Posting just cuz I think it's an epic scene. I can hear the photography instructor complain that the "Mobil" sign stops the eye and thus is bad for the composition. Phooey! I like eye stopping details.
I don't know if that tower lasted until 1980, but it was near the end here from what I read.
"Colton Transfer (Sept 1978). About to pound the Santa Fe crossing, SP Alco C-628 3120 passes Colton Tower on its return trip back to West Colton Yard with a transfer cut. Sadly, all this is gone today."
Colton Transfer (Sept 1978) by
Howard Samarin, on Flickr