, 5736, 4612).   An eastbound manifest from the Feather River Canyon route was stopped with 3 engines.  At Winnemucca, NV a westbound stack train barreled across the desert with 2 engines.  At the yard UP 3127 was just sitting doing nothing.  A couple of hours later in Ontario we saw a westbound hopper train with 8 engines (4 as DPUs).  At 4:30 an eastbound manifest and vehicle slipped past us without us seeing the engines.   Then in La Grande an eastbound manifest (UP 4029, 4045, ????, ????) was stopped waiting for a westbound.  Finally the last train was just on the other side of La Grande and it was an eastbound manifest (5882, 9500, 4838, 9120).  We arrived home at 9:15pm after a long drive.  The trip was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the Amtrak trip very much.