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A week ago I took some time to photograph an abandoned ex Santa Fe railroad locomotive rusting away in a field in Eunice, Louisiana of all places. I was surprised to find a locomotive that once operated over the famed Cajon Pass in California so far away from home. While going through some of my photos this evening a happened upon a folder that contained some images of one of my favorite locomotives, ex Santa Fe (ATSF) FP45 #95 which is part of small collection of railroad equipment at the Western American Railroad Museum in Barstow, California. The FP45 has always been one of my favorite diesel locomotive designs and being able climb all over and photograph #95 was always a guilty pleasure. Unlike the unit I discovered in Louisiana, FP45 #95 is spending the rest of it's days right next to the tracks it once ran on and in front of the depot in Barstow that it once served. This locomotive began it's life as a passenger locomotive pulling one of the Santa Fe Railroads premiere ...

Tucked on the backside of the BNSF railroad's massive Barstow yard is fitting tribute to the railroads that forged their existence traversing the vast inhospitable  southwestern American desert. Over the decades the vast majority of this country's commerce through this region either in the form of goods from the East and Midwest being shipped to Los Angeles or as is the case today goods from Japan and China going the other way.  The museum has several examples of diesel locomotives, cabooses and other rolling stock that once served both the Union Pacific and Santa Fe (Now BNSF) railroads in this area of country. Inside the museum are numerous other artifacts from the history of western railroading.  My personal favorite of the bunch is ex Santa Fe FP45 passenger locomotive #95. I have fond memories of seeing these locomotives as well as their freight hauling cousin the F45 in action during the 1970s and 80s.      Here is the history of the Barstow sta...