Railfanning Foreign Power on UP Valley Subdivision

Late in the morning, around 11:30 on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, I was just about ready to take a break from working on this website for lunch, and to watch the noon news on TV. For some reason, before taking my lunch/television news break, I took a peek at the Facebook forum, Calrailfans FB - which I'm a member and a contributor - and I saw a post that changed my afternoon.

The post, from a user who calls himself "Bjp Railfan" read, "CPKC power. GMETTR-18 has arrived in Redding, CA! 10:26 am right now passing!" Time to forget watching the news and head over to the nearby Valley Subdivision to take some photos!

I knew I had plenty of time, so there was no need to rush. I keep my truck pretty much ready for these kind of events, so all I had to do was to load in a camera, my trusty Baeofeng BF-F8HP PRO - which is my goto ham radio transceiver/railfan scanner - a couple beers, and I was ready to go. I ate a quick lunch and was out the door by around 11:45, headed for the south end of Brock siding, at Chamberlain Road, which is about five north of Lincoln, CA.

Photo: I arrived at Ewing, Mile Post 121.0 about 12:30 in the afternoon, set up shop and made myself comfortable, as I wasn't expecting GMETTR-18 to arrive for a couple of hours. At 13:55 I was rewarded with the southbound "Rocklin Rocket," train LRR62, with a short train, and heading home early to the J.R. Davis yard in Roseville. By the looks of the train and the earlier-than-normal yard time, it looks like they only went as far north as Ostrum today. The Rocket works the Valley Subdivision five days a week, an occasionally Saturday if traffic warrants.

Photo: The tank car bringing up the end of the train has just crossed over Chamberlain Rd., crossing at mile 121.04, halfway through abandoned Ewing. Located at Mile Post 121.0, it's an abandoned siding, complete with two abandoned spur tracks from a long-closed cement operation. Ewing, along with Brock siding is located along Lincoln-Wheatland Road, about five miles north of Lincoln, CA, in still-rural Placer County, but with subdivision just a few miles away, and encroaching upon the rural serenity, one wonders how long it's rural charm will last.

It appears back in the day Ewing was a short siding used during the Southern Pacific Railroad days as both a siding and a house track, as a couple of severed spurs that formerly served a long-abandoned cement plant feed off of it. You can see by the rusty, crooked rails that the track hasn't seen a train for many years, and it's blocked in the middle by a 6--foot high pile of ballast, marked with an "End of Track" sign.

Photo: One hour later, at 14:35, a northbound train of empty gypsum cars OFOEG worked it's way slowly up the line. Each car was nearly identical and all had builders dates of May, June or September of 2014, and when full, each car would hold over 25,000 cubic feet of gypsum.

The train approached my location, just north of Chamberlain Rd. at around 45 mph, and gradually came to a halt, after about a third of the train had crossed into Brock siding. This train originated in Famoso, in Kern County and it's destination is Gerlach, Nevada.

Photo: OFOEG heading north, about to enter Brock siding, with the switch and PTC tower at the south end of Brock siding visible. The motley track to the left of the photo is the unused house track at Ewing. The train began a series of herky-jerky stops, starts, more stops, more starts, and eventually came still for about five minutes. The radio was busy with the crew calling the dispatcher, but I really couldn't figure out what was going on. I had assumed they would take the siding and wait for GMETTR-18 to pass by. Eventually the empty gypsum train entered the siding and vanished in the distance.

Photo: At 15:07 the event that I was waiting for happened, as GMETTR-18 slowly cleared the south end of Brock siding, on it's way to J.R. Davis yard in Roseville and a crew change. The track at Ewing to the left is very much out of service, but the telephoto lens, along with the heat rays - the temperature was in the upper 80's - help to distort the image.

Photo: Kansas City Southern #5012, followed by Canadian Pacific #9359 lead the southbound Cargill unit grain train, GMETTR-18, as the train has just cleared the south end of Brock siding, Mile Post 121.6 on Union Pacific Railroad's Valley Subdivision. Foreign power like this, although rare, happens about once a month in western Placer County. What was very rare about today was the timing, as these trains are known to travel through the area during the middle of the night, because they are routed through the Feather River Canyon on the Canyon Subdivision. It was amazing to be able to photograph this train with perfect afternoon lighting!

Photo: The unit behind KCS #5012 was CP #9359, a GE ESS44AC - Evolution Series, 4400 horsepower, AC traction - diesel locomotive, a veteran of Canadian rails since graduating from the Class of February, 2012. You don't see Canadian power very often outside Lincoln, CA.

About 15 minutes before the train arrived, a couple local railfans showed up, also alerted by the Facebook post. In all of the excitement, I didn't get a chance to chat with them, and they left immediately after the DPU on the end of the train cleared Chamberlain Rd., presumably to try to grab another shot.

Photo: KCS #4614, the DPU at the end of the train, clears Chamberlain Rd. at Mile Post 121.4, heading south through Lincoln, and on to a crew change in Roseville.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to read the origin and destination of this train, but I'm assuming it originated in Manitoba and is most likely going to Famoso. Just a guess on my part...

Photo: At 15:30 I was packing up my things to leave, and I glanced in the direction of Brock siding, and saw headlights. It turned out to be UP #7713 leading southbound IG2LT, which was quite a surprise for me.

Photo: The last car of mostly double stack train IG2LT almost clears the crossing at Chamberlain Rd, and the pile of ballast in the middle of abandoned Ewing. This train should arrive at Lathrop, it's destination, in time for dinner.

Four trains in two hours on U.P.'s Valley Subdivision! That's not something that happens very often! Union Pacific Railroad always has been a very willing motive power pooling partner, and foreign power on the Valley Subdivision happens fairly regularly, but with my luck, it's always during the middle of the night, or when I'm unavailable. Today was exceptional opportunity to enjoy great mainline railroad action, complete with foreign power, thanks to the time of day, mild, sunny weather and the beautiful afternoon lighting.

Four trains in two hours, including foreign power... a great afternoon of railfanning on Union Pacific's Valley Subdivision!