Day Two: Western Meccas

After a night's rest in beautiful downtown Bakersfield, the intrepid "Bodfish Bandoliers" headed up to the Tehachapi Loop area for a Friday tour. Simply put, no magazine or video has ever done this place justice! It's not that tough for those who visit to see why it's such a draw to railfans everywhere. I can see why George Melvin wants to do a book about the place.

And, there's more!

Just getting to the loop requires nearly equal engineering feats as the line doubles back several times over many miles just to get to the loop. The high desert on the east end of the pass does not require that much meandering but tunnels are everywhere to keep the line fairly straight. Here's the Google Maps Satellite view.


We started out like most folks would by stopping by the monument in Walong. This spot is very public and overlooks the entire loop from the hillside opposite the highway. We observed the first trains from here. The second train was good since it was a fairly uniform trailer train with nice white trailers to illustrate the loop. A bit farther up the road we found a well worn path that other railfans seemed to be using and found somewhat better perches to watch the show. We did make an effort to leave the landowners alone and no one made an effort to run anyone off.



From the better spot we could see even more curve and make out the line beyond the tunnel at the top. The UP obliged with a train complete with mid-train DMU helpers and even posed the two passing each other for me. The BNSF got into the act too.

The canyon beyond the loop was fascinating but our luck wasn't good enough to spot any northbounds there. We had to settle for southbounds for a while. The light was good for the time being regardless of direction.


Before too long it was time for lunch and the Wheelman had some business to conduct on the local library's wifi network. Off to the town of Tehachapi. While a bit more civilized than most mountain towns, it still had a dusty desert charm to it.


We headed back west and did not hear anything on the scanner. So far we only saw southbounds and the light was changing. Next stop Caliente, home of a large horseshoe curve a few miles back toward Bakersfield. Of course, on the way we encountered a surprise southbound and had to stop at the end of the siding for a snap shot. We found a good perch on the Cal Bodfish road and watched 3 more trains, northbounds of course, from the spot. We could hear the trains blow for the crossing on the other side of the hill on their way down to us. We simply stayed until the horns stopped. From there I snapped this short train as it passed Caliente proper.


If you are better at spotting grammar nuances, you noticed the plural in the title. We had a shift in plans for the night and headed off for Cajon Pass, another "Mecca". Originally we were going to Barstow. No problem. We simply got a taste of Cajon before going into the LA Metro area for a day instead. We planned more time at Cajon for Sunday.

On the way to Cajon we stopped in the town of Lancaster, part of the Palmdale metro area. This is the end of the line for Metrolink. We encountered this train about to depart for LA. Behind the loco was a Frontrunner car from the Utah DOT. Apparently these guys are short of cars and Utah finally got theirs. Either way, we got to see something different.

From Lancaster we followed the curvy road to Cajon Pass. This took us by such features as the California Aquaduct and the San Andreas Fault. Cool.

Emerging at Cajon Pass, the Wheelman wound around to some side roads and we were suddenly in the desert on dirt roads. He knew where he was going (mostly) and got us to Hill 582 overlooking much of the pass. Trains were everywhere! BNSF has 3 tracks through here and the UP (ex-SP) has one more. The place was hopping. At one time this place was run by the AT&SF with the UP having trackage rights. Then came the SP with their own new track to create a cutoff in 1967 to bypass L-A. We soon found that the "south track" was the one with the steepest grade and it meandered differently. Used mostly for downhill running, we saw one pass us on that line before the light left us. Some local railfans joined us on the oasis of Hill 582 (named for signal 58.2) and we gabbed on well past dark just watching the action.

Now after a long day of chasing trains and driving long distances, you'd thing we'd quit early. No way! We dropped by The Hat in Rancho Cucamonga for their famous pastrami sandwiches first. Then on to a motel in Azusa. (Those towns are in a Jack Benny bit aren't they? Yes, we even went to Anaheim the next day, which starts the skit and is the center of it's folklore!) Of course we'd heard of the gag but I sure had no idea how big a deal it was while we were there!


This was not our last encounter with Cajon Pass. We spent a day below the pass in the LA metro area and then returned. Those tales are next...


BC