Nostalgia & History > SP 4-8-4 Doubleheaders Near Mojave

Here are a few minutes of film of some 4-8-4 doubleheaders. I believe it starts off in Mojave and then some shots up near Tehachapi. It's hard to make out all of the numbers, but I see 4464, and possibly 4444? I do wish I owned a film scanner instead of relying on the VHS transfer/backup made by my grandfather about 30 years ago.

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Great to watch! I turned the sound all the way up though and still couldn't hear it.
Thanks for posting.

Ha I sure wish these old films had sound, can only imagine how good it was. Glad you enjoyed it!

Beautiful! San Joaquin Daylight with a GS-6 and GS-4.... Wish I'd had a movie camera in those days. That was a nice long train, probably late '50s.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

That is some spectacular stuff!
The footings of that water tank just above the Santa Fe Fs (around 2:11 in the video) still exist and make a great perch for shooting trains rolling through Woodford. Although, unfortunately, they don't look like THAT anymore! Wish they did! ;-)

After enjoying repeated viewings, I think I have most of the locations figured out -- or at least close...
First shot has me a bit puzzled though; doesn't look like Mojave to me. Maybe Eastbound (toward L.A.) at Vincent?
Which would be consistent with the next shot which looks to me like Soledad Cyn... somewhere! Maybe the Soledad Cyn. Rd bridge just RR East of Russ siding? Looks to me to be the Eastbound Owl.
3rd shot is definitely Woodford as it passes the current Cesar Chavez memorial (was that still a sanatorium at that time), then under the highway, and past the above mentioned water tower.
4th shot possibly tunnels 15 and 16 between Marcel and Cable
5th, East of Cable passing under Tucker Rd. and approaching the town of Tehachapi
6th, Cameron area?

Would love to hear some other thoughts RE the locations.

Thanks so much for posting these!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/17 22:33 by bearease.

MojaveBill wrote:

> That was a nice long train, probably late '50s.

Steam on the San Joaquin Daylight between Los Angeles and Bakersfield ended in 1953.

bearease wrote:

> First shot has me a bit puzzled though; doesn't look like Mojave to me. Maybe Eastbound (toward L.A.) at Vincent?

Vincent? With all the water tanks? Definitely Mojave, at the Oak Creek Road crossing.

> 5th, East of Cable passing under Tucker Rd. and approaching the town of Tehachapi

Not Tucker Road; Highway 466 overhead (the Tucker Rd. overhead was built in more recent years. It's a short distance west of the old Hwy. 466 overhead, which was demolished upon completion of the Tucker Rd. one)



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/17 10:23 by johnsweetser.

Wonderful look to that old film! Plus the black and white steam exhaust, GS4's and Black Widows and Daylight passenger cars are a nice look back in time. Looks like cold time of year?... This one is worth paying a professional film conversion service to clean and transfer to digital, if you still have the film.

Jim Baker
Riverside, CA

That first shot looks like Mojave yard looking toward LA! The center tracks look the same just add a highway to the left I think. The mountains on the right and in the background look similiar too.
My other thought was Tehachapi and summit looking north. I really can't tell for sure.

What a treasure of images thanks for posting



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/17 12:29 by Fiftyfooter.

Glad others are able to enjoy this film! I do still have all of the original films for the clips I've been posting and have considered having it professionally scanned. I will post updated clips once I have time to have it transferred.

Thanks again to everyone helping to pinpoint the relative date and exact locations of these films. My family is also from this area. The photographer, my great grandfather, Jesse Umsted, lived in Boron with his house intentionally across the street from the railroad. I'll be posting more films as I get them uploaded.

These are marvelous. Your grandfather did what many didn't: he kept his camera rolling as the entire consist passed. Nice to see the Overland Yellow 79-fool non-baggage elevator Chair Car. Modelers take note, as they say. More, please!

~ BZ

That footage is great, and I thank your grandfather for the job he did to record those doubleheaders. The locomotives are displaying what in-service daily operation looked like, not all polished up like today's restored engines look like. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Great movie, loved that your grandfather included the entire consist including the go away shots!

Thomas Eckhardt

johncarr wrote:

> #1 is the top end of Mojave. Track on the right was used by Santa Fe to go behind the Mojave depot... The old Santa Fe yard
south of the depot was removed in the late 60s.

John Carr probably meant to say the "track on the left."

The Santa Fe mostly had two tracks on the east side of the Mojave depot as well as a storage track about 700 feet long south of the depot. The two main Santa Fe tracks ran both north and south of the depot (not just south of the depot). Regular Santa Fe freights and passenger trains stopped using them in 1943 when a new connection between the Santa Fe and the SP Mojave yard was put in.


> #3 is at the US 466 bridge over the tracks at Woodford. I think this was before the Tehachapi earthquake of 1952 as so many water towers came
down during that event.

All of the water tanks at Woodford survived the 1952 earthquake (the Woodford tanks were a 350,000-gallon tank and three 50,000-gallon tanks). Water tanks that collapsed in the earthquake: one at Bena, one at Caliente and one at Tehachapi.

Fantastic, would love to hear the sound. Looks like snow above the tunnels partway through the video.

Nathan

very nice video