In March 1997, I was traveled from California to Denver with photographer Mel Patrick. We were returning from WinterRail ’97, which was one of the great rail-photographic venues of the 1990s.

A decade earlier Mel had published some memorable photographs of the Western Pacific in the pages of CTC Board magazine and on this trip he and I revisited some stunning locations.

This view looks timetable-west on Union Pacific’s former WP main line. We were perched atop a hill near West Wendover Nevada/Utah to photograph an eastward Union Pacific intermodal train inching its way across the vast expanse of desert in eastern Nevada.

For point of reference, the headend of the freight is just over three miles from our vantage point. The near row of mountains is at least a dozen miles away, while the distant snow-crested mountains, including Spruce Mountain were about 60 miles distant.

I made the photograph on Kodachrome 25 using a Nikkor 105mm telephoto.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!