On April 21, 1991, I followed a set of Southern Pacific light engines on the Mococo Line to Tracy, California.

At the time, the Mococo Line was very lightly traveled, and simply catching a daylight move on the line was in itself a prize. Better yet, these engines were on their way to collect a loaded sugarbeet train.

I made this image on Kodachrome 25 using my Nikon F3T fitted with a Nikkor 35mm perspective control lens. (Which I adjusted to keep the signals parallel to the film plane).

For more than 30 years this slide, along with a bunch of other ‘out-takes,’ sat in the dark inside the box that Kodak that returned the slides to me in back in 1991. Finally, I scanned it last month.

A sun-lit SD45 passing searchlight signals (and no ditchlights)! This looks pretty neat now!

Today, Tracking the Light looks back!