January 1995, railfans gather around the inside of the Tehachapi Loop. The Santa Fe is no more as of a few days ago, now part of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, although you wouldn't know it by the power on the point of this mornings 199 train. Today Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway announced that they are changing their name to BNSF Railway and they have a new logo. Man how time flys. The vehicles represent the group of fans who I used to camp at the loop with in the early 90's. We used to go there two to three times a year, Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day, both at the begining and end of summer. I was in High School then and my parents would usually let me take off school on the Friday of those weekends to make a 4 day weekend out of it. Tehachapi is a Four hour drive and my friends and I would leave Friday morning, returning on Monday. One of my best memories was an SP train that stalled out at Walong (the loop). The head end cut off and ran to Marcel. Then they ran about a zillion Santa Fe trains down hill, one of which donated an engine to the helper consist that was now in charge of the rear half of the train at Walong. The rest of the train then ran up to Marcel and put it all back together, and we caught it all on video. Another great memory was sitting in that very same spot around 11 pm on a Sunday night. Most of us were in our sleeping bags under the stars, but all were still awake. Our conversations were interupted by a Westbound Santa Fe Manifest train as it popped out of Tunnel #10. For some reason we began either cheering or booing the two different Santa Fe Q (Quality) logos on the side of the various freight cars. The Q with the lines through it was getting cheers, the smaller solid Q was getting booed. We were having way too much fun! A short time later we heard what sounded like a big wreck on the nearby highway 58. Several moments later the scanner crackled to life. "5109 West WR54, were in UDE at Rowen, (UnDesired Emergency)". About ten minutes later "Yeah, We're on the ground here 54"..."eight to ten cars, the conductor's still walking back but the canyon is in his way". Monday morning before we left for home we walked in to Rowen to survey the damage. The rear of the train had been pulled up the hill to Woodford using a Helper set that had been the last Westbound movement since the derailed train. Damage was limited to several boxcars and gondolas, most were upright. Unfourtnatly, none of the heidious solid Q logos had been destroyed. We then left for home, even though Tehachapi will always be "home" for me. Brian [ 31. January 2005, 09:39: Message edited by: brian ]
I love it. Layouts like yours are so grand, I don't really know what to say when I see pics of them, other than "wow".
I bet the 28' container riding on it looks familiar too Looks like the paint shop might have forgot to put decals on the flatcar Brian
Brian - great story and photos. It sounds like our model railroads have a lot in common! Mine is set in 1995 also - that was the year we moved to Modesto, and I first went to Tehachapi, and fell in love w/ it. Those were the days, wood ties, Warbonnets and Gray and Scarlet ruled, and the only yellow on the hill was the occasional UP bare tables run through. Sounds like we missed each other by a few weeks - my first trip was in June of 1995, and I made another in mid September. Remember the unit coal trains, pulled by the brand spankin' new SP AC's? Man, were those cool. . . second only to the oil cans! I remember being on the loop, and hearing what sounded like a really heavy train down at Woodford. It turned out to be a coal train w/ 3 new AC's on the point, and 4 midtrain helpers. I've got a slide of it from the hill by Tunnel 10, with it's helpers above tunnel 9, and a light ATSF helper set w/ Warbonnets waiting at the west switch. That's a scene that can't be repeated (except on our layouts ) I took TONS of slides back then - Kodachrome well spent!
I bet the 28' container riding on it looks familiar too Looks like the paint shop might have forgot to put decals on the flatcar Brian </font>[/QUOTE]Brian, what did you use to decal the UPS container? Great looking scene! James
I made the decals with an Inkjet printer with the help of a friend who is a graphic design artist. My favorite is the "Clipper" decal with the sailing ship logo. My friend freehanded the ship logo in Adobe, as well as all of the other logos. He also used the correct fonts, even making the Carolina font from scratch. Brian [ 31. January 2005, 09:28: Message edited by: brian ]
This is one of my favourite albums,you dont always need cities,towns & industries to make a layout look great.Some excellent paint jobs there too. Brian what would be the chances of purchasing some of those fine looking decals?
The loop is still just as accessable as it always has been. As always some of the places are off limits, and it is never a good idea to climb fences and trespass, (can't say I haven't before though). Brian
