Tehachapi SP Coal Train With 13 Locomotives

Southern Pacific coal train stopped at Marcel after a meet. Thirteen locomotives (three up front, six mid-train, and four near the rear), work to get this heavy train moving from a dead stop. The engines struggle a bit at first, accelerating with no movement, but once they get the train moving, its MOVING. Check out the last set of helpers as they are sanding approaching my camera position. Smoke, exhaust, dust and roar of V16 and V20 prime-movers ----- Railroading at its finest, doesn't get any better than this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tehachapi Loop is a 0.73-mile (1.17 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. The line, which sees an average of almost 40 trains each day, is one of the busiest single-track mainlines in the world.


H/T to Donna