Living near six abandoned railroads (if you don't include the horsedrawn line) in a town that has not seen a train since 1989, doing the old "stopping by the tracks to see if anything is moving," kind of railfanning, I am limited to some of the grittier areas of LA, as they are the only things within less than a hour's drive.

Here are three shots to share... oddly although recent, already of locomotives that I no longer see in service.

First is of a pair of GP35s pulling baretables over the Los Angeles River in Vernon. While I like this shot, the bridge that I stood on to take this shot is not a good place to hangout. Way too many homeless around on the weekends, and no place to park on the weekdays.

[www.railpictures.net]

Second is of the same set of GP35s headng under the Olympic Bridge. This is also and in and out shot, as there's really no place to park or hang out here (although the shot is taken from the public road).

[www.railpictures.net]

Finally, we have some Dash 8s entering the street running section of McFarland in Wilmington. As noted in the caption, when I stopped to wait for this train (on a public road, at a spot where parking was legal), two junkyard dogs came up to the car. They only moved off when a police cruiser pulled up behind me and questioned me (the conversation was very pleasant and the police said that I could keep shooting).

[www.railpictures.net]

Thanks for looking and corrections are welcome.

Charles