The West Isle Line -- An Undiscovered Gem

I've been railfanning California for almost 50 years, but I recently found out about a short line-industrial operation that's had very little attention, the West Isle Line. According to the Wikipedia link,

The West Isle Line (reporting mark WFS) is a private railroad and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Crop Production Services (formerly Western Farm Service). The line is operated by a contractor and the line does not have any employees. The line began service on January 7, 1998 after being acquired from the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway. The line runs for 5.25 miles from Alpaugh, California to a connection with the BNSF Railway at Stoil (milepost 936 on BNSF's Bakersfield Subdivision). Western Farm Service is the only customer on the line.

Western Farm Service bought the line from the BNSF in order to avoid having the BNSF's "Alpaugh Branch" abandoned. The line was formerly part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and was constructed by the ATSF in 1914.

Here is a YouTube video of typical operation:

For reasons I haven't been able to discover, the gondola always stays with the loco and has been called its "pet gondola" in railfan discussions. The GP9, its only loco, is ex SP 3399; exx SP 3472; nee SP 5639. The train seems to operate once a week, hauling interchange from BNSF at Stoll to a transload in Alpaugh. The traffic seems to be fertilizer in covered hoppers and tank cars.

Here's the layout at Alpaugh, the western end of the line, from Google satellite:

In the lower right, you can see the GP9 and gon parked. Here's an enlargement:

About a mile east of the terminal in Alpaugh is a runaround:

And here is the interchnge with BNSF at Stoil:

There's a lot of similarity with other short line operations not too far away, especially the Buttonwillow line of the San Joaquin Valley Railroad. A model shelf layout with features of similar California short lines, including the Ventura County Railway and the Santa Maria Valley, would be an interesting project.

I'm planning to stop by the West Isle Line for a look on my next trip north.