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Thirty years on Tehachapi


BNSF owns several hundred Dash 9-44CW locomotives, and they are common on trains over Tehachapi Pass in the lead and as distributed power. Adopting DCC meant trains like this westbound just clearing Tunnel 10 high above the Loop can be operated like the proto- type on the La Mesa Club’s layout. Tunnel 10 is out of the picture to the left in the overall view of the Loop belowand the late 1950’s-era passenger train negotiating it. Opposite, a BNSF Warbonnet and two lease units with a train of empty reefers are slowly descending the long grade on the hillside across the valley from Caliente. Tunnel 1 is behind and the tight curve and bridge over Caliente Creek are ahead. These curves closely mimic the prototype.


could not interfere with the trains run- ning for Museum visitors, an absolute requirement, and the club was still


able to hold prototype-based timetable and train order operating sessions for their members and guests.


The project to construct a mezzanine to accommodate the remaining mileage to Tehachapi Loop and Mojave was completed in 2003. It added nearly 3,000 square feet of space, for a total approaching 8,000. Once the building permit was signed off, construction of the railroad east of Cliff began in earnest. By June of 2005 the first train made its way around the loop at Wa- long. Granted, there was no scenery on the upper portion of the layout, but that did not stop club members and guests from conducting timetable and train order operating sessions. Operations continued to improve as additional portions of the layout came on line. These included West Bakers- field, west end staging, the mainline through Edison, Sandcut and Bena, then to Mojave and east end staging. Many visitors expressed appreciation for being able to see the layout in vari- ous stages of construction. All this progress was accompanied by the pesky problem of trying to keep the timetable current.


As members started to gain a feel for what the railroad would be like when all the mainline trackage was opera- tional, questions arose. The agreed- upon plan had some serious flaws. First, there was a duck-under between Cable and Tehachapi; many members were starting to feel their age, and a duck-under would just be another op- portunity to hit one’s head. Second, the


44


MARCH 2012


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