I lived in Bakersfield for 3 years and drove up to Tehachapi multiple times. I never knew this was there. This is absolutely amazing. Thanks for the video.
I live in the Tehachapi area and love the train history out here. It makes me smile seeing them run out here through town and that we respect the train heritage. If you ever get a chance to visit Tehachapi, make sure to check out the Loop, and the train depot museum. We also have plenty of neat “tourist” attractions out here besides the train!
Hi. I'm watching this from Suffolk County in the UK. It is magnificant. The scenery, the amazing trains and your superb technique. This would make the foundation of a very good documentary with global interest. I don't think there is anything like it elsewhere. Bob.
Great camera and sound. I used to park on the 2-lane road just above the farm for hours to listen to the thunder as the trains came up the valley, decades before drones and digital photography. American, make that Western American Railroading, at an unique location. This is the best I've ever seen. Well done ! Thanks.
Thank you for the great video. I've parked on the two lane road uphill from the loop many times and listened to the trains thundering up the valley as they approached. This is a fresh perspective on this iconic railfan location. Thanks again !
And the lenght of those trains... Now i had seen this loop somewhere before but nowhwere as clear as this movie. Thx for sharing, real interesting material.
I'm amazed with trains of that length that the trucks don't 'string'. The wear on the rails must be considerable, not to mention the power needed to pull that load round so many tight curves. Great video, it gives a great sense of the scale of the whole thing, many thanks.
Engines pushing on the rear or mid train cuts down quite a bit on that. Also you have to be careful how you build the train. You don't want empty light weight cars in the middle and heavies on the end. That will for sure pull the cars off the track in a sharp turn like this unless you've got engines in he middle taking up the slack.
Used to drive by this yearly on our way to and from Tucson. Never really appreciated the scope of things until viewing this video. Very spectacular! Thanks!
The Phantom 4 is always stable. GPS keeps it stationary no matter how much the wind is blowing and the camera gimbal cancels out any vibrations. What requires skill is making smooth turns. The GPS doesn't help much when you're moving. Then you're at the mercy of the wind. And you have to be able to visualize where you are so you don't fly sideways into a tree or power line. It's exciting actually. Almost like a sport.
There are inevitably going to be people who think they know everything there is to know about engineering who see this construction as anything but a marvel. In their minds it should be a simple thing to construct a railroad in a straight line through the mountains. If they were to construct such a line using modern construction equipment and techniques it would probably cost 6 billion dollars and take 30 years to complete. But this line, like many such lines constructed in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, did not have such things as bulldozers and massive cranes and earth movers, or machines that could bore through solid rock. They built this line following the curvy terrain using picks and shovels and mules. And they did it in a couple years. The marvel of it is that nothing has changed in the past 100 years. It’s still in use today. Other than lengthening passing sidings to accommodate longer trains it works perfectly fine as it did then. Having a single track tunnel is not “a bottle neck”. This line is single track the entire way with passing sidings along the way for when trains meet. Most rail lines except the most busy are single track. Railroads don’t need freeways with 13 lanes. Train movements are precisely timed and controlled so only one track is needed with the occasional siding for meets. When I see stupid comments I will remove them. Serious questions I will gladly answer.
Yup, I agree. Plus, what constitutes a "bottle neck" really depends on the amount of traffic. It's fine for a few trains, but if you've got many trains going both ways, it could cause problems. The RRs avoid this by sending multiple trains in one direction, one after the other, then multiple trains in the other direction. No need to stop then.
Please some one can help me to know the ability of one BNSF engine...HP and how many traction motor under wheels. please give me full details. Me from Tanzania (Africa)
You need have no worries about complaints with superb videos like that. I live in Ireland and have visited Tehachapi a few times. I read about it a long time ago and decided that I must go there! Again, many thanks.
Absolutely Fabulous. There is and never will be a way to film this loop other than from "on top". Other videos from the ground give you no idea of the structure. We in New Zealand have a similar "spiral" called the Raurimu (Pronounced Rowreemoo) Spiral, but not as grand as this. Well done - even though I'm a year late.
Thanks. I try really hard to produce quality videos. Most train videos are from the ground and focus only on the train. I don't shoot the trains, I shoot the scene. I also try to get good audio quality. Wind noise really ruins videos. I've found ways to keep it to a minimum.
GottliebPins; Just amazing footage, i take it your using a drone to film this? What beautiful scenery. I live in London,Ontario,Canada & on weekends i live in Windsor,Ontario,Canada. In London there is about 10 CN Freight trains that pass through & some have 6-7 locomotives on a run which is a lot of cars as it's flat land from London to Windsor. Also CP Rail the same thing. I've also got some cool footage of CN Freight trains entering & exiting the Windsor/Detroit tunnel which is a tunnel that goes underneath the Windsor/Detroit river.
What an awesome video! Love the way the trains look like toys with the mountains in the background. And what about the horses hanging out at bottoms of the shot!? Dude you killed this👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🔥🔥🔥🔥
Great video. It just amazes me to watch these trains go up and down through the loop like there was nothing to it. Make some more of these. This is really great
Unfortunately California is a long way from me. I’ve already shot the best bridges and scenic locations in the southeast. I’m running out of spots to shoot near me. I have plans for another trip out west but with my job I don’t have to time. Hopefully soon.
@GottliebPins. Did you ever get to see the old Union Pacific 4014 when you were over on the western United States? I heard lots of railroad enthusiasts from all over the place came just to record it go through town to town. That was when railroads were at they’re prime! Now all has changed thanks to the automobile. 🙁
Wow now that is wicked bro and again the footage holy shit! I’ve heard of that place and seen rain fan clips here and there but nothing like this man wow
Sooooo very gorgeous. Astounding scenic view for miles and miles. I have seen this view in spring, all green and alive. We are fortunate. I wonder what goes on inside that tunnel. Recent tunnels are painted in colorful grafitti art from Mexico. People hop off, paint, then hop on a different train. Hope to God that the road above the tunnel is secure. No substitute for oversight of tunnel and overpass construction, especially after that recent collapse in Mexico.🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃
Very few uploads can accurately be described as awesome. This is a very notable exception. We have a few "pick and shovel" type engineering feats of our own here in the UK. Nothing like this though. Thank you sir.
It takes me wonder, that the couplers could stand the enormous stress inside. Especially the first one direct behind the top consist of locos when the long freight train is going uphill. Your video show the worm of cars and let us hear the sound of stress between the wheels and the tracks. The inner being trackheads may have much more loss of material than the outer profile of the track. The same is it with flange of the wheels, I mean.
@@HotspotsSoutheast , interesting! My father did so, when he drives the Steam-and Diesellocos (of the Deutsche Bundesbahn) and rolls slowly to the redlight sign. - And so should we do in our car in front of the ‚Stop‘-traffic light, to reduce petrol consumption for acceleration when ‚Green‘ appears!
It's a DJI Phantom 4. It shoots 4K but I only use 1080p since I'm uploading to RU-vid. None of my devices can edit 4K video so why even bother with it.
Catching two trains passing is always a plus, being in the right place at the right time. I almost lost the video completely. I forgot that there is a maximum file size on the memory stick. It stopped recording after about 15 minutes and started a second video file, except that file was corrupted, so I lost all the video after the uphill train went around the bend. The disk was totally unusable after that, it would not record anything else. I had to switch disks and format it after I got the existing files off.
The Tehachapi Loop is pretty much a full-size version of a model railroad helix. It's deceptively simple - by making the train loop around, you massively reduce the grade necessary to change elevations. And as we all know, trains do not work well on steep grades. I can see why it's such a popular line section to model.
I am just curious as to why, after all these years, they haven't redone the tunnel with double tracks. It seems that it would help ease the congestion in this extremely busy corridor.
gedstrom Railroads operate at very high efficiency. Trains are scheduled so they meet at specific locations. When things operate as scheduled a train only stays in a siding long enough for another train to pass. Sometimes a train may wait for two trains to pass. So the number of tracks and passing sidings is usually just right for normal operations. Making an entire line double track or double tracking every tunnel is not necessary if the current arrangement is handling the load. While I was here I only saw two trains pass each other. What normally happens is many trains pass in one direction. Then many pass the other. Only occasionally do they meet here. So it’s not worth the expense.
Couple of tech questions. What is the make/ model of your drone and video camera? Excellent quality. Also what is the battery life generally per flight?
I have two DJI Phantom 4s. The video cameras are standard with that model and shoot 1080p or 4K. I don't like to shoot 4K. I don't have any software or devices that can edit it unless I downgrade it and I'm only uploading to RU-vid so why bother? I'm very happy with the video quality as it is. The sound I record using my iPhone 6plus. The drone does not do audio. I sync the video and audio and edit in iMovie. The trick is to avoid wind noise as much as possible. I tried with mic covers and even gauze. All you really have to do is lay the phone down flat like I do on my camera bag with the camera facing down. That way very little wind hits it and you're recording basically no video so the file size is about what an MP3 would be. Then I use an app on my PC to strip out the audio. Just part of my process.
As for batteries they last about 20 minutes or more depending on wind and how much you are moving around. Once the battery gets to a certain point depending on how far the drone is from you the controller will start beeping and warn you to return. If you don't start returning within a minute or so it will return on its own unless you tell it not to. Usually I'll start returning going backwards while still filming and just hover until I'm done with the shot or the batteries are about to give out and I land. The problem with filming trains is you can't always here them coming. If there's a crossing nearby you can hear the horn blow but if you're out in the middle of nowhere you get almost no warning. It takes about two minutes to boot up from a cold start. Not enough time to get in the air. So I frequently leave the drone on but sitting on the ground. It drains battery slowly just sitting. I take with me 6 batteries for the drone and 3 batteries for charging the iPhone and iPad.
This arrangement was constructed back in 1876 when trains where very short and steam powered. Trains then were made up of 40 foot box cars and probably no more than 30 cars long. The need for double track and lengthy passing sidings was unnecessary. But as we see now trains are much longer and double stacks are common. This entire section of mainline is only single track. While 40 trains per day seems like a lot the odds of two trains meeting at any one location are small so there is no need to double track this line or add extra tunnels. If two trains are on this section of the line there are several sidings where they can pass. Trains going down hill stop in the sidings so that trains working hard pulling up hill don't have to stop and loose their momentum. As you can see in this video the train going down hill never actually comes to a complete halt. It slowly creeps forward while the up hill train keeps moving. The cost of adding more tunnels and double tracking would not be justified.
There used to be only one track thru the hill where the tunnel is. If you look again @ 12:50 you can see that the hill was cut away to add a second track adjacent to the tunnel.
@Gottlieb, I have taken round trips on the Coast Starlight Portland, Or. - Martinez, Ca. on many occasions and we were frequently stopped on sidings in the Cascades on Oregon. It would have been nice if that route were double tracked but I can guess the expense just cannot be justified.
I thought this was computer generated animation bc how incredibly clear it is. It wasn’t until I read the comments I realized it was actually real footage via drone. Unreal, please share what various technology used
Nicole Mikloiche I use a DJI Phantom 4 drone which shoots 1080p or 4K video but I only use 1080p since I’m uploading to RU-vid. The audio comes from my iPhone and is edited into the video. The drone uses GPS to position itself and the camera has a gimbal to stabilize the video so it’s very smooth.
Yes there are a few here and there. Look up Williams Loop. It’s on the same line as the famous Keddie Wye. Not nearly as much traffic on that line though.
So the deal here with the helpers is dynamic braking of loaded downhill trains. Got it. Before this I watched a video from '86 I think and it had 15 loci's. I thought they would be pushers but they were on a down hill train. Now I understand. Just went back and viewed the vid a second time. I think I understand. Wonderful drone shots of the loop. Helps bring the whole setup into focus. I've used google earth and followed the tracks but your shots are really the icing on the cake. Thanks for shooting it and thanks for posting it. Oh ya here's the link to that 87 train video with the 15 dynamic braking loci's. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zYcL7ZTal6c.html
The reason for helpers on the rear is to push going up and if necessary slow going down. This grade is very steep. Trains coming into the loop and going into the tunnel are going uphill and need helpers pushing. At the top of the mountain it levels off and the helpers aren't really necessary after that. On some lines that don't appear to be that steep, helpers, rear or mid train, are used to keep slack from building up between cars when the train goes up and down rolling hills. When the train is going up hill the cars start to pull apart, then when the train goes down the hill they all slam back into each other. That causes damage to the couplers, cars, and puts wear on the engines. Having helpers somewhere in the middle or rear keeps everything even.
Thanks for sharing that video. That train is indeed very heavy, a loaded coal train, going down hill the extra braking power would be handy. And with the extra helpers mid train that keeps slack from building up and also prevents derailments. In sharp curves if the train is pulling hard the cars in the middle tend to want to jump off the track like pulling a curved rope straight. In essence you are halving the length of the train with two sets of power. The cars are much less likely to jump off. Putting the helpers on the rear and shoving hard in a curve increases the likelihood of the cars in the center jumping off the track.
Also watch the video Caliente. It's just a few miles to the west. The grade is less steep but the rail line meanders back and forth up one valley and the next to gain altitude on it's way to Tehachapi.
After all these years of increased volume of traffic I have wonder why the original users, Souther Pacific and the Santa Fe never punched a second tunnel throught the hill? And now traffic has increased even more that UP and BNSF have never considered doing it. That single track existing tunnel seams to be huge bottle neck.
Railroads aren't like highways. Even in heavy traffic areas two tracks aren't always necessary. Trains move up and down those hills very slowly because of the steep grades. There are numerous passing sidings that in many places have been lengthened. In places with heavy traffic where trains move fast having extra tracks increases efficiency as trains don't have to slow down and pass. But at slow speeds they just snake around each other from one siding to the next without losing much efficiency. Trains going uphill have priority usually over trains going down so they don't lose their momentum. Trains going downhill get a chance to cool their brakes and perform brake tests before continuing down. The reason this is such an engineering feat is because it doesn't need adjustment. It still works perfectly as designed. You could spend a lot of money and build a long tunnel but the ground on the east side of the mountains is higher than on the west so it would still be a slow uphill grind, so why spend money building a tunnel?
Lovely footage of the loop! I drove up from Los Angeles and spent 4 hours there today, unfortunately never saw a train come by. I was working on a little travel video about the loop-is there any chance you'd be willing to let me use a few short excerpts of your video, with credit and links? If you wouldn't mind letting me know I'd really appreciate it: hello@helloroad.tv. Thanks so much :)
There are three safety devices on the locomotive, the horn, the bell, and the ditch lights. When the train is approaching a crossing the engineer blows the horn and triggers the ditch lights to start blinking. If the train is going slow the engineer may choose to start the bell ringing instead of blowing the horn repeatedly. The bell is much less annoying. Also if there are people nearby or the train is passing slowly through an area frequented by pedestrians they may ring the bell to let people know the train is still moving and to get out of the way.
@@HotspotsSoutheast The Southern Pacific goes by about 1 block from my house. The tracks have been lowered and there are no crossings anywhere for miles, but those a-holes still use their horn.
80's video's shows camera men pretty close to track but this arial footage is something else, 2 questions i have is (1) are average Joes still allowed to get close to this area and (2) are these homes are farmland or some type of business cause I would love to live in any of these homes to be this close to the action !
The area is private property. It’s a farm. You can see the loop from the overlook on the hill. That’s where I was camped out. But there are plenty of locations nearby that are right by the road, especially near Caliente.
Alvin Bustamante yes. Though with the drone I could have taken off from anywhere. The key to drone flying is finding somewhere to park and shade so you can see the screen while flying.
I feel it's time to post this again. Every now and then I get people complaining about my videos. Not about the quality or subject matter. No, something far more important than that. They don't like the title. Yes the title. They are expecting the title to be some grand story that explains every detail about the video, or they are expecting me to talk through the whole video and tell them the great and wonderful story behind it. They have the time to spend typing and complaining but don't have the time to do a quick search on Google for whatever it is they want to know about the location. It's beyond me. Everyone wants everything spoon fed to them. They don't want to read or have to do any work on their own to learn anything. They want a quick 30 second blip with some quirky entertaining tidbits of info, and they're on to the next cat video. Sorry. That's not what I make here. It's a video. About trains. Just the trains. No "story". Not commentary. No talking. Just the sound of trains. And birds. And whatever happens to pass by. I don't make them for "likes". I hide the likes. I don't make them to get subscribers, though I'm happy to see them growing. I don't make them for money, though I am considering turning on monetization, just because why not? I spend a lot of time and money driving around in my car chasing trains so why not earn some gas money? No. I do this for the FUN of it. It's called a "hobby". I enjoy doing it, even though it does cost me money. I do it because I like doing it. So if you're going to complain, I'm sorry but I'm going to remove your complaint and probably block you. I don't need your negativity in my life. I'm having too much fun.
Thank you for making that comment. I absolutely agree with you. It doesn’t need to be special or have a fancy introduction, whenever I watch those videos I just skip that content and observe regular/normal footage of a train going by. Sometimes even I think commentary ruins the video and so I’m glad I’m not the only one.
I USE TO LOVE THIS PLACE in the 1970's and 1980's! I have camped here 4 times in my life back then.... it was amazing.. You could hear the SP or SF locomotives climbing the grade from a few miles below the loop until it reached the loop, went around and on and up through tunnel 10.. Back then these locomotives were super loud.. All SD40's and GP40's SD45's, The Chugging of U30C's!... They looked and sounded amazing! The constant roaring went on for at least 15 minutes... Best rail-fanning I have ever experienced... But Now! I have not gone back since Two Thousand at 10 because it was so incredible boring to me... These new wide cab locomotives are a complete bore and yawn to me... They only run 4 up front and if you get 1 or Two more at the rear I guess you are lucky... NOTHING compared to the 14 to 18 Locomotives roaring on trains back in the 1970's and 80's.. I fell bad for young people who will never experience what real balls out railroading was like back then.. today you cant comprehend the power and sound of the SP and SF when BNSF or UP runs only 6 or 8 quiet wide cabs... Nothing like 15 SD40-'s roaring and smoking!! it was THEEE BEST! I hate Change!!! I get bored often these days...uggh
I would agree. I started railfanning the B&O back when SD40-2’s were king. The SD50’s has just come out but they were usually only seen on the mountain routes. There were a few SD45 and 45-2’s about from Family Lines but that was about it. It took lots of engines to get over the mountains. And definitely a lot of noise. When I would railfan in southern West Virginia there were always helper engines on the rear of Norfolk Southern coal trains. It was an endless stream of hopper cars. Now hardly any at all. Yes change sucks. All of the engines look the same and sound the same now. I get excited just to see a standard cab!
Trying to get my head around what the loop is used for. What's all the fuss about ? What makes this so special. please ...im not being disrespectful.... just clueless. Thanks. Lovely place and footage.
In order to climb over the mountains dozens of loops and tunnels had to be constructed using manual labor as modern construction equipment didn’t exist in 1876. The line travels up and down numerous valleys and through several tunnels slowly gaining altitude until it reaches this spot. Here there was a hill in the middle of the valley and the engineers took advantage of it. By circling this hill trains are able to gain another 77 feet of altitude before moving on to the next valley. Eventually there are no more valleys to loop around and the engineers had to construct tunnel after tunnel to reach the summit. 40 trains pass through here every day on this busy single track main line. Very little has changed since 1876 except adding a passing siding for trains meeting at this spot.
GottliebPins Oh....Okay....i get it...sort of... i think ? I've watched this video 8 times now. Really lovely footage. The train horn sound must really travel far in this place.
I guess you could say the "marvel" part is that this arrangement is still in use today on a busy mainline. A solution like this worked well in the 1800's but if a new line were built today it will take the most direct route up the valley, use many bridges to span the gaps in the hills, then take one really long tunnel through the mountain to the other side. The fact that these loops and tunnels are still used today with only minor improvements, such as adding passing sidings and the daylighting of one of the tunnels you see next to the remaining tunnel at the start of this video, proves that this arrangement is still considered a good one and not worth the many millions of dollars it would take to construct a new route.
Call me silly but seriously what is the purpose of the loop? To me, it looks like a waste of fuel isn't a straight line the best route to take? There has to be a good reason fro it but I can not figure it out. Thanks for your insight :)
This line was built in 1876. To build a line straight through the mountains would mean about 10 miles of tunnel. With picks and shovels that would take 20 years to construct. Railroads for the first 100 years were forced to follow the terrain, winding along river valleys, or in this case looping back and forth over many hills, in order to go through or over the mountains. Not until modern large scale construction equipment was invented was it possible to build lines that go straight through mountains. This line like most back then was built by men and mules and steam shovels. The fact that it is still in use today, virtually unchanged, is what’s amazing. The solution to getting through the mountains still works today.
Hi, in addition to tunneling, it's also about the grades. With the loop the grade is consistently closer to 2%, which makes it easier for the trains to ascend and descend the incline. Makes a very big difference.
+Kevin Long Exactly. All the loops up and down the valleys are to reduce the grade while the train gains altitude. Tunnels are expensive and very time consuming to build and are much higher maintenance than track going up and down valleys.
These are really so cool to see. Living on the other side of the continent, everything is smaller and steeper. Also, really nice job with this video. Thanks for posting it.
Scooby Carr there is a 2 gig file size limit on the video files. The first part of the video exceeded that limit. A second file was created to continue the video. The second file was totally corrupted. No tool I could find would save it. So I only have the first part of the video.
Would you mind if I posted it? There have been a couple of drone videos of 'The Loop" posted there but they didn't even come close to your video. I will certainly give you full credit and a link to your RU-vid subscription.
Because it was built in the 1870's with nothing but the muscles of men and animals, yet it is still the only practical way over the pass. To improve on it would require a very long and vary expensive tunnel.
