On the night of January 5, 2006, Modoc Northern Railroad's GE B23-7 no. 1011 and leased UP C40-8 no. 9212 laid over in the Union Pacific yard at Klamath Falls.  The next morning, they headed east with a train to Alturas.  I was fortunate enough to be able to take the day off and chase the train as far as I could before losing daylight - which ran out at about 5:00 p.m., leaving me waving good bye to the crew at Modoc County Road 75 a few miles west of Alturas.

Here's a timeline and narrative of the trip on January 6, 2006.

9:30 a.m. found me parked at the cattle auction yard next to the UP main at KAGO crossing, just east (geographically north) of Texum as the mist burned off of Lake Euwana.  That's BNSF's lift bridge, center, giving access to a couple of mills, a propane distributor and a chemical loading facility on the west side of the Klamath River.  Downtown Klamath Falls shimmers in the distance.

Photo # Lake_Euwana_Morning

At 9:50 an eastbound Union Pacific intermodal train led by UP 4874 rolled by on the track that the MNRR train would soon be using.

Photo # 4874KlamathFalls

In the distance, that little spot of white to the left of the tree is 1011's headlight as it starts rolling.

Photo # 4874KlamathFallsKAGO

At 10:03 the MNRR train, consisting of MNRR #1011, UP #9212, 20 covered hoppers and two centerbeam flatcars, enters the just-vacated track.  If you look closely, you can see Union Pacific GP38-2 #300 following our train out of the hole.

Photo # 1-6-06BeiberLineJct

At 10:12 our train passes KAGO crossing.

Photo # 1-6-06KAGO

As our train slows to a stop at the Texum wye switch, it is overtaken by a Union Pacific freight on the main, headed up by #8352, at 10:15.

Photo # 8352Texum

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