With three big UP Dash 8s assisting, Santa Fe 5153 West roars down the steep grade between tunnels 2 and 1 on Tehachapi Pass. The long manifest is about to pierce the latter, and start its curving descent into Caliente. When it built its line over these ultra-rugged mountains, SP could easily have bypassed this broken landscape by starting its climb closer to Bakersfield instead of building on top of dangerous Caliente Creek.
