Keeping up with snow on the Sierra has been apart of railroading on the mountain since the rails of the Central Pacific arrived in the 1860s. Methods have come and gone, and those that have worked... (more)

Returning from a morning run over the Sierra, Union Pacific's 'lead' spreader set slips through the curves just west of Truckee, Union Pacific's home base for snow operations on Donner Pass. The t... (more)

Westbound stacks drop down grade at Tehachapi's famous Loop.

Trading distance for elevation Southern Pacific's Civil Engineer William Hood was able to take his railroad out of the Caliente Valley and over the once thought insurmountable Tehachapis. In just ... (more)

Battling up the western slope of the Tehachapi grade at the bottom end of Marcel is BNSF's eastbound loaded coil steel train, running with three big road motors on the point and aided by two more ... (more)

Climbing out of the Tehachapi foothills and into the Caliente Creek narrows BNSF's eastbound Q STOCHI works through the tunnel 1/2 (half) cut on its ascent to Caliente. Southern Pacific's original... (more)

With Tehachapi's rolling hills still hanging on to Spring Union Pacific's westbound MWCRVC carefully slips down grade at Cliff. Leaving Rowen the Mojave Subdivision occupies a narrow shelf carved ... (more)

Slipping under the old cantilever signal bridge in downtown Tehachapi, UP's westbound West Colton to Fresno, CA manifest is led by Denver & Rio Grande heritage unit #1989. No stranger to the Tehac... (more)

Leaving the floor of the Antelope Valley Union Pacific's westbound MWCRVB labors up Ansel Hill north of Rosamond under the early morning sun. US&S searchlights still protected Ansel on St. Patrick... (more)

With the cool of the evening settling in over the Tehachapi mountains the normality of a Friday evening in downtown Tehachapi is greeted by the roar of eastbound BNSF tonnage, pulling the grade th... (more)

A trademark of Tehachapi's eastern slope, the old Southern Pacific era iron frame signal bridge at MP 377 frames a westbound BNSF double stack train as it crawls out of the desert and into the Teh... (more)

For the first time since leaving Caliente the rails of Union Pacific's Mojave Subdivision cross the Tehachapi Creek as the railroad leaves Rowen. Eastbound BNSF tonnage conforms to the bitting cur... (more)

Wildflowers cover the hillsides above Cliff as a loaded train of coil steel struggles up the western slope of the Tehachapi grade.

The whine of dynamics pierce the afternoon calm as westbound BNSF grain loads drop through the Tehachapi foothills at Ilmon. CitiRail ES44AC 1206 and Norfolk Southern C40-9W 9288 add some color to... (more)

Through the morning mist the sun begins to get the better of lingering morning clouds as Union Pacific's hotshot Brooklyn trailers snake up the western slope of the Tehachapi grade leaving Marcel.... (more)