Union Pacific's LOS27 Bassett Local with Six Axle Power! Full Chase from City of Industry

Today I chased Union Pacific’s LOS27, a local job originating out of the City of Industry Railyard, responsible for switching customers in Bassett along the Alhambra Subdivision. The unofficial nickname this train currently holds is the “Bassett Local”, a throwback to the Southern Pacific’s “Bassett Hound” that ran here back in the 20th century. This train used to be the “San Gabriel Local” and responsible for the Bassett industries on the San Gabriel Sub, but another local took the designation and customers a few years ago, and reduced this job’s coverage to only the Alhambra Sub industries. As of the current upload date of this video, LOS27 is defunct and has been replaced with another job.

Today’s job was a real treat, as three of the four active customers they serve were served today, as well as the train using six axle road power to switch, while this is normally a geep served job. An SD70M/SD40-2 duo was today’s consist, with a Union Pacific bay window caboose on the rear to be utilized during shove maneuvers.

Starting off at the City of Industry Yard, this train was pulling out onto the main as they had recently finished building their train. As soon as they got the green signal to proceed west, I relocated to the west end of New Siding to catch them flying by. They headed to the western end of their operational zone to switch their first customer of Cascade Steel, on the border with El Monte. They shuffled in loaded gondolas and flatcars of steel and pulled out empty ones. While they were switching, a Metrolink train flew over on the El Monte Flyover with SCAX 852 on point. After they were finished at this customer, I caught them shoving past CP Bassett with the caboose in the lead.

Their next stop was Commercial Lumber & Pallet. This customer as well as the next one are located on a ground level siding, while the mainline has been elevated above two road crossings as part of the Alameda Corridor East project. The industrial siding can’t be raised for obvious reasons, so this creates a unique alley where the train switches. Consequently, it also means I couldn’t get close to the switching, however I got it from both sides the best I could. Their last customer, GoldenCorr Packaging, which receives boxcars, has the switch facing the other direction, so they had to run the power around their train on the main, so I caught them flying over the street. They then headed back onto the siding where they coupled onto the other side of their cars before switching. The crew never changed ends and remained in the SD70M the entire time, so when I caught them heading back to the yard with the SD40 in the front, it was “shoving”. My final catch was at the western end of New Siding. Thank you for watching!

Train ID: UP LOS27
Head End:
UP 4359~SD70M
UP 1689~SD40N