And that was Soledad Canyon. The same pool out of Bakersfield ran those trains. Back then, when Duel was shot, it was double-ended with LA guys going north and Bakersfield guys going south, and a short pool that terminated in Palmdale if I remember right.
This video is a time capsule for me since I live in Lancaster just further south of Mojave and I still do; making frequent drives to Mojave, Tehachapi, The Loop, and sometimes further to Bakersfield. In nineteen ninety I was only eight years old when this was taking place. In all my childhood I can remember seeing some of these road names of Southern Pacific, Santa Fe, and Rio Grande and I miss them so much. The railroads back then were so much more colorful with all the different companies passing through here. Now everything that does pass here is Union Pacific except when a unit from another road on loan comes by. Occasionally an old road unit that has only its number plates repainted to its new owner but still wears its old paint scheme comes through and it makes me a bit tearful how all that is gone now. Even the caboose is a bonus to see since those have been retired now. Its fascinating seeing things in this video that I'm familiar with but know that the course of its history has changed. The Loop is still there. Highway 58 is still there. The historic Tehachapi Depot burned down and was rebuilt. The Cal-Portland Cement Plant is still there. The wind turbines are all modernized tube tower high output now instead of the lattice frame towers. The curve of Highway 58 with the rails was destroyed in favor of a new bypass of Mojave making it a shadow of its former self. I really wanted this to continue further on and see Lancaster from the rails how things used to be.
I'm so glad they recorded this. Knowing that the Espee would be Gone in a couple of years. May of 1996, (I think?)Is when The Espee was sold to Union Pacific. Now the Espee is Gone, we have Amazing videos Of the Espee.
+spaceacademy - Agreed! A blast from the past - Sure do miss the SP and Dispatcher WR-52. Even heard some traffic between WR-52 and the old SP Blitz Local at the beginning of the video.
One of the best cabride videos I've ever seen; done at a very interesting time in a world famous location. Filled with great details like "stretching the rail with burning rope" and even a way car here and there. How about that ranch house for $38 K? Thanks for posting it, gentlemen! Miss the SP all the more now.
There's another 90s cab ride video on a KCS train similar to this one. Should be easy to find on RU-vid. They went from New Orleans to I forgot their destination
hi from England this is in my opinion the best railroad vid ever!!!!featuring the best railroad ever the good ol espee wow one of the best 29mins @3 secs of my life
Great video. This brings back strong memories of 1968 when i rode aboard the San Francisco Chief [ ATSF Train #1] and we went on the loop in the wee hours of the morning and made our on time arrival in Fresno at 5:45 A.M. Thank you for sharing.
This was an excellent video as I had never seen many of these locations before even after visiting Bakersfield for 2 years and Mojave area off and on for the last 20 years. Thanks for sharing and please add more if you have them. Keith Johns
Thank you for bringing back so many memories of camping at the loop with my family. Been visiting Tehachapi since I was just a baby. I'm 46 now. Parents moved there about 8 years ago. So many very fond memories watching the ATSF, and SP through the mountains. The long walks with my father, and brother up to Marcel, and just everything that came with being in the Tehachapi mountains. Loved it so much. Thanks again for sharing your trip with us. Understand the camera battery issue, loved it regardless.
Wow this was just spectacular, amazing. Reminds me of the days back in schulenburg texas 1992, i sure miss seeing the old southern Pacific locomotives. But seeing this brings back them old days, long live Southern Pacific.
I wish I could show the amount of appreciation I have towards these guys for filming their work, showing how railroading used to be on roads and times, long past. Thanks for posting!
I miss Espee and everything associated with it. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the dragger detector in this video. It brought back some memories. We use to call them Gladys after the woman who did the voice recording for the detectors on the Espee.
Hell now if you work for a Class I you pretty much are the guy working all the time with no days off. The reason I left after 15yrs. Loved being an engineer but I don’t live to work. But you are right about those conversations 😂.
A couple of minor nits: The tunnel identified as "Tunnel 6" is actually Tunnel 7 (T6 was daylighted after the 1952 earthquake). At the east end of Woodford, the bridge is identified as a crossing of Caliente Creek. The railroad actually leaves Caliente Creek at Caliente and follows Tehachapi Creek eastward, so this bridge is the 4th crossing of Tehachapi Creek. "Waylong" siding at the Tehachapi Loop is actually Walong (named for W. A. Long, an old-time railroad official). A fun video of a great railroad.
+miclc 062 Quick note on top of that: You said in the video "Nathan M3" horn. But that's actually an old chime P3, which of course was the standard airhorn on the vast majority of SP units, including the SD40T-2s which you rode. Of course, this could just be mis-speaking or a stutter, it's only a single letter difference.
Otto von Bismarck People like *you* are absurd, there is absolutely no need to get so offended on behalf of somebody else. The point of this is not to get him to change it, like you said this was a quarter century ago, most of the things on the line have changed since. The point is to educate people who might be otherwise informed on the little details of the video.
Wow! This has to be the Most Amazing video of Southern Pacific to a true SP Enthusiast! I use to see these all the time on the Pacific coast line. I sure do miss seeing these Trains. And hearing that awesome horn. Thank You so much for sharing!!!
Now this is railroading the way I remember. No wide cabs, no "on board" computers, no funny control stands and best of all no cute little orange and green safety vests. Glad I got out before Big Yella swallowed everything up.
Thanks for the ride. I could here that brake valve exhausting. Don’t miss that. Never liked it. Wasn’t till later in my career that Chessie started venting that thing under the floor.
1-15-90..Who were those guys? One sounds like Steve McDermott, I knew the Late Louis Ursula. Good Engineer to work with. RIP. Anybody know who is on this crew?
I miss seeing those tunnel motors and the Espee in general. I think they would have been around a bit longer if they weren't doing so bad in their final years of operation.
More like the Santa Fe completely raped them. During the pre merger, the companies were basically already merged with SF having management intertwined with SP. SF thought it would be a good idea to consolidate and sell off millions of dollars in assets (largely property) that belonged to SP when it "appeared" that the merger wouldn't be approved. When they pulled out, SP was left in a hole it would never recover from.
@@smokayman Thanks for the info. I was in the LA area back in 1990 and wondered why one of Espee's yards had been closed. Now I know why. The hole Espee was in meant Uncle Pete could move in a few years later and take over. Look what happened after that!!! System melt down!!!
Thanks for sharing this. I have always loved the oil can trains. Was there a caboose on the oil cans? Would you had preferred that the SF merger had been allowed as opposed to being swallowed up by UP? Were you still working when the UP merger happened? I hear it was a real mess for a long time.
The lead unit of the head end consist is my favorite engine. I selected it to be our "camera car" because the short hood end had a larger compartment in which
really funny,,,,,as the video starts with the brakeman's door open and approaching a crossover switch,,,,,I instinctively looked at the approaching switch points ,,,,,,guess old habits never die!
hi, in a few words, extreme cold could modify the gauge between rails, so the heat of the burning rope, ´´SOFT a little the metal tension of the rails, to keep the gauge, regards from argentina
As a trucker, I've been up and down that pass many times, but it's nice to see it from a different perspective. And if you change the playback speed up to 2, it makes you feel like you're almost out of control!😳
4:54 Why were both signals red,Shouldn't the bottom should have been a Diverging Approach,unless signals without number plates that are red signals don't mean stop indications or a track warrant
Very cool. lol Wondering how large the camera was this was taken with ? Had a friend growing up who's father was an engineer Southern Pacific in California who retired in the 90's. Had the opportunity go for a ride a couple times and never went figuring there will be another time, well now I regret I never took him upon the offer, but I no longer wait for next time when something cool comes up. While I missed out on a rare event at least I learned from it. :-)
Just kind of wondering..........Why do these modern locomotives do not have the beautiful architectural styling of the STEAM LOCOMOTIVES, of days gone by ? 🚂🚂🚂 Thank You for the ride along, and we appreciate your hard work ! P.S. Rail Road owners......How about giving your trains a bath once in a while........You know, just a little make over, so that they always look SHARP ! 😀
+Horsman4James agreed but alot of people are jumping on this bandwagon of complaining and having no respect for seniority. I also blame politicians for building luxury condos and towers for the snobby wealthy brought up to move into right next to railroads causing major qz here in california. Gentrification is playing a major part in this too
SouthCalifas619 I live in an area of LA where there aren't any freight trains, only light rail metros with crappy little buzzers as a horn. If there were freight trains running through town I wouldn't complain one bit, I'd actually enjoy it. Of course, there are very few people with that mindset and most of them would complain.
+Scott Nelson It's hard to tell, but it's a red over yellow. I'm not sure if SP had gone to NORAC operating rules yet (they are the only west coast railroad that did) but in GCOR, a red over yellow is a diverging approach. In NORAC it's a restricting. I'm guessing that this is before the NORAC change, or it's one of the few lines that stayed GCOR.
