Hard to believe those windmills in the background have been there for over 20 years now. It truly doesn't seem that long ago.

I got to ride in a UP Dash-8, but with the "wide cab" (I think that's what it's called?)---the unit number was UP 9382. I rode the head-end in the Conductor's seat from Stockton to Milpitas (all officially signed-off through Omaha). We had 9 units that day, and I never saw the end of the train. It was a mixed freight that had come into Stockton from somewhere, so I have no idea what the symbol would have been. But your photos of this location are somewhat close to the time that I rode with them. I'm thinking it was right around 1992 or so.

The Yardmaster at Milpitas was a great guy, as were all of the crews. I patrolled their yard nightly (when I was working mids) to keep the trespassers, graffiti "artists", and drug addicts out of their way. I could have made the entire ROW my own beat if I had to. The UP Special Agent at the time was based in Stockton and had a huge territory to cover, so it was rare for him to make an appearance. But he gave me a key to the office so that I could take a break, write reports, shoot the bull, etc.....Those were some fun shifts to work---I miss those days.

Then when UP took over CNW, all of a sudden the Milpitas yard started getting flooded with CNW units---that was pretty cool also.