By Don Sims
Imagine that it’s 1949 and you’re standing at the top of the San Bernardino mountain chain in Southern California, specifically at the place where Cajon Pass reaches its railroad peak. This is the location of the famous train order office known to Santa Fe and Union Pacific as Summit. It’s at a time when just about everything motive power-wise has changed from steam to diesel, though a few of the former can still be heard as an era ends.
Chants coming from an internal combustion source now dominate, but on this particular day an unusual noise is heard. It sounds like the roar of a jet engine coming around the sharp curve at Summit’s west end and coming into view with a heavy eastbound drag is what appears to be another snub-nosed diesel in UP livery. It looks like a diesel carbody, but sounds like an airplane struggling to become airborne.
