A trip to California to visit family brought us once again to UP’s Mojave Sub crossing of the Tehachapi Mountains. To look at the locomotives, you’d think this was a BNSF line. BNSF traffic usually outnumbers UP trains and this day was no exception.
BNSF 7570 North has just crested the hill at Sandcut and is heading toward Bakersfield with a trainload of UPS trailers. Aug. 11, 2011 7:10 AM
As the signal changes from red to flashing yellow, BNSF 7670 North starts the descent into Bakersfield. Aug. 11, 2011 7:11 AM
Trail from missile launch as seen from near Tunnel 2. Aug. 11, 2011 8:07 AM
Though not railroad related, we saw this missile trail in the western sky while waiting for a train at Tunnel 2. This was the launch of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast, nearly due west of Bakersfield. Though the launch was successful, the flight of the test vehicle failed. It is not unusual to see Vandenberg launches from the Bakersfield area, though most occur at sunset.
BNSF 5379 South nears Caliente. Aug. 11, 2011 8:22 AM
BNSF 5379 South approaching Bealeville. Aug. 11, 2011 8:39 AM
BNSF 5379 South blasts out of Tunnel 5 between Bealville and Cliff. Aug. 11, 2011 8:43 AM
BNSF 5379 South crosses over its own train on the Tehachapi Loop, otherwise known as Walong siding. Aug. 11, 2011 9:11 AM
Photos by David Cooley.
Checking the weather forecast I see it’s clear and sunny back home in Washington and rainy and cloudy here in California. It was supposed to clear up this morning, but as you can see, sunrise was hidden behind a couple layers of clouds and fog. That light in the distance is not the sun coming up but the headlight on a northbound at Sandcut.
Conditions were no better anywhere along the line to Tehachapi, and since no trains were in evidence, we kept going to Mojave where we found sunny blue skies. UP 5434 had just come off the hill and was waiting for clearance just outside town. The clouds from the valley have pushed themselves up the Techachapi Mountains to stop just at the edge of the desert.
UP 5434 is waiting for UP 5440′s train (with helpers), just ahead.
UP 5440 finally on the move towards Lancaster and Cajon Pass.
As UP 5434 heads out, BNSF 4880 arrives at Mojave Junction from Barstow. We decide to leave the sunshine and follow it up the hill.
BNSF 4880 at the cement plant at Monolith.
We met two southbounds on our way to the Loop, but weren’t in position to photograph either of them. We opted for a long wait for BNSF 4880 at Woodford, since we knew it was coming.
Just as we moved back to the car to head back to Bakersfield, BNSF 4880 came to a halt. Guessing that this meant it was meeting a southbound, I headed back to my perch on a set of abandoned water tower footings. A few minutes later, BNSF 991 came around the bend, to polish off the morning’s railfanning.
What looks like sunshine is actually just cloudy bright, overexposured a tad to give the trains a little more light under the highway bridge.It rained on us all the way back to Bakersfield, just to make us feel at home.
(Reposted from original blog)
