Tehachapi Visit 5

Page 2

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5tj.jpg The same train exits tunnel 10. As luck would have it, by the time this train has waited at Walong for two downhill trains, a cloud had appeared in the otherwise clear sky... The second to last loco is a CSX GE.
5tk.jpg Five 3000 hp locos (that's the equivalent of 20 NZ DGs...!) have paused to drop a fresh load of coal off at the Monolith cement works and are seen here propelling a rake of cars into the sidings.
5tl.jpg This is one of the locos, ex SP SD40T-2 8570. Mmmm. Talk about overdoing the weathering.
5tm.jpg While returning to their train, the 9 loco train from a few shots back cruises past.
5tn.jpg Finally attached to the rest of their train, which had been left on one of the mainlines, the locos begin to move off. Two BNSF trains have been waiting behind it for almost half an hour.
5to.jpg Back in Clear Creek Ravine, a BNSF Dash-9 winds its way down between tunnels 5 and 3. This shot was taken above the remains of Tunnel 4, which was bypassed after a big earthquake in the sixties.
5tp.jpg The same train as in the previous shot is strung out around the Caliente horseshoe curve. Two rear end SD40-2 helpers in BN green are visible in the distance, two track levels up, directly above the second and third train locos.
5tq.jpg Sunday morning began overcast and just got worse from there. A nice train at Allard/Bealville has three 4-motor units including a GP30 at the back and the big power up front as it drifts downhill away from the camera.
5tr.jpg Under overcast skies, the Swift roadrailer train powers uphill at a fair clip with just two units, one of the new UP 'winged herald' SD70s and a repainted tunnel motor.
5ts.jpg As rain begins to fall at Caliente, a BNSF train winds up after a crossing. Included in the mix are a Norfolk Southern B30-7 and a cabless SF blue SD45.
5tt.jpg Just uphill from Caliente, nine engines motor uphill light as the rain comes down.
5tv.jpg BNSF heads for the hills in pouring rain at Sandcut.
5tw.jpg Over the pass at Mojave, it's not raining. Yet. The train we saw at Caliente is coasting down to Mojave as a coil train eases past with a pair of Santa Fe warbonnets helping out with the climb to Summit Switch.
5tx.jpg That night in Bakersfield, SONHERT PFCAI 8234, an SD40T-2 that is another victim of rampant door swapping, awaits its next turn of duty.
5ty.jpg Extra long SD40M-2 8691 (ex SDP45) and ...
5tz.jpg ... 5373, an ex- D&RGW SD40T-2, are in a consist of 5 locos rescuing a coal train that has been tied up south of Mojave.
5tz1.jpg The approaching coal train crawls past part of the GATX 'tank-train' south of Mojave in the last light of the day.
5tz2.jpg A coal train heads north towards Mojave.
5tz3.jpg BNSF green SD40-2 and high-hood NS B30-7 near Summit Switch.
5tz4.jpg Under the windmills.
5tz5.jpg Dropping down into Mojave.

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