#willcox

Eastbound Stack Train

This is an eastbound stack train on the Sunset Route. While now being just a portion of the Union Pacific, this line was originally the Southern Pacific (built in 1880). The SP, along with the ATSF, formed the second transcontinental railroad in the United States.

[In actuality, the SP helped form the second, third, and fourth transcontinental lines in this country. It should be noted as well: Southern Pacific's precursor company, the Central Pacific, formed half the the first transcontinental—along with the UP.]

In the first image, we see the train after having come down from Dragoon Pass; it is rolling by the town of Cochise, Arizona. In the second and third images, the train is heading out across the Willcox Playa; the Dos Cabezas Mountains are out of frame toward the right. Willcox is visible in the distance in those shots.

The current state of railroading, a sidebar This is how the current five or seven major railroads would have it these days: fewer trains (to lower costs for the number of employees necessary), but miles long each. This one is being powered by six high horsepower locomotives—four in front with two positioned somewhere in the middle of the train. Look at all the goods that two crew members are delivering to the east—and the railroad companies would like to slash 50% of those jobs so that a single person would be responsible for the operation of a train like you see here before you, but also ones that carry hazardous materials. This practice is for the benefit of the shareholders at the expense of the workers and all the towns the trains run through. For context, one might look up the derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, on February 3rd 2023.

Three images by Richard Koenig; taken May 4th 2024.

Sandhill cranes / grulla gris (Antigone canadensis) at Twin Lakes in Willcox, Arizona.