Leaving the wide open Tehachapi Valley the rails of Union Pacific's Mojave Subdivision trades positions with the Tehachapi Creek before coming to ride above the creek's southern bank as the two, along with California Highway 58, enter the narrow confines of the Tehachapi Creek Narrows. So narrow is the railroad's cliff side position 4 tunnels were required to take the railroad from Marcel to Cable during its construction in 1876. Leaving Cable a monster westbound Z train carefully drifts down the western slope, passing through tunnel 17, moments before entering tunnel 16.
