Tehachapi Loop

 

The Tehachapi Loop:

After a week spent at work it was time to go explore things. Saturday morning got back on the road towards the Tehachapi mountains. A little before reaching the quaint town of Tehachapi on state highway 58 going east is an exit to a small town called Keene. There we stopped to visit a special historic site that I will describe in my next post. From there, keeping along the Woodford Tehachapi Road we passed by ranches and meadows and hills. The narrow 2 lane road was briefly accompanied by the railroad on one side and for most part, hills all around. Springtime greenery made it a charming drive in the rural setting. Horses were seen in the meadows and some wildflowers here and there. Passing through a sharp bend and a somewhat steep climb we arrived at an elevation that had a view of a small valley in the midst of the hills. 

Here there was a constructed overlook for viewing what is considered an engineering marvel of the 19th century. It is called the Tehachapi Loop. In fact even today it is considered a feat in the world of railroad engineering. Starting 1874 a railroad was constructed in the Tehachapi mountains to connect the San Joaquin Valley with the Mojave Desert. It would become the major pathway for transporting goods from San Francisco to Los Angeles and is credited with the early major growth for the city of Los Angeles and the state of California. 

This line from Bakersfield to the Mojave desert runs a length of 28 miles and has an average gradient of 2.2 percent. It is a single track route with 18 tunnels, 10 bridges and several water towers needed for steam engines. 3000 Chinese workers from Canton, China worked with shovels, picks and other hand tools, horse drawn carriages and blasting powder to dig through the granite to create this railroad. The entire line was completed in a span of 2 years from 1874 to 1876 under chief engineer William Hood. The Loop was commemorated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1998. 

The loop has a diameter of 1.16 km( 0.72 mile) and a gain in height of 77 feet. It is shaped as a spiral or helix. A 4000 feet long train passes under its own tail end into a tunnel below. This is tunnel number 9 out of 18. Even in present day this remains a very active route with an average of 36 freight trains passing across it each day. 

The route is banned for passenger trains to keep control on traffic. Amtrak line coming to Bakersfield from Fremont offers bus service for passengers traveling to Los Angeles from Bakersfield. They can carry onwards to San Diego from Union Station in Los Angeles via train again. 

There is a hill in the center of the Tehachapi Loop that has a cross placed on top in memory of two railroad workers who died in 1989 after a train derailed in San Bernardino, California. You can see the cross if you zoom into the picture of the Loop. 

There is a Railroad Museum located in the town of Tehachapi. Planned to visit that yesterday after having lunch at the bakery cafe that we frequently visit. Only realized before going to bed yesterday that we completely forgot about the museum after lunch and carried on home instead 😂. So that museum retains its place on my Things To Do List !! 

Photo of me taken at the Overlook Site for The Tehachapi Loop. Saree is a handloom cotton from Bihar called the Bawan Butti weave. Traditionally has 52( bawan in Hindi) buttis woven into it. This particular saree is in a beautiful shade of red, leaning towards a tomato shade, and has floral motifs in white thread on the pallu and smaller geometric buttis spread all over the body. It is comfortable and an absolute delight to drape.