Approaching Tunnel 2, an H1, Conrail, standard cab Norfolk Southern and an H2. The 1Ds does an amazing job of recording detail - check out the driver's stubble here (jpeg quality)
Watch out for these little guys at Bena.
A tired looking warbonnet leads a stack train through Sandcut
Ah, some sun! Pumpkins crossing at Cable - a Dash 9 and SD40-2 combo brings a pig train uphill...
...to meet a downhilll train. Second unit is a repainted cabless GP60B, which you can...
..see more closely here.
Wildflowers above Clear Creek in the midmorning haze.
More haze, this time at Bena.
The same train in the above pic at Sandcut. Both pics lazily taken from the same spot.
Shall we dance? Chance crossing at Caliente with both trains on the move.
UP pushers at the fourth crossing of Tehachapi creek, below the loop.
Wildflowers near the loop enjoy some sun as a set of SDs spiral down the embankment in the distance.
Three SD40-2s on a downhill baretable train.
Chugging upstream at Woodford past more flowers.
Dash 9 powered stacker at tunnel 10.
Nice older power near the Tehachapi Summit with Monolith in the background. Those turbines on the top ridge are huge.
One of many uphill empties at Bealville.
After a long wait, the SD40-2s head their manifest downhill through the long shadows at the east end of Bealville.
The 'worm train', a long unit grain, heads uphill at the west end of Bealville in the last of the evening light after passing the manifest. Check out those clouds.
Friday morning has a loaded log train heading up through the big curve at Warren. This spot is chillier and windier than it looks.
Pushers on the same train.
The next train is an empty log train.
Followed by a long stack train loaded with J B Hunt containers.
A midday lunch break watching four SPs shunting at Mojave.
A pair of former SP locos that were once SD45s bring in a train from Monolith. Not too shabby for 300mm with the 2x converter.
In the early afternoon, a pair of ex BN SD40-2s now owned by FURX thread their way through Cable with empties.
At the Cable crossover, UP locos approach Tehachapi township.
Woodford - middle loco is a repainted GP60M.
And again. These captions are just thrilling aren't they?
Sandcut - not a great shot, but I just had to include another 600mm (300x2) in here.
Saturday morning's clouds send me again toward clear skies at the big curve at Warren. Three SD40-2s and a Dash 9 head east. I thought California was supposed to be warm - it's freakin' freezing this morning...
More filthy UP locos
Pair of cleanish pumpkins on a pig train.
Nice lash up, shame that cruddy old warbonnet in the lead wasn't a clean one.
The clouds begin to clear below the loop.
Another nice lash up between tunnels 1 and 2.
Damn clouds... but we'll be going back to this spot.
UP stack train glides down to tunnel 2.
At Cable, the two H1s and two H2s we saw between 1 and 2...
...have overtaken this one. Could've sworn I had more height on this shot. Dammit.
At Cable, a UP train experiencing braking problems is overtaken by a BNSF train which includes a warbonnet GP60M. Yummy.
Exiting tunnel 10 and approaching Marcel is a BNSF manifest chugging uphill with three Dash 9s on the point and another two pushing.
The BNSF train with the GP60M exits Marcel after crossing the above train...
...and then slips through Woodford before disappearing from view...
...and eventually reappearing around a curve on its way down to tunnel 5 and Clear Creek.
The same train entering the long Bealville loop.
An uphill UP train with an unpainted Norfolk Southern Dash 9 in the consist approaches Tunnel 2...
...and can be seen in the distance here after crossing the downhill BNSF at Bealville...
...which is seen here for the last time crossing Caliente Creek between Bena and Illmon.
The next three shots are of this westbound BNSF stacker, powered by 5 dash 9s. Seen here at Tunnel 2...
...then rounding the loop...
...and passing Monolith just as the sun sets. How appropriate!