Tehachapi 1989
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- This was my first trip to Tehachapi, in 1989. The exact dates are lost to history as my contemporaneous notes have disappeared.
I really miss the sound of EMD 645 turbo-charged prime movers and the way they filled the canyons with sound, before government busybodies forced the manufacturers to equip all locomotives built after 1980 with exhaust silencers.
1) The program opens at Bealville in the late afternoon with trains in
both directions passing through Tunnel 5.
2) The next morning we are at the Loop to watch a westbound Santa
Fe unit coal train meet a Southern Pacific general freight with
mid-train
helpers. Then a Santa Fe intermodal passes with a Kodachrome GP-35 in the consist. An SP light helper set drops down the loop.
Another unit coal train, this time an Espee eastbound, climbs around the loop and crosses its own tail. This heavyweight has 4 units on
the head end (including a Kodachrome SD45T-2), 6 more units in the middle and a 3 unit set near the rear end.
3) Up near the top of the canyon we see a Santa Fe piggyback train negotiating the s-curves.
4) Moving down to Woodford, we catch a pair of Santa Fe westbounds.
5) Back at the Loop, an SP manifest exits Tunnel 10 and drops westbound down the grade. A Santa Fe leader heads up 3 brand new UP
SD60Ms on an eastbound manifest. The famous "Oil Cans" unit Tank-Train makes its usual late afternoon appearance as it heads for the Shell Oil
refinery in Carlson, CA.
6) An SP eastbound traverses the horseshoe at Caliente.
7) Were back at Bealville for one final train as it passes us and
climbs up and through Tunnel 5.
Amazing how this place hasn't changed one bit in almost 40 years , was just there the other day same spot
Excellent! I truly appreciate you sharing these wonderful moments in history. Great story telling here too.
I kind of miss the days of the SD40/45's with their growling 645 prime movers when going uphill at Tehachapi Pass.
This is just awesome. Thank you so much for sharing this. Composition is excellent. Sighs how we miss the era of howling SD-40 and 45T2s.
Figure this has to be around June of 1989 -- those three UP 614x SD60Ms were delivered in May, and they would probably be on one of their first trips, since they are all together and looking brand new
Doesn't get any better than this. One of the best Tehachapi videos I've seen. Thanks for uploading this so I can relive my childhood.
Thanks, this is a repost of the video I did a few days ago. I wanted to improve the contrast as the other one was kind of washed out. I've got more.
It does seem a little more vivid than it did yesterday. I'm sure I speak for a lot of people here when I say PLEASE upload more! It will be a sad day when the stockpile of 8mm Tehachapi videos has run dry.
The master recording was made on VHS using the highest quality consumer equipment available at that time.
Great video.
Whoa. You have footage from Tehachapi? This is awesome, great stuff.
Please, the name of the film. The plot is: A long freight train running through the frame of film. A woman and a man couldn't hear each other because of the noise. They are standing the opposite sides of the moving long freight train. Probable years of production: 70-80s, the guy had a car. These scene is in the end of the film. Please, help with the title. Thanks
Kind of odd hearing a Leslie RS3L on a SP locomotive.
My inner kid back
so steep even the trucks on the road are struggling
To be fair, the highway is much steeper than the railroad. Whereas the tracks snake through what seem to be endless curves, including the famous loop, Hwy 58 goes straight up the pass. On the other hand, each truck only moves a pittance of the weight of a train. The advantage of trucks is that they can take your freight from your loading dock directly to the other guy's loading dock. Railroads have the advantage over distances greater than 400 miles. That is why you see so many JB Hunt, Schneider, Amazon, FedEx and UPS, etc. vehicles on trains. Most of them are containers but UPS still prefers complete trailers on piggyback flat cars. The railroads don't like piggyback because of the higher tare weight and wind resistance at higher speeds, versus 2 containers per well (platform) on articulated double stack cars. I believe that UPS's reasoning is that their trailers have a below-floor-level
cargo space that is built integrally with the chassis and can not be separated and stacked like containers can.
Good video.
20:20-20:55 & 22:03-22:30 Quintessential Espee.
Awesome video of bygone days. I have a old man question. I worked the Stockton Sub between Calwa and Richmond as an engineer. Where were the coal loads going?
I believe to the Kaiser Steel plant at Fontana. That plant was subsequently closed, partially demolished, and turned into what is now California Speedway.
@@Sacto1654 Probably not, those loads were going north, Fontana is way south and would have been sent over Cajon from Mohave. Weird is that its got Rio Grande hoppers to boot which owned SP by 1989. Maybe those were leased or power balanced SF locos pulling that train, because SP would have used their own power if they could. I don't know if there was a coal fired plant in Northern Cal in 1989, but that's where they were going, or for export from Oakland or Portland. Maybe the Overland route over Donner was closed during this filming and they had sent them from northern NM or CO via the Sunset route?
What is that cabless unit on the first train?
SD 45-2 CABLESS
SD45-2B
did sp ever wash their loco's? maybe that's why they painted them gray
By the late 80's and into 90's SP was not only short on cash they were going through a motive power shortage as well. Hence why older units stuck around on the property longer then they should have mostly due to SP rebuild programs to try to make them last longer as investors to financially back new motive power on the roster were few and far between. That changed in the mid 90's as the industry was going through a traffic upswing and suddenly SP's already power shortage problem was hit in full force. Hence why with a more positive outlook for the industry with the freight traffic levels rising SP was finally able to start acquiring newer power. However existing power such as what you see in this video was the best SP had at the time and consequently due to the power shortages as well as the financial instabilities SP was struggling with at the time, the money and effort it would have cost SP to pull power (especially road power) from active service just to spend money washing the units wasn't worth it. It'd have cost money to do so and wouldn't have mechanically given the units any benefit. Bare in mind SP was basically only throwing money at essential repairs at this point in time. Anything to keep the desperately needed power still running and making money. So keeping the power clean purely for the benefit of aesthetics was the last of SP's concerns at that point in time. Further compounding the problem, more mountainous districts are usually plagued with tunnels which only increase the exhaust related filth that ends up all over the motive power. Hence why for example MRL's new power looks like crap after spending a few months up in the mountains. Plain and simple mountain railroading isn't a clean way of operating nor is it cheap. So when your already cash strapped the last thing you want to do is throw money at aesthetics when your just trying to stay financially afloat to survive onto better times.