The Best Mainline Railfanning in the USA
On June 16th, I set out early to head northwest towards Bakersfield for day #2 in California. Today’s goal was to hit two famous hotspots in one day; Tehachapi Pass and Cajon Pass. Situated roughly 100 miles from each other, Tehachapi and Cajon are both contenders for America’s best railfanning spot, with busy mainline action set amid glorious mountain scenery.
Tehachapi Pass was the first stop. Opened for rail traffic in 1876, the pass was chosen as the route of least resistance for the Southern Pacific mainline between Los Angeles, Sacramento, and the Bay Area. In reality, there was no real good route, and the resulting path through the pass was an engineering feat of monumental proportion, with numerous tunnels, steep grades, horseshoe curves, and, most famously, the Tehachapi Loop; a real-life railroad helix that allows trains to rise or descend 77 feet in less than a mile. The pass was also utilized by the Santa Fe Railroad via trackage rights, bringing an almost constant hum of hardworking horsepower to the grade. Today this practice continues, with BNSF maintaining trackage rights with ownership now in the hands of Union Pacific as part of their Mojave Subdivision.
On the way into the pass on Highway 58, the drama of such an unforgiving stretch of railroad was evident, as I caught a glimpse of derailed autoracks and intermodal cars off to the side. I would later learn that these were the remnants of a derailment that had occurred in January. A train had stalled on the grade and picked a switch while shoving back down the mountain, sending several cars over the steep bank and into the adjacent ravine.
Before too long I arrived in the town of Caliente. Situated near the bottom of the southbound grade, Caliente marks the end of a double-track section directly preceding the steep mountain climb. In addition to several abandoned buildings and active farms, it’s home to a spectacular horseshoe curve, giving photographers the chance to capture trains passing behind themselves as they climb around the mountainside. Upon arrival, a BNSF manifest was staged at the end of the siding, and before too long, a horn echoed in the distance.
If you ever want to experience what it feels like to be in a life-size model railroad, Caliente (and Tehachapi Pass in general) is the place to go. I scanned the visible trackage snaking its way down the mountain and through town, before realizing that the horn I’d heard was coming from another manifest not nearby, but high up in the mountains, cresting a portion of the line that was at least 40 minutes away by rail. It appeared to have Norfolk Southern power leading. Around 25 minutes later, the sound of a train descending the grade filled the valley, and rather than the NS power I was expecting, a UP manifest led by an SD70AH-T4 appeared instead. Amazingly, there had been another train between me and the manifest high on the mountain the entire time! This was shaping up to be a good morning.
After the UP manifest rolled through, I decided to relocate higher up the grade to catch the NS-led train. Scanning Google Maps, I found a tunnel mouth that appeared to be accessible for photography and drove up to check it out. The spot was as good as it looked, and I had just enough time to set up before the train came through, snaking its way downgrade. On my way up, I found several additional vantage points for catching trains on the lower end of the grade, and filmed the train again at a couple of these spots as it coasted through Caliente and around the stopped BNSF manifest. Looking down the valley, I noted that there was also an intermodal stopped just a few hundred feet behind the manifest in the same siding.
Once the NS-led train snaked its way out of sight, I continued back down towards the main road at Caliente. As I approached the town, another horn blast caught my attention, and I quickly pulled off and scrambled up a hillside (watching for snakes, which are plentiful in the region) to catch a northbound BNSF manifest coasting downgrade and around the horseshoe curve. Before the full consist passed, I relocated back to the center of Caliente (only seconds by car) to catch the rear as it cleared the head end of the waiting southbound BNSF train. Within moments, the southbound signal changed to clear for the first time since I had arrived, and the stopped manifest roared to life, heading slowly up the grade.
Retracing the road I had initially arrived on, I headed up the mountain to the next crossing at Bealville, which is only about 6-7 minutes by car, and around 20 minutes by train. After catching the southbound again here, I decided to head further up the pass to scope out the the area around the loop. With no other trains on the pass for the time being, I had plenty of time to check out the small town of Keene and plan out several shots before the manifest caught up to me. I grabbed the iconic “money shot” of the train passing over itself as it ascended Tehachapi Loop, before heading back down to Keene to catch the intermodal I had seen waiting behind the manifest at Caliente. I set up on the base of an old Southern Pacific water tower (the tower itself was long gone) and waited for much longer than I had anticipated. I passed the time watching traffic on the nearby Highway 58 bridge, notably catching a San Francisco BART railcar being delivered by flatbed truck from the assembly plant in Plattsburgh, New York. After getting very close to giving up (and after a short drive to the nearest signal to check the status), the intermodal came through. I chased it upgrade, past the famous viewpoint, and caught it once more exiting the tunnel directly beyond the loop.
Being around noon at this point, it was time to relocate away from Tehachapi Pass if I wanted to stick to the plan. I headed into the town of Tehachapi and stopped at the depot museum. The depot is a perfect replica of the original Southern Pacific structure that held its spot for over 100 years, but as I discovered, it was actually completed in 2009. The original had burned to the ground following a firework landing on the roof in 2008. Tragically, at the time, it was just weeks from completion of a years-long restoration. The museum staff were extremely kind, and during my short stop, three more BNSF trains passed, with notable power such as another NS unit, a B40-8W, and a Ferromex SD70ACe. Before departing, a BNSF geometry train also came through with a short consist of a hopper/buffer car and a single stainless steel coach fitted with track monitoring equipment.
From here, it was time to make the 100 mile drive to Cajon Pass. Taking the most direct route across the desert, I made a couple of brief non-railroad stops, including the Mojave Aircraft Boneyard and the isolated town of Boron, which featured a small community-run aerospace museum. I paralleled the BNSF Mojave Subdivision for much of the drive, but didn’t see anything moving. Reaching Victorville in the late afternoon, a horrendous 2-hour journey across town ensued, thanks to construction detours, road work, and commuter traffic.
Finally, around 4PM, I arrived alongside the tracks again at Cajon Summit. After about 15 minutes a westbound manifest with an H2 leader appeared. Once the power had passed, the shot opportunities at this spot were almost non-existent, so I drove down to Cajon Junction to catch it again. As it passed, it met a Union Pacific manifest heading up-grade on the adjacent UP Mojave Sub. Once the BNSF manifest had cleared, I chased the UP manifest to a spot close to Hill 582 before heading back to my previous spot at Cajon Junction. I caught another manifest on the Cajon Sub here, heading up-grade this time, which met a westbound bare-table. With these catches complete, I decided to join the traffic and head into the LA Basin for the final goal of the day; the Metrolink Redlands Branch. While driving, I glanced off into the valley and caught sight of a silver streak. With no exit to take, I watched helplessly as the BNSF OCS Train glided up the mountain pass, the golden sun glinting off of the pristine stainless steel. I would later find out that it had been giving goodwill trips to employees in the LA area, and if I’d stuck around, I would have caught it. Oh well, you can’t win them all…
Commuter operations between Redlands and San Bernardino began in 2022 using Stadler FLIRT DMUs. The service resurrected part of the Santa Fe (later BNSF) Redlands Branch, which by the mid-2000s had only had a handful of on-track customers left. While operated by Metrolink, the service is known as the Redlands Arrow. I arrived in time to catch the end of the evening rush, which sees a couple of run-through trains using conventional commuter equipment from Los Angeles Union Station, in addition to the DMUs. The first train, caught near the border with San Bernardino, was powered by an MP36PH. After catching this, I visited several stations to film the DMU action as the golden Southern California sun began to set, closing another eventful day trackside.