Cold and Lonely -- Union Pacific Locomotive in Snow in Monolith, California
by Darin Volpe
Title
Cold and Lonely -- Union Pacific Locomotive in Snow in Monolith, California
Artist
Darin Volpe
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The Tehachapi Pass is usually a place of mile-long trains every hour, but on this snowy February afternoon, only one train and two lonely helpers made an appearance.
I'd wanted to travel to Tehachapi to see trains in the snow for a few years, but it seemed the snow only fell during the week and melted so fast that it was gone by the weekend. Then February of 2023 came. It was an unusually cold month in Southern California, and snow fell on the mountains for the week leading up to Saturday the 25th. My opportunity finally came.
I arrived in Bakersfield at about 11am. Highway 58 over the pass had been closed each night since the snow started, so I know I'd have to wait for it to open before I could cross to Tehachapi, nearly 4,000 feet higher in elevation and where the snow would be. It wasn't until quarter to 2 that the highway finally opened and let me through to Monolith, just east of Tehachapi, and once there I had to wait another hour and forty-five minutes for these two lonely locomotives to finally appear.
Twin Union Pacific GE AC45CCTEs made their way through the snow just east of Tehachapi to cross the Tehachapi mountains, likely “helpers,” extra locomotives that get attached to the back or middle of unusually long trains that need a bit of extra help to get over the mountain.
Uploaded
March 7th, 2023
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