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    The Needles Sub is desert railroading at its best! This sub might represent the harshest stretch of track in the entire USA. The extreme heat of summer, combined with several grueling grades and a severe lack of water make this a most forbidding location in which to railfan. It is desolate! It is barren! It is AWESOME!

    The Needles Sub extends from Barstow, CA in the west to Needles, CA in the east, well over 150 miles of the desert railroading at its prime. You'll find ancient volcanoes, high plateaus and mountains, and many dry lakes and washes. And you'll find trains. Lots of them. The BNSF through this area of Southern California is unrelenting in the amount of freight trains they are running. It is simply amazing! It seems that almost every train is running on the previous one's block, with minimal spacing between the plethora of hot shot intermodal and mixed freights. The congestion is so concentrated that simply deciding to move from one location to another will almost guarantee that you will miss some train. The volume of traffic here is only overshadowed by the barren beauty that is found in the many valleys, mountains, and plateaus through which the tracks pass. So with this in mind lets go...Click the link for a Map and Railfan guide for the Needles Sub.

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