Tehachapi Loop facts for kids
The Tehachapi Loop is a 3,779 feet (0.72 mi; 1.15 km) long spiral, or helix, on the Union Pacific Railroad Mojave Subdivision through Tehachapi Pass, of the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, south-central California. The line connects Bakersfield and the San Joaquin Valley to Mojave in the Mojave Desert.
Rising at a steady two percent grade, the track gains 77 feet (23 m) in elevation making a 1,210-foot (370 m) diameter circle in the Loop. Any train at least as long as the loop passes over itself going around the loop. At the bottom of the loop, the track passes through Tunnel 9, the ninth tunnel built as the railroad worked from Bakersfield.
The line averages approximately 36 freight trains each day; passenger services such as Amtrak's San Joaquin are normally banned from using the loop. Due to its frequent trains and scenic setting, the Tehachapi Loop is popular with railfans. In 1998 it was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and is designated as California Historical Landmark #508.
History
One of the engineering feats of its day, the Loop was built by Southern Pacific Railroad to ease the grade over Tehachapi Pass. Construction began in 1874, and the line opened in 1876. Contributors to the project's construction include Arthur De Wint Foote and the project's chief engineer, William Hood.
The siding on the loop is known as Walong after Southern Pacific District Roadmaster W. A. Long.
The project was constructed under the leadership of Southern Pacific's civil engineers, James R. Strobridge and William Hood, using a predominantly Chinese labor force. The Tehachapi line necessitated 18 tunnels, 10 bridges, and numerous water towers to replenish steam locomotives. Between 1875-76 about 3,000 Chinese workers equipped with little more than hand tools, picks, shovels, horse-drawn carts and blasting powder cut through solid and decomposed granite to create the helix-shaped 0.73 mile loop with grades averaging about 2.2 percent and an elevation gain of 77 feet. In 1882 the line was extended through Southern California and the Mojave Desert with 8,000 Chinese men working under Strobridge and another man. Both of the men came out of retirement after working on the Central Pacific Railroad.
A large white cross, "The Cross at the Loop", stands atop the hill in the center of the loop in memory of two Southern Pacific Railroad employees killed on May 12, 1989, in a train derailment in San Bernardino, California.
The Tehachapi Depot Museum is located in the nearby town of Tehachapi.
Operations
The Loop became the property of the Union Pacific in 1996, when the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific systems merged. Trains of the BNSF Railway also use the loop under trackage rights.
Although Southern Pacific ran passenger trains on the Loop for years, it banned passenger service there soon after handing its trains to Amtrak in 1971. Union Pacific has maintained the ban since taking over Southern Pacific. As a result, Amtrak's San Joaquin train is unable to directly serve Los Angeles. Amtrak operates Thruway Motorcoach buses for passengers wanting to travel between the Central Valley and Los Angeles.
An exception is made for the Coast Starlight, which uses the line as a detour if its normal route is closed.
California Historical Landmark
The California Historical Landmark reads:
- NO. 508 TEHACHAPI LOOP - From this spot may be seen a portion of the world-renowned Loop completed in 1876 under the direction of William Hood, Southern Pacific railroad engineer. In gaining elevation around the central hill of the Loop, a 4,000-foot train will cross 77 feet above its rear cars in the tunnel below.
