BNSF stack train glides down grade at Caliente

Just before sundown, an all-EMD mid-train helper shoves hard on the Oil Cans to get them up the steep grade between Caliente and tunnel 1.

A super-hot 991 train roars upgrade into Caliente, laden with UPS tonnage bound for Chicago.

Just before sunset, the Oil Cans roar out of Caliente Creek Canyon and into the open as they approach the 10-degree curve at Caliente.

Not even 5 years old, the lead B40-8W was still high quality road power for the ATSF. On todays BNSF, most of the 500's spend their days hauling locals.

A southbound UP Intermodal climbs the steep grade just before tunnel #2 in the Tehachapi Pass.

A hot Z train out of North Bay attacks the grade at Caliente on a beautiful spring day in 2003.

UP 5753 leads a northbound freight through the S-curves north of Caliente.

An eastbound SP manifest with a mid-train helper begins the tortuous climb out of Caliente.

The final rays of the setting sun strike the heavily used rails in one of several curves at Caliente.

Taking this picture was not fun, it marked the end of my two and a half days on Tehachapi. After watching the train pass it was off to LAX and a return to Pittsburgh's 90% humidity.

A long string of empty lumber cars returning to the northwest bring up the rear of this westbound near Caliente.

Elephant style GEs lead a westbound through Caliente.

In this view from above Caliente, UP 5368 negotiates the sharp horseshoe curve in the valley below.

Looking at the lumber cars is a good way to tell which direction trains on Tehachapi are headed. Loads are usually on eastbounds, empties on westbounds.