all-time favorite train video-tape
For the past few days I have been viewing one of my all-time favorite train video-tapes: “Cajon Pass and Tehachapi Loop,” the first train video-tape I got from Pentrex back in the middle ‘80s.
It ranks right up there with my Corridor cab-rides, my Trains Magazine Horseshoe Curve tape, and a bunch of Iron-Horse tapes I have of the B&O lines and Pittsburgh.
It is rather ancient. In fact, when it was shot A) Santa Fe was still independent — it hadn’t yet merged with Burlington-Northern; and B) Southern Pacific, the other line in Cajon, and the line over Tehachapi, was also independent. It hadn’t yet been bought by Union Pacific.
And all the Santa Fe units were yellow over blue — the famous red-and-silver warbonnet scheme hadn’t reappeared. Or else the units were painted yellow over red — the scheme of the aborted ATSF/SP merger.
Most of the power is General Motors — not the General Electric you see nowadays. And none of the power is wide-cab.
In fact, the GE units you see — and there are quite a few — are all U-boats; none of the Dash-8s and Dash-9s you see now with their squared-off radiator blisters.
But I still feel it is my best train video-tape.
East of San Bernardino, Cajon Boulevard parallels the old Santa Fe line; making pacing possible.
We are storming east, pacing an eastbound Santa Fe freight attacking Cajon at about 50 mph. We slowly pass each unit, and 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 units are on the point. Holy mackerel!
I’m always in awe of that; and one is an ex-Amtrak F45 Santa Fe got.
A lot is also shot on the pilot or in the cab. We’re on the pilot as a train climbs through the tunnels at Alray, and in the cab as a Santa Fe freight threads gingerly down the hill and around the loop at Tehachapi.
The tape is so old the trains still have cabooses, and the tunnels at Tehachapi haven’t had their floors lowered yet to clear double-stacks.
I still consider it the most dramatic train video-tape I have. The easy grade on Cajon is 2% — the original is 3%; still in use as a down track, or express climbing. The trains attack the grade in run-eight — throttle to the roof — into famous “Sullivan’s Curve;” named after Herb Sullivan, who photographed AT&SF there in the ‘30s with his 4X5 Graflex.
Another shot is a southbound AT&SF clawing up Tehachapi’s 2.5% — eight units on the point, down on its knees. Even though the line is SP, AT&SF has trackage-rights. (No way could AT&SF have built a competing line — the SP line is incredible enough.)
I have been both places — saw many trains on Cajon, but only a few on Tehachapi.
The old Summit-Road road-crossing at Cajon is still in use on the tape. Our most recent visit, two years ago, it was closed.
Santa Fe earlier had a different route atop the hill, but that was replaced with a lower route through a massive cut. The new route also took out a lot of curvature.
A tiny railroad town, “Summit,” was atop the pass, but that was removed with the new alignment and the coming of SP in 1967.
Which explains why “Summit-Road” was finally closed.
AT&SF and SP parallel, but AT&SF is headed west, and SP east. SP’s “Palmdale Cut-Off,” the line in Cajon, is a way the SP could skirt Los Angeles for trains going east from San Francisco.
Trains using the Palmdale Cut-Off also use Tehachapi.
The Trains Magazine video-tape of Horseshoe Curve is a favorite despite being rather moribund, suffering from poor narration and overly-dramatic video.
But they interview visitors to the mighty Curve, and one stands out.
“Why do you come here?” they ask a gangly dork in his 30s.
“Simple, man,” he says: “trains!”
It’s what I would say.
Pentrex has gone on to publish 89 bazilyun train-videos, and has become the major force in the train-video market.
Every year they send out a survey, and I always tell them their first video — Cajon Pass and Tehachapi Loop — was the best.
(“What is it about that place [the mighty Curve]? That’s the third time you’ve been there this summer.” “Simple, man. Trains!”)
It ranks right up there with my Corridor cab-rides, my Trains Magazine Horseshoe Curve tape, and a bunch of Iron-Horse tapes I have of the B&O lines and Pittsburgh.
It is rather ancient. In fact, when it was shot A) Santa Fe was still independent — it hadn’t yet merged with Burlington-Northern; and B) Southern Pacific, the other line in Cajon, and the line over Tehachapi, was also independent. It hadn’t yet been bought by Union Pacific.
And all the Santa Fe units were yellow over blue — the famous red-and-silver warbonnet scheme hadn’t reappeared. Or else the units were painted yellow over red — the scheme of the aborted ATSF/SP merger.
Most of the power is General Motors — not the General Electric you see nowadays. And none of the power is wide-cab.
In fact, the GE units you see — and there are quite a few — are all U-boats; none of the Dash-8s and Dash-9s you see now with their squared-off radiator blisters.
But I still feel it is my best train video-tape.
East of San Bernardino, Cajon Boulevard parallels the old Santa Fe line; making pacing possible.
We are storming east, pacing an eastbound Santa Fe freight attacking Cajon at about 50 mph. We slowly pass each unit, and 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 units are on the point. Holy mackerel!
I’m always in awe of that; and one is an ex-Amtrak F45 Santa Fe got.
A lot is also shot on the pilot or in the cab. We’re on the pilot as a train climbs through the tunnels at Alray, and in the cab as a Santa Fe freight threads gingerly down the hill and around the loop at Tehachapi.
The tape is so old the trains still have cabooses, and the tunnels at Tehachapi haven’t had their floors lowered yet to clear double-stacks.
I still consider it the most dramatic train video-tape I have. The easy grade on Cajon is 2% — the original is 3%; still in use as a down track, or express climbing. The trains attack the grade in run-eight — throttle to the roof — into famous “Sullivan’s Curve;” named after Herb Sullivan, who photographed AT&SF there in the ‘30s with his 4X5 Graflex.
Another shot is a southbound AT&SF clawing up Tehachapi’s 2.5% — eight units on the point, down on its knees. Even though the line is SP, AT&SF has trackage-rights. (No way could AT&SF have built a competing line — the SP line is incredible enough.)
I have been both places — saw many trains on Cajon, but only a few on Tehachapi.
The old Summit-Road road-crossing at Cajon is still in use on the tape. Our most recent visit, two years ago, it was closed.
Santa Fe earlier had a different route atop the hill, but that was replaced with a lower route through a massive cut. The new route also took out a lot of curvature.
A tiny railroad town, “Summit,” was atop the pass, but that was removed with the new alignment and the coming of SP in 1967.
Which explains why “Summit-Road” was finally closed.
AT&SF and SP parallel, but AT&SF is headed west, and SP east. SP’s “Palmdale Cut-Off,” the line in Cajon, is a way the SP could skirt Los Angeles for trains going east from San Francisco.
Trains using the Palmdale Cut-Off also use Tehachapi.
The Trains Magazine video-tape of Horseshoe Curve is a favorite despite being rather moribund, suffering from poor narration and overly-dramatic video.
But they interview visitors to the mighty Curve, and one stands out.
“Why do you come here?” they ask a gangly dork in his 30s.
“Simple, man,” he says: “trains!”
It’s what I would say.
Pentrex has gone on to publish 89 bazilyun train-videos, and has become the major force in the train-video market.
Every year they send out a survey, and I always tell them their first video — Cajon Pass and Tehachapi Loop — was the best.
(“What is it about that place [the mighty Curve]? That’s the third time you’ve been there this summer.” “Simple, man. Trains!”)
posted by BobbaLew at 10:17 AM
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