Mr. Starks,

An excellent photo! After a while, the wedge and roster shots in good light start to all look the same. This one really plays off the light and lets the scenery be part of the train or vice versa.

A couple corrections if I may ...

The location would not be New Pine Creek (California/Oregon state line, though New Pine Creek is an Oregon post office) or the former station/resort of Fairport just to the south. A little ways to the right of your photo should be MP492, and the station of Willow Ranch is just ahead (south, RR west) of the train at MP491.2. The train ties up here rather than at Willow Ranch proper as not to bother the residents of the nearby house during the night.

The train is on the first day of its trip, but it got a bit of a head start after switching Lakeview Monday afternoon. If everything went right, they made Canby the next day, doubled the hill on Wednesday (today) making the interchange at Perez with some time to spare. After UP arrives at Perez generally late Thursday morning, they'll start working their way back towards Lakeview, tying up somewhere between Canby and Alturas. Friday they'll run the rest of the way back to Lakeview. Depending on how far they get and how much switching there is, they might have to switch Lakeview Saturday morning. So the trip normally takes most of 4 days, but can stretch into a 5th or 6th day.