Serpent -- Union Pacific Freight Train in the Tehachapi Mountains, California
by Darin Volpe
Title
Serpent -- Union Pacific Freight Train in the Tehachapi Mountains, California
Artist
Darin Volpe
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Yellow-headed mile-long serpents are a common sight in the mountains between Bakersfield and Mojave, California.
This stretch of railroad is one of the most famous in the world. The tracks come out of the Bakersfield yard at an elevation of just over 400 feet, climb over the Tehachapi Mountains' 4,000-foot summit, then back down to 2,700 feet at the Mojave yard. This sixty-eight miles of track attract railfans from across the country. The scenic highlight is the famous Tehachapi Loop, a section of track that circles a small peak where the train passes through a tunnel 77 feet below the track above.
But there is much more than the Loop for those who know where to look. To keep the grade manageable for trains, curves and tunnels turn a 50-mile distance as the crow flies into a nearly 70-mile journey. One stretch of track takes 4-1/2 miles to traverse two points that are only 1-1/4 miles by road, and there are many other places on the route where the tracks wind around and through hillsides, and where mile-long trains snake their way though the landscape.
Uploaded
March 5th, 2023
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