Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Tehachapi Loop


The Tehachapi Loop is a .73 miles (1.17 km) long 'spiral', or helix, on the railroad main line through Tehachapi Pass, in south central California. The loop derives its name from the circuitous route it takes, in which the track passes over itself, a design which lessens the angle of the grade. A train more than 4,000 feet (1.2 km) long (about 85 boxcars) will thus pass over itself going around the loop. In 1998 it was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

A tremendous amount of goods, mostly from Asia, are in shipping containers or "piggy back" truck trailers and moved east by train, the ships are too large now to use the Panama Canal.


Just look at how many rail cars are on this train, all either containers or piggy backs.
There are about 120 trains a day that use the loop.

No comments:

Post a Comment