09/22/07 - Tehachapi

Traditionally, Saturday has been pretty good for rail traffic at Techachapi. Maintenance and track work usually gets scheduled for weekdays and trains often run during darkness as a result.

We’d been expecting hot weather here but rose on Saturday to find patchy thunder storms and cold weather on top of the mountain.

This EB UP manifest was just through Tehachapi heading for Summit early on Saturday morning. As an added bonus, there were also three mid-train DPU’s.

The clouds seemed to be confined to the top of the hill so after breakfast and watching several BNSF trains swing by at the Tehachapi diner, Marto and I headed downhill looking for clearer skies.

The Great Uneatable Feast

Tehachapi is so popular with railfans, it’s almost become a cliche. But it is such a great place for seeing a lot of trains in really pleasant surroundings. I’ve been visiting the area off and on since 1990. It’s fun to figure out which location would have the best sun and get there before the trains do. Interesting things happen as the trains thread their way past on another. There’s so much going on that no one could ever be at all the right places at all the right times. It’s a feast that can’t be eaten, but it’s sure fun trying!!

I like to start the day by taking a quick drive down to Caliente to get the state of play on the hill. With most of the trains located and directions known, I can tell which locations will be seeing traffic and which ones will be out of luck. As is often the case, there were several BNSF trains strung out from top to bottom so we started at Bealeville.

Bealeville

There are now signs posted here warning wouldbe tresspassers to stay out. It’s an unfortunate development at what has traditionally been a friendly place. We complied and enjoyed the action despite the restrictions on movement in the local area.

Here’s the first arrival, a BNSF manifest with a visiting Ferromex Dash-9 in second position.

About half the trains had rear DPU’s. While it’s not quite the same as crewed helpers trekking up and down the mountain assisting freights, it does emphasize the big time aspect of getting tonnage over this line.

Next up was an eastbound (uphill) UP TOFC. UP trains were outnumbered by BNSF about 4:1, it’s hard to believe this is actually a Union Pacific line.

This train was just long enough to be seen at the east portal of tunnel 5 as it’s tail rounded the curve to tunnel 3.

Then came the autoracks…

…and another manifest grinding up the hill, this time lead by a new GEVO and trailing two DPU’s at the rear.

Tunnel 2

We only had a day here so we moved on to a new location after a few trains. Next on our list was tunnel 2. There’s a nice spot above the tunnel which gives a view of the line below tunnel two and a good part of the west end of Bealeville siding. Accoustics here are great as you virtually look into the exhaust stacks of the motive power.

We caught the BNSF wine train with three brawny Dash-9’s on the point and two more working hard on the rear.

This train is basically full of water which makes it very heavy for it’s length. Here it is working up through Bealeville siding.

Things went quiet after this one so we headed further down the hill.

Sand Cut

First order of business was to get some lunch. There’s really nothing in the way of food places short of Bakersfield. However we didn’t have to go all the way into town as a “roach coach” was waiting for us at Neumarkel Rd. Good mexican food there. Marto was getting right into the hot sauce like a local (I’m writing this 24hrs later with no negative effects to report for us!).

As you can see the clouds were building down here. The weather seemed to be skating east across the faces of the mountains at the end of the San Joaquin Valley. A Tehachapi local we spoke to insisted that storms go round in circles there as they swirl around the mountains. We were getting a few odd drips of rain that eventually built into a shower after about an hour. Overall we were pretty lucky with the weather.

Sand Cut is a cool spot for checking out the action. If you position yourself right, you can seen trains working out of Bakersfield along the gun barrel line from there to here and, you can see the line running towards Ilmon past the point where the double track ends in the next valley. This gives great visibility for both directions. The exception to this is when you’re standing at the base of the cut. This WB BNSF UPS train snuck up on us with hardly a moment’s warning.

The BNSF obliged with the EB UPS train, and an EB mainfest lead by GEVO 7616,

… with mid-train help…(notice the burn marks on the long hood of the 4759)…

then the UP made an appearance with a manifest.

More to come.

Coxy

Comments

[Michael]

Absolutely stunning photos! I have never seen any images of Tehachapi from these angles...

Stunning!