Reflections From the Fence: railroads

Saturday, May 4, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Tehachapi Depot Railroad Museum, Tehachapi California

After our "discovery" of the Tehachapi Loop we drove on into Tehachapi proper. It was a delightful ride through the countryside. With a bit of searching with the GPS systems and travel apps on the iPad, we soon discovered there was a Railroad Museum in town, we headed right over.

The Tehachapi Depot has a long and colorful history. It was originally built in 1876, burned to the ground in 1904, rebuilt, survived an earthquake in 1952, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 and was turned over to the city in 2006. In 2008 disaster hit again during clean up and restoration when illegal fireworks set the building on fire. The Friends of the Tehachapi Depot rebuilt and opened the "new" depot in June of 2010. It was rebuilt as closely as possible to the "old" depot that was destroyed in that unfortunate fire.

They have a fine collection, well displayed.

There were quite a few drawings and photos of the loop. Since they allowed photos I took a bit of liberty and shot a few of the loop, first a drawing:

And, this fantastic aerial photo. (Praying this was not copyrighted. GULP)

The museum had a very nice display about the Harvey girls and services. They recently were gifted with these two bottles of "spirits". Yes, that bottle in the front was partially "used". Note the Southern Pacific Company logo on the dinner plate.

Outside of the depot building there was a collection of signals and of course, a railroad car.

We spent a nice afternoon in Tehachapi, a visit to this fine museum is highly recommended. It is not that far off of 58 if you happen to be driving by.

* Copyright of the map and photo revert to the museum and photographers. I claim NO rights to either. The rest of the photos are mine. Be good, don't click and claim! The internet lords will NOT smile at you for stealing.
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Friday, May 3, 2013

THE Trip, THE Encore' :: The Tehachapi Loop, Tehachapi California

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.