An Engineering Marvel of its Time...and Today. You've all heard of it, with many making the trip from far and wide to see it - the Tehachapi Loop. Planned and executed by the Southern Pacific Railroad's Chief Engineer William Hood in 1876, the railroad gains 77 feet of elevation by making a complete loop over itself before snaking south into Marcel. Hosting over it some of the largest steam locomotives built by well-known procedures like Baldwin and Alco to today's powerful diesel-electric locomotives by General-Electric and the Electro Motive Division (EMD), every train working south over the past 142 years has clawed at the 2% grade here and when long enough - will give spectators on nearby hillsides the chance to see it loop over itself. As the sun breaks through the clouds on this January, 2018 afternoon - today is no exception for southbound trains battling the grade here as UP 2621 complete the "loop" over the lower half of its train still passing through Tunnel 9 during its battle toward 4,064-foot summit of Tehachapi. With two tracks now extending from Walong to Marcel, its not uncommon to see two trains meet on the loop itself these days with the train pictured here about to do shortly after this photo was taken.
