This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/pblarsenpics to TrainWeb.US/pblarsenpics.

The other crown jewel of Southern California railfanning is BNSF's Cajon Pass, which is the railroad's main entrance into the LA basin area. Nestled between the San Gabriel mountains to the west and the San Bernardino mountains to the east, the Cajon Pass is a rugged stretch of railroad that climbs from the San Bernardino area up to the High Desert and beyond. Long popular with railfan photographers, the Cajon Pass affords many dramatic views, with the most spectacular being at Blue Cut, which crosses the infamous San Andreas fault, Sullivan's curve and Summit, which is my personal favorite. Once the domain of the Santa Fe and Union Pacific, the latter of which has had trackage rights for many years, the Cajon Pass became a three railroad area for a time when Southern Pacific built its Palmdale cutoff parallel to the Santa Fe mainline from Devore to Summit. Following recent mergers, the Cajon Pass has once again become host to only two railroads, BNSF and Union Pacific. While it is not the same as when Santa Fe warbonnets climbed up and down the pass, with the type of scenery found here, it doesn't really matter what railroad traverses it since spectacular vistas are around every curve. I have broken my Cajon Pass page up into three areas including the Inland Empire, which encompasses the Riverside and San Bernardino areas, the lower pass, which goes from Verdemont to Pine Lodge, and Summit eastward. Please follow the links below to view them!