Cienega Creek Bridge, Arizona

The Union Pacific double-track main line splits in Vail, Arizona. East of the town, the lower track follows Cienega Creek, and the other track crosses over the lower line and the creek, making for a great spot to watch trains go over and under you (sometimes at the same time)!

Within minutes of our arrival to this spot on November 3, this westbound container train being hauled by a trio of Norfolk Southern locomotives made its way across the Cienega Creek Bridge. While it is not unusual for us to see NS trains, it did seem unusual to see NS power so far from its home rails.

We stopped at this particular train-watching spot three times in the three days that we stayed in the Tucson area. The first time was too late into the evening on November 1 (after our day south of Tucson at Tumacacori and Coronado) to get any good photographs. We did watch a couple of trains, but decided that our time would be better spent resting up for the next day.

The second and third times here were both on November 3. We stopped early in the morning, before heading to the eastern district of Saguaro National Park, and then we came back again after our time at Saguaro. The pictures you see on this post were from November 3.

Following old US 80 toward the Cienega Creek Bridge, east of Vail, Arizona.

There’s some potential for some great shots here. We weren’t fortunate enough to see two trains at the same time while we were here. The old US-80 highway bridge over Cienega Creek is on the right. The container train on the bridge is the same one that was being pulled by three Norfolk Southern locomotives.

Besides the sheriff, there were a couple of other vehicles that pulled up and parked while we were there. One guy unloaded a bike and headed off toward one of the nature trails, and another couple took their dog and hiked under the bridge, and I’m assuming down the embankment somehow, since I saw them a few minutes later walking down the center of the lower railroad track. I guess there was no danger of a train sneaking up on them, since you could hear the trains coming for miles away as the sound echoed off of the canyon walls.

Perhaps the Union Pacific “Private Property No Trespassing” sign is merely a suggestion?

Union Pacific container train heading west across the bridge

We had an incredible vantage point at the Cienega Preserve parking area

The parking area was marked as designated for visitors to Cienega Creek Preserve, with permits required. We were here fairly early in the day, and there was no one else here. We were not planning to leave the parking area, and figured that if someone came along and asked us to move we would do so without hesitation.

Since we had the lot to ourselves, I parked in such a way to have the best view of the bridge from the Jeep. After we had watched a couple of trains go past, a sheriff pulled into the parking lot. Expecting him to ask us to move along (or at least park in a way that didn’t wasn’t clogging up the lot), I got ready to start up. He just looped around the lot, gave us a wave, and pulled out. Must have seen us with the cameras on the dash and known what we were there for!

From where we were parked, we had good views of both looking up at the trains going over the bridge and looking down on those going under it.

This container train had two units cut into the middle of the train. From this vantage point, we could just barely see the double-stacked containers snake their way along the creek on the other side of the highway bridge.

After a couple of hours watching trains in the morning, we headed to the Rincon District of Saguaro National Park for most of the rest of the day, then returned to this spot in the late afternoon with the hopes of getting some “golden hour” photos as the sun began to set. We stayed until just after dark before heading back to Phoenix.

As we arrived for the second time this day, an eastbound Union Pacific mixed freight train was just approaching on the lower track.

There were not as many trains this evening as there were this morning. The upper track (the one that goes over the bridge) was having some sort of maintenance done to it down the line. We saw a couple of trains on the lower track, and mostly spent time chatting with friendly railfans that were sharing the spot with us. When we arrived, there was a man flying a drone with an HD video camera, and shortly after we arrived there was another still photographer (who said he wouldn’t have been so friendly to me if he had realized I was using a Nikon camera!)

Just after sunset, we did hear a westbound train coming up the canyon on the upper track. I had a perfectly staged shot, with the creekside foliage catching some of the last hints of light. I was hoping for just a hint of light trailing from the locomotive as it came across the bridge. And, it would figure that the first auto traffic on old US 80 in over 10 minutes would come at exactly the same time.