Desert Dinosaurs: the Trona Baldwins ~ Part 1: Brine, Boron and Baldwins

They’re survivors. Pristine and powerful, the Trona Railway’s three Baldwin AS616s are museum pieces that work for a living. In Part 1, we follow the Baldwins in their desert habitat near California’s Death Valley, watching them battle 80-car cuts like it was 1955.

[@Greatdome99]

When I was there, I got pix of their Centercab. Now THAT was a Baldwin ! ! !

[@carlosogle7493]

I still have the vhs from my childhood but I never thought I'd see the day it would be uploaded on KZbin! Alongside Alcos, the Trona Baldwins were some of my personal favorite diesel locomotives, love hearing those rugged engine sounds! My dad and I would watch this together almost every night as a kid! Thank you for uploading this, you guys are awesome!

[@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq]

You're welcome. It is extra rewarding when one of our programs brings back first-person memories of the subject matter. RR

[@RailfanJunction]

Always interested in vintage Trona! Really weird to see the difference in care put into the aesthetic appearance of the AS616s compared to now. Also had no idea about the SP power running trains to Borosolvey, that's super cool!

[@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq]

Pride and care for motive power is a lost art. The folks at Trona knew what they had, and they took very good care of it. As for the SP power, it was fascinating to watch a four-unit lashup of high horsepower units kicking 60 car cuts of hoppers! RR

[@xray606]

Nice! I never knew the plant was owned by Kerr McGee back then.

[@garymartz7587]

Interesting video. Liked the production!

[@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq]

Thanks! We put a little extra into this one. It is difficult to keep a 60-minute program on locomotives switching interesting, even if they're Baldwins. Bill Christopher did an outstanding job on the production of Desert Dinosaurs. RR

[@grantthomas5501]

Now trona has a fleet of tired old SP Tunnel motors and some tired UP engines, I guess the trona sees re painting them as a waste of money

[@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq]

Unfortunately, company pride and image has fallen by the wayside. Trona Railway was once a very proud and efficient operation. Sadly, it appears that concept is a thing of the past. RR

[@colinmulder6806]

This was the first VHS tape of yours that I came across on eBay that got me hooked on you folks work. Not to mentioned the opening scene of those semaphores were actually on Santa Fe's Northern freight route. Question now is where were those semaphores located & when was it taken?

[@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq]

The opening and closing semaphore scenes were shot at Wagon Mound, New Mexico. I'm guessing the footage was shot in 1989 or 90. RR

[@colinmulder6806]

@@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq Interesting, during that time SF was running two sections of two Intermodal HOTSHOTS over that route. Those were the Q-KCEP1 & Q-EPKC1.

[@Iconoclasher]

Are these locos still around today?

[@gerardsignalguy6623]

At SMS in New Jersey, only 54 operates the other two units in storage.

[@gtptube]

Great video. What happened to the Trona Baldwins?

[@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq]

All three Trona AS616s ended up at Switching Management Services (SMS) in New Jersey. It appears that only the 54 is in service. The 52 and 53 are in storage. RR

[@gerardsignalguy6623]

​@EastEndProductionsArchiv-lm3lq Before the Trona Baldwins went to SMS, they were working in Muskogee Oklahoma at a transload facility I believe on the Missouri River.