Pacific Railroad Society has arranged a group outing on Saturday, March 15th, 2003, using a bus from Los Angeles Union Station (and other locations) to Tehachapi Pass, lunch in Tehachapi and railfanning stops at Tehachapi Loop and Caliente. From Los Angeles to Lancaster, the road route taken by the bus is very similar to the rail route taken by the Metrolink train service, with road and rail within sight of one another in many places (except through Saugus and Soledad Canyon, where the road goes by a different route. We have reached LAUS by driving, as usual, parking in the MTA garage next to the east end of the pedestrian tunnel under the platforms. From LAUS, we head immediately east on Cesar Chavez Avenue to Mission Road, then onto Interstate 5, exiting to go to Glendale Station to board additional tour participants, then continuing north to the highway junction above the south entrance to the Saugus tunnel, where we take highway 14 to the east. In Lancaster, we pick up one more person at the station.
It had been planned for Will Walters to provide narration for this trip, but Will has decided to work on National Forum today, so Darrel Brewer and his grandson will substitute. In the early going, Darrel Brewer provides some stories of his railfanning days in the 1930s and 1940s, but when he tries to get specific to trains over Tehachapi Pass, he quickly becomes factually challenged. His grandson, young Darrel, provides some good facts, but doesn’t yet know enough to carry the day (he’s only 17), so commentary lapses. The bus driver (!) provides some specifics when we actually get up onto Tehachapi Pass.
North of Lancaster, we follow alongside the original Southern Pacific line of the 1870s (now Union Pacific, of course) on old highway 14 until it disappears into the modern highway 14 freeway just south of Mojave, passing the erstwhile oil tank train loading facility and then the junction with the BNSF (former AT&SF) line from Barstow, just south of Mojave Yard. In Mojave, we stop at a McDonald’s for a rest break, and then continue north and then west on Highway 58 up the east slope of Tehachapi Pass. We see a couple of BNSF eastbounds on the east slope, then take the side road past the cement plant at Monolith and the sidings at the summit into the town of Tehachapi. Here, we stop for lunch at the Apple Shed, a restaurant located in a former fruit packing shed. While we’re at lunch, a couple of freights pass in each direction, including a westbound UP manifest. After lunch, while we’re waiting for everyone to assemble, a BNSF westbound intermodal train passes, and this is when I discover that my camera battery is dead. In fact, the spare battery is deader than the one in the camera, so I won’t be taking any pictures today.
Leaving Tehachapi, we take the back road around until we intersect the Tehachapi-Woodford road, then take it along the hillside above the railroad line (on this south side of the valley) and highway 58 (on the other side), past the siding at Marcel and several tunnels until we reach the historical marker above Tehachapi Loop. Here, we park the bus and many of us walk out the path to the bluff above tunnel #10, from which we can see the line east to Marcel, and west around the loop, through tunnel #9 (beneath the Walong siding and main track of the Loop), back around to the right to cross Tehachapi Creek, then left again (and across the creek again) to reach the siding at Woodford (which is visible for about half its length.
The Tehachapi line has the following subdivision:
· UP (former SP) Mojave subdivision from Bakersfield to Mojave
East of Bakersfield, the BNSF line joins the UP (ex-SP) line at Kern Junction, then heads east southeast, directly towards the Tehachapi Mountains. BNSF has trackage rights over the UP as far as Mojave. At this point, the line is double track. At Sandcut, the line reaches a small summit, then drops down and around a jog to the north, to Bena. At the latter location there is a stub track where the UP/SP helpers wait to assist trains over the mountain, and then the double track section comes to an end. The line is single track with many passing sidings, the rest of the way to the summit. It crosses and then runs along the north bank of Caliente Creek, passing the location where tunnel no. ˝ used to be until it was destroyed in, or in the aftermath of, severe flooding in the middle 1980s.
At Caliente, the line turns a complete half circle and heads back west and up the side of the mountain on the south side of the creek. Then it turns away from the creek, passes through tunnels 1 and 2, and circles west again at the combined sidings of Allard and Bealeville (now known only by the latter name). East of Bealeville, the line climbs another hillside, circling back through several tunnels (and the sites of some former tunnels that were destroyed in, or in the clean up after, the 1952 Tehachapi earthquake). At Cliff, Caliente can clearly be seen a couple of miles below, (but about seven track miles away).
Several miles of hillside running later, the line curves to the south, passes under Highway 58, crosses Tehachapi creek, and turns eastward into the sidings at Woodford. The track crosses Tehachapi creek several more times as it curves north and then east again, makes a half circle west, then a half circle east, passes through a short tunnel, then makes a complete circle around a hill at the siding called Walong, during which it passes over itself in that small tunnel below. This is the famous Tehachapi Loop. At the east end of Walong, the line again curves east and passes through Tunnel 10. It now runs along the hillside on the south side of Tehachapi Creek, across from Highway 58, through several more tunnels and the siding at Cable, before emerging onto the floor of the summit valley. Here, there is the first stretch of straight track since leaving Caliente, followed by the town of Tehachapi, and then the summit itself, where double track resumes and there are crossover facilities for removing helpers and returning them to their starting points.
During the course of the next several hours, we see a number of trains several times. These are:
|
1 |
UP |
Manifest freight |
Westbound |
|
|
2 |
BNSF |
Intermodal |
Westbound |
BNSF 4590 |
|
3 |
BNSF |
“Wine train” (Merced-Galesburg) |
Eastbound |
|
|
4 |
BNSF |
Z-train intermodal |
Eastbound |
|
|
5 |
BNSF |
Z-train intermodal |
Eastbound |
BNSF 1020 |
seen at various locations as follows:
|
Tehachapi |
UP |
Manifest freight |
Westbound |
|
Train 1 |
|
Tehachapi |
BNSF |
Intermodal |
Westbound |
BNSF 4590 |
Train 2 |
|
Cable (E) |
BNSF |
Intermodal |
Westbound |
BNSF 4590 |
Train 2 |
|
Cable (W) |
BNSF |
Bare table |
Eastbound |
|
|
|
T-Loop |
UP |
Manifest freight |
Westbound |
|
Train 1 |
|
T-Loop |
BNSF |
Intermodal |
Westbound |
BNSF 4590 |
Train 2 |
|
Woodford |
UP |
Manifest freight (stopped) |
Westbound |
|
Train 1 |
|
Woodford |
BNSF |
Intermodal (passing train 1) |
Westbound |
BNSF 4590 |
Train 2 |
|
w. of Keene |
BNSF |
Intermodal (stopped) |
Westbound |
BNSF 4590 |
Train 2 |
|
w. of Keene |
BNSF |
Wine train |
Eastbound |
with rear helpers |
Train 3 |
|
Bealeville |
BNSF |
Z-train intermodal |
Eastbound |
|
Train 4 |
|
Caliente |
BNSF |
Z-train intermodal |
Eastbound |
BNSF 1020 |
Train 5 |
|
Cliff |
BNSF |
Z-train intermodal |
Eastbound |
BNSF 1020 |
Train 5 |
|
Cliff |
BNSF |
Intermodal |
Westbound |
BNSF 4590 |
Train 2 |
|
Bealeville |
BNSF |
Intermodal |
Westbound |
BNSF 4590 |
Train 2 |
|
w. of Keene |
UP |
Manifest freight |
Westbound |
|
Train 1 |
|
T-Loop |
BNSF |
Z-train intermodal |
Eastbound |
|
Train 4 |
|
Cameron |
BNSF |
Wine train (stopped) |
Eastbound |
|
Train 3 |
When we first get out onto the bluff at the Loop, no trains are visible. Soon, we hear sounds from the east and we all look east to the west end of the siding at Marcel. What appears is not the expected train 2, but in fact train 1, which must have been stopped somewhere along the two main tracks at Cable (hidden from our view) as we drive from Tehachapi to the Loop. After train 1 has passed very slowly, and headed on down to Woodford siding where it stops, train 2 then appears from the east and passes the Loop much more quickly than train 1. As train 2 passes the Loop, its engineer gets on the radio and (having seen us) says “May 17th must have been declared Foamers’ Day”!
During the time we’re out on the bluff at the Loop, a number of people seem to defer to me to decide when we should head back for the bus, and everyone still out there returns when I do. When I get back, I walk up to Barbara Sibert, PRS tour leader, and she asks if everyone is now back. I point out the last person still walking along the road. We all reboard the bus, which then drives to Woodford (passing the stopped UP manifest), onto highway 58, west to the Bealeville exit and then down the road crossing the line at Bealeville siding and under the line at Caliente horseshoe to stop on the gravel area next to the two main tracks (extended siding) inside the horseshoe. While we’re here, several eastbounds pass, but none of the westbounds has descended this far.
At about 4:30 pm, Barbara decides it is time to head back, and we all agree. As we board, I hear train 5 telling the dispatcher that it has gone into emergency (braking) as it passes through the Bealeville siding. At the Bealeville road crossing, the bus drive hesitates after stopping (because he had seen train 2 descending from Cliff), then crosses the track. As he does so, a horn sounds and the crossing gate starts to descend, narrowly missing the rear portion of the bus. We all watch train 2 pass behind us, and then the bus sets off again. On the radio, train 2 offers to take the conductor from train 5 back along the stopped train to find the spot where a hose has (apparently) parted. This offer is accepted.
On the way back across the pass on highway 58, we see a number of additional trains:
|
Marcel |
UP |
Manifest freight [1] |
Eastbound |
with rear helpers |
|
Cable (W) |
BNSF |
Stack train (stopped) |
Westbound |
|
|
Cable (E) |
UP |
Manifest freight (stopped) |
Westbound |
|
|
Tehachapi (W) |
BNSF |
Manifest freight (stopped) |
Westbound |
|
|
Tehachapi (E) |
BNSF |
Stack train (stopped) |
Westbound |
|
|
E. of Monolith |
BNSF |
Manifest freight |
Westbound |
|
|
Cameron |
BNSF |
Helper set[2] |
Westbound |
|
It is interesting to see that these observations include four westbound trains stopped waiting for the eastbound UP manifest freight to pass!
We return the way we came, dropping off the one person at Lancaster and several more at Glendale before pulling in to Los Angeles Union Station’s parking lot about an hour later than originally expected. We don’t care, because the train watching was good today on Tehachapi Pass, even if I didn’t get to take any photographs. We drive home as darkness falls.