15 engines on a loaded Southern Pacific coal train on Tehachapi Loop!
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- Опубликовано: 11 авг 2012
- WE'VE REDONE THIS VIDEO WITH SOME EDITING AND ENHANCEMENTS TO COLOR, SHARPNESS AND RESOLUTION! CHECK IT OUT! • 15 Engines and 84 Load...
MARCH, 1987 - Toward the end of yet another great day of railfanning in the Tehachapi's, my brother and I decided to hang out on the west side of Tunnel 9 and wait for some over-under action. In short time the sound of EMD's, working hard in the distance was unmistakable. Suddenly, the whining of dynamic brakes was also being heard, and it was clear that a train was coming downgrade on the loop. I pointed the videcamera at the tunnel and the drama unfolded with a Santa Fe mixed freight coming to a stop on Walong siding. As it stopped, the upgrade EMD's were becoming louder, and I pointed the camera at the Southern Pacific engines coming toward us. The coal is from the D&RGW. SP gets it at Ogden, UT and it runs across Nevada and into California via Donner Pass to Bakersfield through Tehachapi & over Cajon to its destination in Southern California where there was actually a coal burning facility. I spent a lot of time over the years trying to figure this one out and then saw some other videos showing a coal train over this line and on Cajon. It ran about once a week to Kaiser Steel At Fontana, CA. The sights and sounds that were upon us were "railfan nirvana", and this sequence remains one of my favorite railfanning experiences of all time. This clip is unedited. It is presented as I filmed it from my original VHS master. It is also just a small part of BKVP's popular 3 disc DVD set, "Railfanning Tehachapi and Beyond, 1987 & 1989". Enjoy! 
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am 51 years old and all my life I have been a fan of the sound of EMD two-stroke locomotives. For me there is no better sound than that. I live in Argentina and I grew up here listening to those same engines, but in a 12-cylinder version (the sound is the same). I always wanted to visit the United States and be able to enjoy what is seen in this video. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to fulfill my wish and visit Tehachapi, Cajon Pass, etc., we were already in 2018 and all that wonder that we see in the video no longer exists. The current General Electrics are fine, but there is no point of comparison with the old good EMD! Now all the trains seemed boring to me, almost identical and monotonous, and the very quiet locomotives, even the SD70s are very quiet, it´s a shame. The video is spectacular, thank you very much for sharing it, I saw it several times!!!! and at maximum volume so and I imagine I was there!
dang.. I I was under the impression I could go to Argentina and see old EMD's still running. But in 2018 you could of, and you still can come to USA and see plenty of EMD's. The Commuter trains use v12's EMD, full throttle out of the station. But in my area So cal, they just replaced them with Siemens euro looking junk that sounds like a propane forklift. BNSF still uses EMD GP60s as local's on the mainline with caboose. You still have a chance if you know what to look for. Check out Jaw Tooth youtube channel he finds some cool rare stuff from the East Coast.
DAS9081. Thank you for sharing your sentiments for the great EMD diesels from the past! I feel the same way. I am about ten years older than you, and grew up in the States.
While extremely young and living in Upstate New York, I first saw a variety of railroads, the famous Pennsylvania Railroad, the New York Central, and others. A variety of power was used, including Alcos and Baldwins. The EMD's stole my ❤.
Moving back to the Midwest and enjoying the Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Burlington Route (CB&Q), covered wagons (F1, F2, E8), Geeps and Cadillacs (GP9, SD9, GP20), SD38, SD40, etc. the sounds were sweet music with the locomotives cruising by.
Then the move West... Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Santa Fe, and a few other railroads. The Espee and Santa Fe primarily used EMD diesels back in the day. To move extremely heavy lumber, oil, coal, and freight up the heavy mountain passes and grades, as seen in this Broken Knuckle video (which I put, exceptional video, recommend buying it), two and three locomotive consists had to be used. Head end, helpers either displaced or at the end, were needed to keep the trains moving. The humming and whistling-buzzing bass sounds from the SD40's, SD40-2's, SD40-T's, SD45's... among the best railroad sounds evah!!
EMD diesels, coming around a corner, working hard up grades 1.8 to 4 percent, in Notch 8, sweet 🎵🎶 to my ears... and yours!!
Thank God for memories, video cameras/VHS tape and transfers to DVD's.
Keep Railfanning!
Loved those SD40T-2 tunnel motors!
I worked for NS and Southern for 25 years and worked on coals trains with 7 units but this is amazing to me. 15 mighty beasts pulling their burden
me, too !!!
We drove out from LA, used to hang around for hours watching the loop, counting cars, pointing out rarely-seen railroad names on the boxcars, eating lunch. We NEVER saw a pass-by like this. Thanks for saving and posting this video, it truly is a look into the past, yours, ours, SP's and Santa Fe's.
When I was a little boy, I'd hang around the tracks; watching those trains going to Louisville and back!
Dang, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them run TWO manned helper sets at mid-train before. I’d love to know what the gross tonnage of that train was.
I don't know for sure but since it was only 84 cars, I'm guessing 10-12 thousand tons. The grade of Tehachapi Pass and the curvatures were likely the reason for all that power. This train was moving right along.
Miss those SP dirty , grimy, EMD's.
I just love the sound of the thousands of horsepower.
Dozens of idling semi s at I- 80 Iowa rest stop in bitter cold was impressive power
@@gregobern6012 dozens dont you mean hundreds
The billboard era in boxcars were still mainly in vogue for both Santa Fe and Southern Pacific, with "Super Shock Control" on most of Santa Fe's boxcar fleet and "Hydra Cushion for Fragile Freight" on some of Southern Pacific's boxcar fleet. And of course Southern Railway had the slogan "Southern Serves the South" on most of its freight car fleet.
Its just absolutely nuts how theres soo much soot that even the cab windows look spray painted!
These were the "good ol' days". Filthy SP units and trains full of cars from different railroads. And, both trains had a caboose! Great stuff!
What was so good?
Back in the good ole days when locos could vibrate your house and knock down hanging photos a half-mile away.
Wow, those SP locos are just filthy, and the caboose at the end, beautiful, just beautiful. Make you really wish going back in time was possible.
Track goes over circles around and then goes under. So cool
Thanx for posting...
I can't believe I watched it twice, no almost three times...
Love that sound! 5 EMD's 35 hoppers, then 6 more EMD's and another 34 hoppers, 4 more helpers, 10 or 15 more hoppers and a caboose!! Love it!
That coal must've weighed quite a lot...
cheers
Back when you still had a caboose, too... way more boxcars than you'd see now, as well, everything seems to be double-stack wellcars, centerbeams or such now.
Stunning display, looks like a scale model !!!!
AND A CABOOSE
Ok... if this video doesnt make you miss southern pacific... then i don't know what will. That had to be the biggest coal drag ive seen in a long time!!😊😊
Thank you for this video. I miss these locomotives. This is a real blast from my past.
I'm a retired engineer. I was hired by PC NJ Div. November 26, 1974 as a student engineer. The company, as well as myself, didn't like the term fireman. When diesels with dynamic brakes, radios, CTC, cab signals and dead man devices came into play, engineers should have been the crew, with an occasional student engineer. All the bankruptcies deteriorating infrastructure you can spell it out with 3 words. United Transportation Union, and all its predecessor unions! The caboose should have gone the way of the dodo back in the1950's and all the "loads" that rode in them.
me, too !!
I love mixed/manifest trains. Its just a bunch of assorted cars going to different destinations. Don't forget about the caboose as well.
Excellent vid. Watching this vid keeps me going modelling the Southern Pacific and Rio Grande RR. I watch this video over and over again. An american railfanning enthousiastic from Belgium.
Vossing Olivier and
AWESOME AWESOME Magicla days of legendary 1980s tehachapi loop railraoding . I ma speechless at tthe glory here. I witnessed this IN Person in 1985--86 AWESOME.
Cool to see truck trailers mixed in there on the manifest train too, you don't see that often either anymore.
AND A CABOOSE
seriously big train that - nicely caught too. I grew up in the 80s with the sound of EMDs here in Australia too (1 in 40 grades in Sydney) but that video was something else. Thanks for posting.
Do you know if aus has any elevation loops like this place?
@@BON3SMcCOY There's two, but bad luck if you're outside NSW. One is at Bethungra, between Junee and Cootamundra on the line from Sydney to Melbourne, and the other is suitably named Border Loop, near where the line from Sydney to Brisbane crosses into Queensland.
Timing, as they say, is everything. Thanks for having the good sense to record this from just the right spot to catch it all. That is a beautiful piece, let the trains tell the story. Also thanks for the info on the consist. Wow! Two cabooses!
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
Thank you for the view in the 80th of last century. The SP locos looked very stressed, powdered with oildust. The first time I saw such a car mix in a train. Nice to play these combination on a model railroad layout. And on top, a caboose behind!
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Hey, some old CNW covered hoppers there at about 5:25..Those are long gone..
Thank you , pretty cool shot and nice job restoring it. Retired rail east coast.
I miss those days. Those were the best days. I was a kid back then
me, too,...that was even before i was a kid. did you see the caboose ??...WOW !!!
I was born and raised in Tehachapi, I seen this many times on the Tehachapi Woodford road to Keene. I left there in 1985.
ME TOO
My sister=inlaw used to work at Kelcys.
My sister-inlaw used to work at Kelcys!!@Mister Haney
Very nice footage. I miss SP and lived near the Alhambra Sub during that railroad's final days. Busy line and a few coal drags like this sometimes slipped through. SP always had a practice of operating long and VERY slow trains.
Pretty insane this, that's one loco for every five and a quarter load of coal.
The last set of helpers sounded good because the train loco's emerged at the top of the loop at the same moment and their sounds mixed up well.
Also noticed this SD45 with snow shields and the SF F45 unit in the other train (that had the only non EMD loco in the consist on this video, a Dash 7)
That was one awesome video. My youngest brother Danny, God rest his soul, would have enjoyed this.
Back in the good ole' days!
Love the vintage footage! I sure do miss those days.
Me too! Thank you.
Awesome video! The pre failed merger is my favorite time for the SP and SF. I loved the Kodachrome scheme and all the colors that went with it.
Thank you very much for posting it!
That was impressive! Huge motive power!
Thanks for watching and ur support. Chief engineer md
Nice video lots of trains, very busy Tehachapi Loop.....wow!....thanks for sharing
One of my favorite videos ever! Thanks!
AND A CABOOSE
@Buick GSX, Thanks. You did the work. I should be able to figure the BTUs of that load and then compare that figure to the energy used by the engines. Good on ya mate!
I miss all the EMD's SD (Super Duty) units. SD9, SD15, SD20, SD38-2, SD40/ SD40-2, SD45/ SD45-2/ SD45T-2 (TUNEL), SD50/SD50-2, EMD's own Blue and White Electro-Motive units, and early SD70 with Spartan Standard Cab instead of Wide Cab. Also all of GP (General Purpose) units. As well as SW (Switcher) units, SW10, SW12, SW1500AC and such.
(SPECIAL DUTY)
(TUNNEL)
(TOO COOL)
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
I LIKE THE SP (SOUTHERN PACIFIC)
ITS MY FAV(FAVORITE) RR (RAILROAD)
this guy is trying to impress us with his less than accurate knowledge,....its like trying to impress NASA with a paper airplane !!
Excellent footage from 1987 - I Liked & Subscribed 😎👍
I love it! Locomotives completely blacked out with soot! Beautiful sight!
Yup! the good ole days. Remember that soot on the locos was put there by air pollution. It also meant the crews got a hefty dose. That made sure that pensions were not needed very long after retirement. Be clear about me though, I loved them, I come from the heart of the Yorkshire coalfield, my family were all employed in the mines and on the Railways.
@@sirmartinfrobisher WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
I rode cabooses tens and tens of thousands of miles and just took it for granted starting in March of 1980. Railroading was a unique and FUN JOB making lots and lots of money for the time. Then one day they gradually took all the fun away. The guys I bump into these day still working say it Really Sucks now. Glad to be gone. I was born at a perfect time and feel sorry for these millineals of today.
I started in 1980 and you're right about the fun disappearing. I have about 18 months to go until I retire. Much as I love trains and driving them, I won't miss the job.
As soon as the bean counters took over, who not understand working as a team, and comradeship in a working environment, things go down hill, work should be fun as well as getting it right. The same thing has happened in the UK.
Me too ! My hire date was July 74 and went engine service 76 I missed and loved all the old power with the old dead man ( Wink wink) taping up the doors and windows going across Nebraska in the dead of winter.. I guess I couldn't make today..
Hired out Oct 16 1972. Sucked then, sucks even more now, I've heard.
@@davidrayner9832 I'm a RR guy but I really like trains, so could you amplify on what your meant by "the fun disappearing"?
15 engines for 8400 tons of coal! That was roughly 49,400 horsepower for right around 10,000 tons of train. Nearly 5 hp per ton! SP wasn't messin' around! All the goodies too, SD45 8818, the only SP unit (snow service GP38-2's excluded) to have the snow shields and exhaust lifters, intact lighting packages on all of the units, Kodachromes of both roads, an F45, two sets of helpers on one train, SP Golden Pig Service, both roads cabooses, "frog eye" markers, and the Loop. I could go on! :)
Bet only half are actually online.
This is some great footage.
I drove them a few times working out of ElPaso Texas I got stopped at Sierra Blanco side track and had to put brakes on cars my air brakes would not hold on the mountain siding. As soon as I got a green light leaving after train comes by we kicked the brakes off five cars and left made me very nervous.
The locomotive is very strong, making a lot of carriages and such heavy loads can be pushed. Awesome.
AND A CABOOSE
Great video, thanks for posting!
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
I watched the video 2 times and only counted 14 engines. 5, 5 and 4.I will look at it again later. However, this video is one of the best I have ever seen dealing with freight and especially motive power from all directions. Thank you very much for sharing!!!
5 + 6 + 4 (and thank you). Glad you enjoyed it. As I said in the description, one of my most cherished railfanning moments.
Sorry, old eyes. I remember seeing and operating units similar to that only with steamers. Especially around Hibbing, MN over to Duluth hauling iron ore. I imagine that that will be a cherished moment for you the rest of your life. Nice that you were able to get it on video.Thank you again!
Great video thoroughly enjoyed that
Beautiful Coal.
Enjoyed your video. I recently made a video of the loop. Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic video
Excellent job catching the unicorn! You caught SP 8818.
You've sparked my curiosity. I honestly had trouble reading most engine numbers. What's special about the 8818?
@@KBuckyRailVideo 8818 was part of the first batch of SD45s delivered to SP - it also had Farr deflectors around the inertial filter hatch, and snow shields over the grilles behind the cab, like the GP38-2 snowfighters and Canadian locos - the mods are present in the video. First-run SD45s are interesting themselves, because they rolled out of EMD without the SP features like the L window, split equipment box doors and dual plows.
@@Espeemodeler Very cool. Thank you!
Southern Pacific, last of the Old School.
@Todd, Yes, I had the same question and it seem the respondents explained it pretty well. Thanks.
Waylong Loop, Been there and got the "T" shirt. Movin' coal over the Tehachapi's on the way to Korea. That's who buys it and Gosh! I miss the Espee. Worked the train yards in Colton back in the 70's, but all gone now.
Wish I could go out west and see the loop in person before I die. Guess I'll have to add it to my bucket list.
Me too
Marvel legends Galactus. Trains and Marvel legends.
That's fascinating. Thanks!
First time I have ever seen a train with two sets of boosters. Most trains I have seen have the booster around 75 cars or so in a 100 car train or like now on the back end.
LMAO!!! WOW, I got really confused there for a bit at Tunel 9! I thought a train came apart. Holy crap!! another train came out of Tunnel 9! WOW!!!! Nice vid my friend
AND A CABOOSE
Southern Pacific was the king of drag freights.
That was an impressive show!!!!
AND A CABOOSE
If you have eagle eyes you can get a glimpse of the Santa Fe's fourth engine in the five-loco consist that had a snoot nose. Didn't know the Santa Fe had snoot noses along with the Southern Pacific's! Truth is that the SP had better looking snoots for its tunnel motors.
Oh yeah! ...and its not only pre-graffiti but they also still had cabooses.
And the sounds... Turn it UP!
cheers
@westbender 820 DITTO
AND A CABOOSE
@Danny Lawson, Thanks for the info. I was wondering where the coal originated and the destination.
The town of Brunswick Maryland was a booming railroad town at the end of 1800’s through now but mostly a commuter town to Washington DC operated my the Maryland Train Service. The B&O and Chessie Railroads ran between Washinton DC to Cumberland Maryland. Many of the towns people worked on the railroad until it slowly started declining in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Great video. I love those tunnel motors
Thanks. Check out the recent "remake"
The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did BACK in 1954.
Who ever picked the number of engines knew what the hell they were doing!! DAMN!
Michael Murphy thanks sir
Great video Ken! I guess 15 units is enough to get the train over the mountain!
i guess !!
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
What a great place to be!
I love the sound !
ME, TOO....AND A CABOOSE
A minor correction here but in the video description you spelled Walong wrong in reference to the ATSF manifest taking the Walong siding to hold for the SP loaded unit coal train. You spelled it Waylong when it's more confusingly spelled Walong. Obviously nothing critical but just wanted to pass the correctly along. Oh and one of the better 80's era Tehachapi videos I've seen in a while for sure. Having worked for UP for a bit over 18 years now (scary as that is to think about) and having operated loaded unit coal trains before over the years people will never understand or appreciate what these crews had to deal with. The job has only marginally gotten easier with modern equipment. These trains are still a handful and speaking from experience rest assure the crews of these trains go home with sore aching back from the amount of tension and stress you carry all day trying to handle these things.
Correction has been made, and thank you. I'm surprised with the amount of views and time this video has been on RUclips, nobody else ever mentioned that!
The QUALITY is surperb!!! Looks like it was taped yesterday... Was that a Bay window that I saw at the end??? Wow! Haven't seen one of those since the 1970s...
AND A CABOOSE
I like how both trains are the same length as the curve
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
Very Cool.And yes love the caboose
AND A CABOOSE
In November of 89 I shot a video of an SP oil train climbing the grade with 10 locomotives.
Is it still available? If so what would be the name of the video?
thanks for watching.
Just amazing footage, thank you so much. I'm from St.Marys,Ontario,Canada & in the late 80's we use to have a CP Rail line that ran up to Domtar packaging which is a plant that makes cardboard boxes for numerous companies to ship there products in & CP also use to go to the St.Marys Cement Plant.Co. & onward right downtown St.Marys to there rail yard to switch cars in & out etc. So as a young kid with my train hat on i would go down to the rail yard pretty much everyday in the summer & hop on the CP Athearn Genesis MP15AC Locomotive & the engineer would let me hop in the seat & throttle the engine & blow the horn, he even taught me what the short & long horn blasts meant. Then he would take me down to the Cement Plant which is an enormous facility with huge quarrys that are like 200ft. + high & some are filled with water because they went to deep & sprung a natural spring water hole. So your chugging along the side of these huge cliffs & then we'd pull under the hot kiln that rotates which crushes up the limestone into cement dust which is what you buy in stores to make cement then we'd pull up to a cement dust dispenser to fill up our cars & switch tracks just outside of St.Marys & then we'd sit there for a bit then down to Domtar to pick up some cars & right by Domtar there was this hamburger joint the train crew would go to & the engineer would sometimes buy me lunch lol. I had really good times back then.
Dale Sutherland m
The only way I found out about cabooses was from my teacher in preschool or my mother because of the game we used to play. It is rare to see one now
me, too !!
Brilliant video. It's surprisingly clear - it could be yesterday, not 1987. The only way it could be better is if the trains were steam-hauled, especially by the 4-8-8-2 cab-forwards! Thank you for posting this.
Outstanding!!!thank you!!!
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
The bygone days of real railroading, the whine and growl of hard working EMD's, the colorful palette of cars, some realy ancient then already (noticed that 1940s tanker car in the ATSF train?), the modern railroad is just boring with a handfull of class 1 railroads left and almost all is GE power.
dieselmupke GE left the railroad industry not long ago, plus UP seems to be a big fan of the SD70
I feel the same way. Not enough variety in train consists these days. Wish containers had never been invented.
Dirty and smutty and stinky , love it .
If this was done in 2020, it would be four SD70ACe-T4 or ET44AC on the point and four SD70ACe-T4 or ET44AC in the middle operating in DPU mode.
This video is really cool. I love coal trains
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
Awesome video!!!
This is what happens when you call ahead and make an appointment
Great vids of 2 trains
AND A CABOOSE
Great video
Thank you!
this is cool reminds me of my time in San Luis Obispo yard watching SP trains climb up and down the cuesta grade 1985-1986
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!,....DID YOU SEE THAT CABOOSE ??? WOW !!!!!!!!!
I went to CP SLO and loved the sound of SP power going over Cuesta Grade in the middle of the night
If this had been a real railroad, there would have been one can forward and may be one helper...I digress.
Yes. And something else I haven't seen in eight years: A red Santa Fe Boxcar with the eight-foot logo, and Shock Control painted on it. Classic. Unlike BNSF and their "Tennis Shoe Wedge" that's common now.
9.5 YEARS FOR ME...AND A CABOOSE
What is a "Tennis Shoe Wedge"?
It,s good to see no graffitti, the world has really changed.
Anthony Maida graffiti is beautiful. I’m glad it has changed.
@@@TiffMcGiff, Beautiful is relative, it resides in the mind of the beholder. But whether it be beautiful or not, it is vandalism unless authorized by the owner. I surely don't want anyone painting graffiti on the side of my house. Justifying graffiti because it is beautiful is invoking a non-sequitur.
Paint doesnt stick to coal cars....they're covered in oily dust the paint just runs off
As for graffitiing rail cars they should be all thrown in jail, then give them a paintbrush and they can paint the inside of there jail cells to their hearts content.
@@anthonymaida5718 yes indeed a lot of the cars are just ugly with the graffiti on them they are beautiful anyway tho
I wonder if they have considered making the diameter of the loops larger while also double tracking it? How many string line derailments have there been in the last 40 years?
@Traveling Tom, Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines. It would be interesting to see the BTU use for the haul and the BTU content of all that coal. I'm sure someone can do the calculation based on number of cars, weight of coal in each and the BTU content of coal on average and the of course a similar calculation for the quantity of diesel used and the BTU content per unit.
AND A CABOOSE
Luv ta see that caboose
It must have taken some coordination because we're talking *TWO* helper consists going up the Loop--which means three sets of crews on this train.
There is just one engineer and one conductor for each train whether it has one engine or in this instance 15 engines. There used to be a conductor in the caboose as well as a brakeman. On the head end was an engineer, a fireman (engineer trainee) and a brakeman. Oh those were the days. Today there is just an engineer and the conductor in the first engine but no caboose.