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Tehachapi (teh-hatch-uh-pee) is the busiest single tracked mainline in the world. It runs through the rugged Tehachapi Mountains between Mojave and Bakersfield in Southern California. Constructed in the 1870's by the Southern Pacific Railroad, it is one of two rail lines linking Northern and Southern California. In 1900 when the Atchison & Topeka Santa Fe Railway Company planned to construct a competing line, Southern Pacific granted the company trackage rights to offset the cost of maintaining the rugged route. Today, much has changed since the turn of the century. Each day dozens of trains from two railroads still grind over the hill's 2.5% grades. Gone are the belching steam engines of 50 years back and the two previous tenants have been taken over in the mega mergers of the 90's. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF) which took over Santa Fe and the Union Pacific (UP) which took over the Southern Pacific now call "The Hill" home.

About RailCam

The Railcam is located between Cable and the world famous Tehachapi Loop where the rails pass over themselves to maintain a passable 2.2% grade. Trains headed at the camera are on their way down towards Bakersfield and trains away from the camera are on their way up. The ruling grade at this section is about 2.2% which for an automobile is no problem, but grueling for a train. Each day the computer wakes up at 7:00 AM and stops taking images when darkness falls. Using a combination of out of the box peripherals and custom programming, the camera is designed only to capture a one minute video with sound when a train is within range.


This is an image of our camera taken just after installation.

Interesting Things to Look For:

"Okay, I'm looking at the picture and I see a couple of engines with some box cars behind it, how do I interpret this?"

Essentially there are three types of trains you'll see on the hill:

Intermodal: This is identified by piggyback or containers stacked one or two high per rail car. Rather than pay a driver to take one or two trailer across the country, most trucking companies rely on the efficiency of the railroads which can transport over a hundred pigs on one train.The hottest train on the hill is operated by BNSF which transports United Parcel Service (UPS) trailers. This train is normally pulled by 6-8 engines which carry the former Santa Fe red and silver Warbonnet paint scheme.

Unit Trains: These transport bulk commodities such as coal or grain. These are easily identified for every car is similar in appearance.

Mixed or Manifest: These trains carry box cars, tank cars, lumber racks or gondolas that carry scrap metal or other raw manufacturing materials.

Helpers are identified by a group of one to three locomotives heading down grade. Many trains need help getting up the grade so extra engines are often cut in the train 2/3rd's back or placed on the rear. You won't see these when they are assisting a train uphill for the camera only captures the head end of each train. If you check the camera often enough you will notice more helpers carrying the colors of Union Pacific (also Southern Pacific) than BNSF (also Santa Fe). This is because BNSF often moves helpers down the other side into the Mojave desert where they are placed onto trains coming from Southern California. This gives trains a little boost to get them up the southern end of the route which is not quite as rugged as the northern side of the Pass.

Sometimes you may see what looks to be a pick-up truck on the rails. Most often this is Fernando the track inspector who checks the line for any defects that could cause a derailment. He tends to pass in the morning hours.

"I thought this place was busy? The last train to pass was five hours ago! What gives?"

Early morning and late afternoons tend to be busy. Unfortunately a lot of trains run on the graveyard shift when the camera sleeps. We could put a light up to capture these trains, but it would not be long before the engine crews shoot them out after losing their night vision a few times. Derailments can also explain lack of activity. Of course derailments don't occur daily on the pass, but they do elsewhere on the system. If a pileup occurs four hundred miles away in the Arizona desert, it can have a dramatic impact on the rest of the system as trains are held along the way until the bottleneck is opened. One day it could be dead and the next could be one train after another as the railroad deals with two days worth of movements. Another unfortunate event that occurs regularly during the day is maintenance. When heavy track work is underway the railroad places a work window in effect which means no trains are allowed on the mountain for several hours. There have been many visitors who have come from as far as Australia to find no trains because of routine maintenance.

"Where are most of these train headed?"

The BNSF trains most likely came across the southwest desert and are headed to Stockton or Richmond near the San Francisco Bay area. Most Union Pacific (SP) trains are coming from Oregon or Los Angeles. Since the Southern Pacific merger, the hill has seen a dramatic change in the level of trains making the trek over tehachapi. Prior to the take-over, SP transported Utah coal over the Sierra Nevada using the Overland route that crosses Donner Pass and proceeds down the Central Valley over Tehachapi to Los Angeles. Union Pacific has a faster, more direct route into Los Angeles and now moves loads through Las Vegas, Nevada.


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