Ash Hill was named in honor of Ben Ash. He was a railroad surveyor who died from lack of water while working out in the Mojave Desert.

@glennfoster2423

5 ай бұрын

Thanks. I did not know that. I work with several track gangs between Barstow and Needles in 1980. Took many lineups on the DS phone at Ash Hill.

@andrewcrumb8027

5 ай бұрын

@@glennfoster2423 You're welcome. I learned that fact about Ash Hill from watching the Pentrex program, "Santa Fe's Mojave Mainline - The Needles Subdivision".

I've driven between San Bernardino and Needles countless times in my life, going out to the Colorado River with my family a few times a year. I've spent so many car trips pacing the massive freight trains racing across the desert, and stopping at places like Ludlow, Goffs and Amboy to get out and watch them speed by. It's awesome to see a video like this capturing my favorite part of the desert and my favorite stretch of rail in detail. My particular favorite location is Amboy, the old motel there is a true gem in the middle of nowhere. There's a small bridge about a quarter mile west of the crossing there that I like to stand under when one of the trains goes by overhead, even though it's probably not the safest thing to do, haha! Thank you for documenting this part of desert rail, and I hope it wasn't too hot out there :)

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching! It wasn't too hot as it was done in the spring (March or April, I believe). Yes Amboy is a cool place. My favorite was up near Klondike.

Extraordinary cinema photographs of the trains in these areas. They are apparently lonely, desert lands, which are suddenly traversed by long and powerful freight trains.

Love your videos. Beautiful scenery, well filmed and professionally narrated.

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for your kind words Bob!

Great video, awesome angles. Well done ! Very familiar with Cadiz; retired after 17 years with ARZC. G&W scheme also called "pumpkin paint" & " candy corn color." ARZC green & cream had way more class...

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I was glad to catch the old colors. Too many short lines look alike due to the G&W.

First video that I've seen that really gives a sense of how long some of these trains are. It's hard to capture an entire train within a frame. Well done!

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

The wide open spaces and big curves help. Definitely one of the plusses to visiting the Needles Sub.

Out of all programs this one gives a great detail of the subject and makes the viewer understand how the system works- We all drive and seen the trains go by and just ignore the way they work thanks for a trip explanation.

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!

Wonderful videography! I like the line, "...the dynamics should hold." Said that myself some, didn't always work out that way.

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Lou. Had a BNSF engineer tell me all about coming down "the Chute." Of course this grade is tame compared to what you dealt with on your run. At least your railroad had more curvature.

Love the various names such as Siberia, Klondike, and Baghdad 👍✌️🇨🇦

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

I could just imagine living and working at one of those old stations. Might has well been Siberia. You're out there in the middle of nowhere.

You have a really nice eye for the photographic arts.

@7ideaproductions

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!

I was stranded in Ludlow for 24 hrs, in a sand storm on my motorcycle 51 years ago. Stayed in a flea bag motel. What a Nothingville. LOL!!!

@392nightrunner

11 ай бұрын

Ludlow motel is still there if that's the one

Thanks airing and sharing the outstanding video with magnificent locomotives. Railfanning endeavors are prominent. Bliss

To me it will always be the Santa Fe!

@macmedic892

2 ай бұрын

All the way!

Great video, clear images, super narration and wonderful scenery. Your knowledge of the train numbers and cargo/freight types helps the viewers. Very well done. Looks like a great place to spend the day out in the wide opens! Thanks!

Awesome scenery! that most of us just glance at on the way by from the freeway. Thanks for sharing. It looks very warm too!

I love seeing norfolk southern & CSX locomotives in the drag

I lived in Mojave in the summer of 2015. I recall seeing the trains coming and going as they crossed the desert having just crossed over or were about to ascend the Tehachapi Pass and then Bakersfield. Earlier in my life I lived near Sacramento and Roseville. Back then Southern Pacific trains were either heading to or had just come down the Donner Summit grade. My hiking and fishing trips near Blue Canyon and Soda Springs were always so much more memorable as the locomotives made their journey.

Excellent program. I can't afford to travel. So your the next best way of getting out and about via rail. I love trains so it's even better.

Good vid on desert rails. Knew very little of trains road grades out on the high desert. Awesome knowledge 👍

Winters in Needles..away from rain etc in the North....The trains that never stop, are amazing giants traversing a desert so stark, yet beautiful. They seem made for each other.

Great work!

Nothing worse than getting ran around. Some great shots! Hope you stay cool out there!

Great footage and narration as always, thank you so much for making these. I'm amazed that Genesis can be pulled like that as the link between four locomotives and the rest of the freight train, would have guessed the passenger equipment would be built light and not rated for those forces. Neat catching that one for sure

It's been awhile, but I've ridden my Harley over to Needles and stayed at the Best Western in the east part of town for a couple days just to watch the trains

I love driving down old Route 66 instead of I-40 whenever I can. Driving through those long stretches of desert on a two-lane road and hardly anyone for miles is amazing. Amboy is my pit stop for buying something to drink and seeing how the old motel is doing.

Nice catch!

It would be cool to see UP844 rolling through there with the hammer down

Great video production and narration! Thanks for putting this up!

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Wow great videos thank you

Great videos!

Nice production. You just earned another subscriber.

@7ideaproductions

11 ай бұрын

Thank you very much!

Ich liebe die Mojave Wüste. Schöne Aufnahmen. Vielen Dank

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Vielen Dank, dass Sie sich mein Video angesehen und einen Kommentar hinterlassen haben.

I shoot photos out there once in a while , you put a lot of hard work into this , thank you !

I like it!

Pronunciation for BNSF autorack train is Burlington Northern Santa Fe vehicle VBLU SBD and the initial SBD stan for San Bernardino and meaning of initial BLU Blue Island Illinois. They always running through Ben ash and they making great progress slowly crossing Klondike bridge and another eastbound IM meets and I think they meant to remove milepost from the BNSF timetable.

Nice video

What beautiful ❤️ country

3:53 That train is flying, so I looked up max speed along there, and it is 79 MPH, which it looks like this train must be going.

There's a lot of LOOOOONG grades out there. I've caught a few trains at Kelso and Cima. There's a LOT of nothing out in these remote places.

As a still photographer, i appreciate the wide-open shots on occasion as in the video at the 17-minute mark. There is a time and a place for the tight shot and a time and place for the wide panoramic shot. I am a recent convert to your videos and like them a lot. Keep up the good work Do you have a video on the Main line between Pueblo and Denver , Colorado??

@7ideaproductions

8 ай бұрын

Thank you for your kind words and for watching! I don't have a Joint Line video yet but it is on my list.

I like train videos on KZread 👍

I love bnsf 😍😍💘💘💘

I work for the guys that run them. A group of very fine fellows, and ladies.

30:11 Roy's Cafe has also been featured in the computer game Trainz.

Done this route many times… in Run8 lol

I wonder how hot the temperature becomes inside the containers, especially at this time of the year. I have to believe that some products and merchandise don't hold up very well under the heat.

@AndreiTupolev

Жыл бұрын

If it was sensitive to temperature it would be refrigerated

@Jack-xo2zp

Жыл бұрын

@@AndreiTupolev I'm not so sure about that. For example, a pair of sunglasses from China, which may have a special coating on the lens, such as a polarizing film, can be ruined by the heat in a car in the summertime. The heat causes the coating to craze. Also, this is true of regular eyeglasses which may have a special coating on the lens. I can imagine a whole container of sunglasses from China would become worthless after crossing the desert in July or August.

Ludlow pics remind me that old Spencer Tracy movie Bad Day @ Black Rock---ha ha

@glennfoster2423

5 ай бұрын

That movie, a classic, was filmed in the desert North and East of Mojave

I've heard that Genesee and Wyoming orange paint scheme referred to as the "Reese's Cups" scheme.

Graffiti from 1928 etched into the concrete at13:03! 😀

Can you do a video on panhandle texas. It has fantastic history.

The ghost town is a little eerie. Were those trucks in the abandoned gas station just left there or are they kept as a kind of memorial? Interesting trompe l'oiel artwork (it's more than graffiti) on that derelict hut @4:53.

@392nightrunner

11 ай бұрын

Cafes open and the gas station across the street is open as well, trucks are there as a hint to the past, not abandoned

Hey I live close to this! Do Seligman sub next too plz.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It must be hard to pay attention in a non-descript landscape.

@larryjanson4011

Жыл бұрын

after X number of any miles anywhere on the planet. and in space when/if we get there. is all the same and very boring. who's got time to sight see? and with a cam watching you. hows getting fired for not doing your job? why lots of "drivers" get drunk.

@davidpearson3304

Жыл бұрын

I drive a truck and used to drive to California often. Once you got to the top of the Cajon pass it’s pretty much nothing until either Las Vegas or starting up to Flagstaff (depending on which route). Very boring (and insanely hot in summer). Driving it at night definitely helped a little, at least then you didn’t see all the endless emptiness

Not seen a loco before with only 3 digits before. Any info on those or what?

@macmedic892

2 ай бұрын

Unusual for BNSF maybe, but not really unusual at all. CSX even has some active 2-digit units, and Mexican railroads go up to 5 digits on their locomotives.

Way Rad

12:13 Ex conrail NS locomotive

It seems to be a rehash of Pentrex, same people involved?

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

No I do my own thing. I did sell some footage to Pentrex once many years ago.

Why do you remind me of the voice author of Pentrex? Are you his son? LOL, either way I love it regardless and appreciate the content!!

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I will take that as a compliment. In truth, I'm just a former radio Deejay who hung up his cans and picked up a camera. When I started making videos I could not afford "professional" voice talent, so I did my own narrating. That was 70 videos ago!

@DaaYay

Жыл бұрын

It is a compliment!! I subscribed because of that and the content is top notch Bud! Thanks

What are Norfolk Southern locomotives doing on the BNSF in the Mojave??

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Pool power

@gordmerrick7336

Жыл бұрын

@@7ideaproductions Locomotive pool power is also in widespread use by all Class 1 North American railroads. Also in use is directional running which means railroads running parallel often increase capacity by entering into agreements whereby all trains running in the same direction [east for example], will use one railroad and [west for example] use the other railroad. This increases capacity and eliminated the need to double track.

@bigglilwayne7050

Жыл бұрын

And it's not just limited to the United States, I see FeroMex, CN, and CP on the UP main in NE Texas from time to time

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

You are both correct.

@glennfoster2423

5 ай бұрын

​@@7ideaproductions And the Kansas City Southern has all the connections

Look at all that barren open spaces ripe for development

@larryjanson4011

Жыл бұрын

too far from everything to develop. everything must be brought in. then just trying to buy the land from the mega corps that want to strip mine the land. as they own the land. any water (polluted) and gas, oil, etc, and any and all minerals under the surface. this area is way too hot. people will not move there. as all services need to be built from scratch. water in, water out, power...lots of it. schools, fire control, police, prison, stores, need class one fiber optic for tv and the web. just everything needed for off work hrs. will any trucking company want to place a depot for there company there? company towns tend to fail very quickly.

@carygrant8796

Жыл бұрын

Lots of failed dreams have been consumed by that very thought. It’s desert for a reason. Best to leave it that way.

@davidpearson3304

Жыл бұрын

You have never actually been out there have you? I used to drive a truck in/out of Southern California on I15 and I40 and it’s some of the longest stretches of absolute nothingness you can imagine.

@spikespa5208

11 ай бұрын

Providing you can find a reliable source of H2O. And not all can handle that kind of heat.

If u seen someone riding on the train would u call train police

Narrator sounds a lot like the original Pentriex guy.

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

I'll take that as a compliment. I have never met Dave Drui but he has a radio background as do I.

Maybe it’s just the perspective with the filming (which is spectacular by the way), but the BNSF and UP locomotives just look bigger (longer) on those western trains than what CSX and NS have/use here on the east coast.

@HotDogLaws

Жыл бұрын

these desert trains get INSANELY long, wouldnt be surprised if they needed beefier locomotives

@Guokas0422

11 ай бұрын

That's funny I'm in JAX FL and NS horses have always looked bigger than CSX to me....but I'm told they're not.

@glennfoster2423

5 ай бұрын

Just like the Santa Fe passenger trains years ago Paint 'em a bright color, like orange with speed stripes, or red and silver with flashy bright metal passenger cars - - - makes 'em go faster!

Klondike CA: No Gold, No Snow....

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

It would be interesting to know why they came up with that name.

@Chuck_Carolina

Жыл бұрын

@@7ideaproductions It would indeed. My response was because I kicked a lot of that same dirt in my younger days. At age, I had to make a delivery to a residence in a small town in North Carolina. I could not find it on my map and called the home owner and asked where she was at. She answered me this before she gave directions, "I live in Rockfish -No rocks - No fish." She was in the little sandhills of North Carolina, and when I got there I reckon it so. My guess is there maybe fools gold in the area, Mica comes to mind, or It could just be the perceived hole they go down into - it sounds like a mining term regarding the duality of tools and supplies it took to get to the Klondike.

The older Arizona & California paint scheme looked good, shame they did away with that.

It always makes me laugh when I hear the (mis?)pronunciations of cites named after old world European cities. Like here, I thought he was saying Kateys, then I realized it had a D so then I thought maybe it was Kaydeys, never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to be Cadiz. It isn't even close to the Spanish pronunciation of the city it was named after. This is even worse than Madrid. LOL

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

It's an occupational hazard when pronouncing the names of all the places I go. When in doubt, I rely on how I have heard it said on the railroad. Sometimes the "correct" way isn't the right way. If any rails want to chime in on whether I pronounced it correctly, I would love to hear it.

Dang, if this isn't really good! Following Google Streets and Satellite with you because of your clarity! I have no problem liking and Subbing to with these credentials!

@7ideaproductions

Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!