SVTS
07-17-2004, 10:04 AM
I posted this on MLT's new forum today, but firgured you guys might like to read it here as well.....
I didn't get seriously into trains until just a few years ago. I use to drive semis from my home state of Maryland to California, with another driver. We could do a complete "flip" in 5 days, sometimes less. When I first got my CDL (Commerical Drivers Licence), I thought of no one better to train me than my dad, as I hired on with the same company he was with in Hagerstown, Md. After picking up produce in Salinas, Ca., we begin to make the return trip back east. As we made our way east of Bakersfield over Route 58, he told me of the railline that crossed the same area, known as Tehachapi, and the loop that laid just off the highway, mostly obscured by hills. That was in 1995, and every trip after that, I became more intriqued about the area. I begin to take photos from the truck of what I could, figuring this would be the only way I would ever see the area.
The great thing about life is it is forever changing. One never knows what will happen next, as is the case with me. I married a Capt. in the US Army in 1999, and in 2001, we transferred to SE Arizona. As luck would have it, she had family in Bakersfield. I made my first trip to the loop on the morning on Oct. 11, 2001. Six more trips would be made in the two years we spent in Arizona. With each trip came new places to watch and photograph trains, and with each trip came new friends. The third trip in October 2002 found me loop side with Brad Brown from 3DTS, and fellows simmers Curt and Shane (smp1151). Instant friendships were made, ones that continue today despite the fact I now live in New York. Tehachapi quickly became my favorite place to photograph trains, and anyone who has been there, seen photos, or has the MSTS route knows why.
My last trip to the loop was in July 2003. After joking around with a UP conducter on another froum, I ended up getting his cell phone number, just in case he could get us onboard during the few days we were there. Although we did talk to him, and he even came by and gave us some UP stuff one day, 3 days passed with no sign of a cabride. As the last night neared an end, we started to BBQ one last night on the loop. Beer, Hot Sausage, Potatos, and then late in the afternoon, we got the call. Be at Bena in 2 hours. Our friend was on a eastbound, it was time to take a trip up Tehachapi Pass.
We arrived at Bena as night fell. While ideally a cabride should take place in the daylight, we weren't about to get picky about it. He could take two of us, so Curt and myself were to go. Shane and his mother drove up down to Bena. We left our cars at the loop, because that is where our cabride would end. Bena is at the end of CTC doubletrack running. Other than a slight 1 % dip downgrade towards us, and a S curve, it is a stright line back to Bakersfield, about 14 miles west. I could think of no place better than to start the trip. Just east of Bena, the line begins to climb. The walls of the canyons converge and the line snakes through, just as it did in 1875. In fact, Tehachapi is one of few routes today that still run the original path it ran when it was created with little or no change to the line.
Looking west, headlights appeared on the horizon, still, a good two miles away. It seemed like it took forever, but slowly the bright lights got closer and closer, and before long, the massive UP AC4400, #5--- (still have to protect the crew) was stopped just shy of the lonely grade crossing. We climbed on board the 85 car manifest, with 3 engines up front, and 2 more in the middle, DPU's. In mere seconds, we were slowly picking up speed and passing under the detector east of Bena. At Ilmon, the first passing siding (actually, Ilmon is a 4 mile long siding, ending at Caliente, and is considered to be CTC according to the timetable), we diverged onto the other track with yellow indications at each passing signal. We slowed to around 10 mph, even though we were still a few miles away from where we might have to stop. The engineer explained that there was no need to hurry up and get to the red and starting off on a grade if you don't have to, so we crawled up through Ilmon. Sure enough, as we approached Caliente, a westbound BNSF came around the corner, gliding down the grade with a load of stacks. As the last signal came into view, highball! We would pass another BNSF in the hole at Allard, as we crawled up the mountain at 13 mph (one of the units was not working correctly if I recall, so 13mph was about all we could do). Coming out of tunnel 5, we could see the headlights of another train, close behind us at Bealville. Shorlty after 11pm, we began to traverse the world famous loop. Time to go. We made our way out onto the front on the AC4400, with the help of the conductor, and hung from the steps. It was a feeling I'll never forget. Hanging from a UP AC4400 in the middle of the night as it mades its way through the night, headlights bright, casting a spectacular glow to the evening sky. As we approached the private grade crossing at the loop, the train slowed, almost stopped. We jumped off...more like steped off, and watched as the train throttled up and slowly went about it's way. This however created a new problem for us. It was pitch black, and we now had to find our way back to the knoll where our cars were, some 100 yards away. It took some doing, but we both made it back to our cars safely, still glowing from what had just happened, on our last night at Tehachapi. We said goodbye ,and made our way back to our motels. Shorlty after midnight, from my Motel 6 room in Mojave, I watched "my train" glide down into Mojave in full dynamics, on its way to West Colton.
As luck would have it, I took a photo of that very same lead unit a year before, and thanks to a few good photos of that nightm, and a video shot by Curt, we'll be able to remember that night in July 2003 for years to come. My first cabride, over a place I never thought I would see, let alone do so in a train, from the cab no less.
I didn't get seriously into trains until just a few years ago. I use to drive semis from my home state of Maryland to California, with another driver. We could do a complete "flip" in 5 days, sometimes less. When I first got my CDL (Commerical Drivers Licence), I thought of no one better to train me than my dad, as I hired on with the same company he was with in Hagerstown, Md. After picking up produce in Salinas, Ca., we begin to make the return trip back east. As we made our way east of Bakersfield over Route 58, he told me of the railline that crossed the same area, known as Tehachapi, and the loop that laid just off the highway, mostly obscured by hills. That was in 1995, and every trip after that, I became more intriqued about the area. I begin to take photos from the truck of what I could, figuring this would be the only way I would ever see the area.
The great thing about life is it is forever changing. One never knows what will happen next, as is the case with me. I married a Capt. in the US Army in 1999, and in 2001, we transferred to SE Arizona. As luck would have it, she had family in Bakersfield. I made my first trip to the loop on the morning on Oct. 11, 2001. Six more trips would be made in the two years we spent in Arizona. With each trip came new places to watch and photograph trains, and with each trip came new friends. The third trip in October 2002 found me loop side with Brad Brown from 3DTS, and fellows simmers Curt and Shane (smp1151). Instant friendships were made, ones that continue today despite the fact I now live in New York. Tehachapi quickly became my favorite place to photograph trains, and anyone who has been there, seen photos, or has the MSTS route knows why.
My last trip to the loop was in July 2003. After joking around with a UP conducter on another froum, I ended up getting his cell phone number, just in case he could get us onboard during the few days we were there. Although we did talk to him, and he even came by and gave us some UP stuff one day, 3 days passed with no sign of a cabride. As the last night neared an end, we started to BBQ one last night on the loop. Beer, Hot Sausage, Potatos, and then late in the afternoon, we got the call. Be at Bena in 2 hours. Our friend was on a eastbound, it was time to take a trip up Tehachapi Pass.
We arrived at Bena as night fell. While ideally a cabride should take place in the daylight, we weren't about to get picky about it. He could take two of us, so Curt and myself were to go. Shane and his mother drove up down to Bena. We left our cars at the loop, because that is where our cabride would end. Bena is at the end of CTC doubletrack running. Other than a slight 1 % dip downgrade towards us, and a S curve, it is a stright line back to Bakersfield, about 14 miles west. I could think of no place better than to start the trip. Just east of Bena, the line begins to climb. The walls of the canyons converge and the line snakes through, just as it did in 1875. In fact, Tehachapi is one of few routes today that still run the original path it ran when it was created with little or no change to the line.
Looking west, headlights appeared on the horizon, still, a good two miles away. It seemed like it took forever, but slowly the bright lights got closer and closer, and before long, the massive UP AC4400, #5--- (still have to protect the crew) was stopped just shy of the lonely grade crossing. We climbed on board the 85 car manifest, with 3 engines up front, and 2 more in the middle, DPU's. In mere seconds, we were slowly picking up speed and passing under the detector east of Bena. At Ilmon, the first passing siding (actually, Ilmon is a 4 mile long siding, ending at Caliente, and is considered to be CTC according to the timetable), we diverged onto the other track with yellow indications at each passing signal. We slowed to around 10 mph, even though we were still a few miles away from where we might have to stop. The engineer explained that there was no need to hurry up and get to the red and starting off on a grade if you don't have to, so we crawled up through Ilmon. Sure enough, as we approached Caliente, a westbound BNSF came around the corner, gliding down the grade with a load of stacks. As the last signal came into view, highball! We would pass another BNSF in the hole at Allard, as we crawled up the mountain at 13 mph (one of the units was not working correctly if I recall, so 13mph was about all we could do). Coming out of tunnel 5, we could see the headlights of another train, close behind us at Bealville. Shorlty after 11pm, we began to traverse the world famous loop. Time to go. We made our way out onto the front on the AC4400, with the help of the conductor, and hung from the steps. It was a feeling I'll never forget. Hanging from a UP AC4400 in the middle of the night as it mades its way through the night, headlights bright, casting a spectacular glow to the evening sky. As we approached the private grade crossing at the loop, the train slowed, almost stopped. We jumped off...more like steped off, and watched as the train throttled up and slowly went about it's way. This however created a new problem for us. It was pitch black, and we now had to find our way back to the knoll where our cars were, some 100 yards away. It took some doing, but we both made it back to our cars safely, still glowing from what had just happened, on our last night at Tehachapi. We said goodbye ,and made our way back to our motels. Shorlty after midnight, from my Motel 6 room in Mojave, I watched "my train" glide down into Mojave in full dynamics, on its way to West Colton.
As luck would have it, I took a photo of that very same lead unit a year before, and thanks to a few good photos of that nightm, and a video shot by Curt, we'll be able to remember that night in July 2003 for years to come. My first cabride, over a place I never thought I would see, let alone do so in a train, from the cab no less.