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[dmpyron]

Anybody here chase trains? I'm thinking about going to California between semesters this August and was wondering if you could successfully do Tehachapi and Raton Pass in a week. This is kind of my dream. Actually, my dream was to catch some of the big steam on one of them, but ... I do have a short movie of 610 pulling the Bicenential through College Station and 4449 going up the coast. But that's from the mid-late 70's. Thanks

[Chikabowa]

My husband chases trains!! Funny to meet someone else on here who does as well. I forwarded your question onto him and he sen me back an answer:

To do it properly...No. Raton Pass on the Colorado and New Mexico boarder is currently held by BNSF railway who took the line over from ATSF (Santa Fe) after merger. The line used to be the tallest pass on the railroad and was very busy under its old owner prior the BNSF merger. After the merger, other cheaper and lower elevation lines became available for the bulk of the rail traffic. The line now only sees a scheduled Amtrak train (Eastbound and Southbound) the Southwest Chief (Train number 3 and 4) routinely and otherwise the line is very quiet with only occasional detours and oddball coal trains.
Currently, BNSF stopped replacing the 1931 USS&S upper quadrant semiphore signals and this route is one of the few Class One major railroad lines with working old school signals. BNSF is now working on potentially selling the route and the State of New Mexico has reportedly bought some of it for local passenger service in and around Albuquerque. The general feeling is that if you haven't gotten pictures of the railroute yet and the old school signals...Get on it!

I suspect that this person means Cajon pass and not Raton pass. Cajon pass is one of the main line routes out of both Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and Union Pacific (UP) railway and follows around Highway 15 east of San Bernardino up to Hesparia, CA. This is a rediculously busy rail route that connect to both of these railway transcontinental railroad routes. And its not unusual to see a collective 200 trains a day or more on these routes. Warning...Its snaky, security is rampant and likes to screw with people with cameras, and efforts have been made to gate and block access in the area. Tresspassers are quickly called in by passing trains and security, boarder patrol, and local fuzz patrol the area. Currently, significant expansion and curb improvements are on going and it is photogenic this time of year.
Tehachapi is also a great for a photo shoot as trains coming from the southern valleys north of LA challenge the hills and make their way into the desert. Most notable is the Walong loop and tunnel system. Highway 58 and all places along the Kern County route outside of Bakersfield kick serious butt especially if its not smoggy or filled with smoke from the annual forest fire assaults. UP and BNSF use this route and frequently, trains fall down (schedule) breakdown on the route which provide for great photops. Beware of tresspassing signs with police and Forest Service response (like no driving areas) and be aware of snakes friggin everywhere! This route is not as busy as Cajon, but enough to fill lots of memory cards.

So the answer to the question is....Can you do both passes in a week? Sure, but that's really pushing it. Pick one and hit the approaches to the transcon in the desert as well as the pass. You must do Cajon! And if you're good with radios and a computer, you can give your sound card a raw digital feed and then decode Automated Track Control Signal (ATCS) computer/radio code. Its a lot easier to shoot trains when you know where they all are on your laptop!

Later

Bermanator
MP30.0 BNSF Seattle Sub division.

[Chikabowa]

Oh... I wanted to add...
You should check out trainorders.com to connect with other foamers. There is a lot going on over on those message boards!

[dmpyron]

Yeah, I think I'll try Cajon again. By again I mean "we were there in 1978". We were going to do the loop, but something strange happened. It rained. For three days. In July. We were told that people were sacrificing sheep in thanksgiving and that there were some kids who hid, not knowing what was falling from the sky. BTW, there's a grass roots effort to resteam the Big Boy at the Dallas Fairgrounds. Current estimate is around $3M. UP will provide facilities, but that's it. Apparently someone has all of the drawings from Lima, which would help. Thanks so much.

[emtpej]

Dillon,
Seeing your post reminded me that in some states there are very few railroads, many kids may not even know how to behave around grade crossings! So many locomotives and stock need to be preserved! We toured a very nice museum in Roanoke, VA when we were there a year or two ago. Some very interesting stuff!

Oh, by the way, the pres is putting pressure on Amtrak again, so who knows what's next with railroads!

[dmpyron]

I was an accident inspector for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT, much hated at present) in the late 70s while in college. Yes, lots of people don't know how to behave at grade crossings. And I sadly got to see some of them. There's a nice little museum in Galveston, across the street from one of the off-site parking areas.