March 25, 2013
Since Man was driving/toting Tana on our trip from Mojave to Bakersfield, he wanted to go back through the pass sans Tana. We picked a fairly clear day and off we went, just headed that way, finding what we may, where we may, just doing, something, relaxing, learning, snooping, not much of a plan in place. As we headed east we happened upon a sign that said Tehachapi Loop. Had no idea, took it anyway, look at this interesting GPS screen. Loop, yep, but, it is a train track! The black thin line on the right is the 2 lane narrow road we were on, the red looping line is the train track and the dark red line to the left is 58.
A pulloff was found, and there before us, is the Tehachapi Loop. So, what we have found is a National Historical Civil Engineering Landmark. It climbs 77 feet in elevation in just .73 of a mile, that is less than one mile! It was designed in 1876 by William Hood the chief engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad. There are photos showing trains passing themselves. Sadly, no trains went by while we were there. Rats!
Per Wikipedia, this white cross, known as "The Cross at the Loop", it is in memory of two Southern Pacific Railroad employees who were killed in a train derailment on May 12, 1989 in San Bernardino, California.
Remember how I shared with you a photo of the tunnels in this post? Here is a closer look of one of the Tehachapi tunnels.
I actually shot this photo on the way from Mojave to Bakersfield, not knowing what it was, but, thought it was interesting, so snap Sony Too! After our visit to the Tehachapi Loop, I reviewed my photos. So, this is the loop from 58, and there is that cross, all the way to the left middle of photo.
We continued our ride into Tehachapi, and found more fun railroad stuff. I'll show you soon.
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