Topic: Railfan
One of the benefits of my current employment is the opportunity to live in new places and to explore unfamiliar regions. Not long ago in the interest of seeing something new, I took a drive down to Mojave National Preserve. Among my new discoveries, I learned the difference between a National Park and a National Preserve is that hunting is allowed in a Preserve but not in a National Park. This is not of much significance for me since I no longer go hunting. I also learned this Preserve holds the world's largest forest of Joshua Trees. These trees do not provide the shady canopy usually expected in a forest. But they seem to be the most a desert can manage. These discoveries were not, however, what prompted me to visit the Mojave. The purpose of my journey was to visit a railroad museum in Kelso located south of Baker, California.
For my trip I traveled on California Highway 127 from Death Valley Junction to Baker. This provided an opportunity to retrace a portion of the Tonopah & Tidewater RR route between those locations. Death Valley Junction sits just east of Death Valley National Park. It was where the Death Valley narrow guage railroad met the T&T.
Death Valley railroad was built by the US Borax Company to service their mine at Ryan. As mining declined at the facility the Borax Company sought other sources of revenue and began encouraging travelers to visit this previously remote area. During the early days of tourism in Death Valley the Junction was the major gateway for visitors to Valley. Passengers from the Union Pacific could transfer in Ludlow to the T&T. The DVRR train would take them to Ryan where touring automobiles of the era could then take them the final miles to Furnace Creek Inn in the center of Death Valley. A few ties of the old Tonopah &Tidewater standard guage can still be found in right of way at Death Valley Junction. Also visible is the grade for the wye which marked the starting point for the Death Valley Railroad. Between Death Valley Junction and Tecopah the highway parallels the T&T or, in some cases the old roadbed is buried under the current road. The highway and the railroad part company south of Tecopah where the T&T enters Amargosa Canyon and the highway instead goes up and over the mountains. A few miles north of Baker the old roadbed of the T&T rejoins Route 127.
From Baker, the Tonopah & Tidewater headed southwest down the broad valley to Ludlow toward its' junction with the Union Pacific. This UP route began its' existence as the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, a rare example of a western railroad which actually reached both of the locales in its' name. 
I had discovered some time ago a relic of the LA & SL sitting in the ghost town of Rhyolite on the northeast border of Death Valley National Park. Given the T&T junction with the Union Pacific at Ludlow, California, it seems reasonable a LA&SL caboose might show up in Rhyolite. My guess is the Tonopah & Tidewater railroad had inherited this piece of equipment and abandoned the caboose in Rhyolite before they ceased operations. As you can see from the photo the caboose is in pretty poor condition. The lack of trucks seem to indicate it was used for storage or some other purpose before the last train left Rhyolite.
While the old T&T line ran to the southwest from Baker, the road to Kelso instead heads more or less south from Baker. In this direction the valley floor is interrupted by numerous volcanos which erupted from the valley floor 10,000 or 15,000 years ago. The same geologic forces which created the volcanoes also pushed up a huge granite dome many miles wide. It was this dome blocking the way to Las Vegas and Salt Lake which created the railroad's need for Kelso. A source of water near by and the grade to the north made Kelso a good site as a base for steam era helper locomotives.
The Kelso station which still stands today was not really a station in the terms we usuallly think. It was primarily for railroad employes. The upper floor contained bedrooms for crew members who were there temporarily. The main floor was occupied by a beanery largely used to feed employees. There was also an office for a dispatcher and telegraph. Itdid have a ticket window and small waiting area for passengers. The basement held a pool table and place for railroad employees to relax while off duty.
Kelso station has been renovated to serve as the Visitors Center. Today the beanery is still in operation, but now it serves visitors to the National Presereve. Park Service offices occupy some of the building, but most space is devoted to historical and interpretive exhibits. As a model railroader a diorama in the basement was of particular interest to me. The diorama depicts Kelso as it appeared at its' most active during World War II. I was pleased to see they had chosen to model it in N scale. Concrete slabs or crumbling walls mark most of what is left of the original town of Kelso. But Kelso is not a ghost town. There are still several modern houses on the south side of the tracks which are home for Union Pacific employees. Kelso is still a railroad town.
As I went about taking photos outside, I kept hoping a UP train would make an appearance. The park ranger at the information desk said a train had passed through about an hour before my arrival and that there were typically 20 trains a day. Alas! not a train in sight. My time was limited by my need to be back in Death Valley before dark. A road paralleled the railroad tracks to the east. I decided to take the road as far as Cima and hoped to come upon a train before I had to head back north. I had not gone far when I found the reason for the absence of trains. A track crew was hard at work. 
So long as these fellows were here I was not going to see any trains and I kept on moving.
Cima sits at the top of the grade from Kelso. There is a building identified as a US Post Office. Who it might serve is a mystery to me and appeared as if it might be unoccupied. There are a few small railroad structures in an advanced state of decay. There is still a wye where helpers would have been turned. A modern Union Pacific communications tower resides in the center of the wye.
The stretch between Kelso and Cima could offer some opportunities for a few photos of desert railroading. There are a number of small bridges over dry washes. And some distant mountain peaks might provide an interesting background. Eastbound trains would be working hard up the grade possibly causing the diesels to emit a few belches of smoke. Joshua trees become more prevelant as the tracks gain elevation. The trees could provide some interesting companions for the trains. It was already late afternoon. Although the sky was cloudless it was approaching the time of day which can favor some good shots. But time was not in my favor this day. I had no idea how late the track work embargo might run. There was no guarantee I would see any trains if I stayed and I wanted to avoid driving back to Death Valley after dark. So I turned my car away from the tracks and headed north.
