I encountered the Lone Pine Loal twice - once with a SD39 and another with a GP9, though I think SD9s were also common. It was odd that the SD39s were common, since they were some of the heaviest locos SP had at the time, and most of the line beyond Searles was still fairly light rail (75# ?).

The agent at Lone Pine said that traffic had been holding fairly steady since the narrow gauge had abandoned. I wonder if the line would have been succesful as a shortline, or still had too little traffic?

Chips and lumber came from the lumber mill outside Ridgecrest (Linnie?), which was dependent on local timber supplies directly west of the mill in the Sierras. The Navy still had track into China Lake, but I never saw any evidence of traffic. The last two engines there were GE 45T drop-cabs. If I remember the dispositions right, one was rebuilt and is at Nebo, CA - the other went to the Dalles dam.

There were several mineral docks along the way that might have been used. Lone Pine was the main transfer point. The last years saw several customers transloading there. I'm not sure if they still hauled propane in or not.

Rumor claims that SP borrowed a Trona Baldwin to clean off the line before they started pulling up rail to build the shoofly after the Searles tunnel burned.