Grinding upgrade as it climbs over the Tehachapi Mountains is BNSF train Z-NBYWSP1-10U. heading from North Bay, California, near Richmond in the Bay Area, to Willow Springs, fourteen miles west of the BNSF’s Corwith Yard outside Chicago IL. This 71-car, 6821-foot UPS/LTL Intermodal Train is rounding one of the five or six horseshoe curves on this line, culminating with a 360º trip around Tehachapi Loop, about 5 miles ahead. Summer is coming to an end, but fire season is still in full swing, given all the dry brush that can easily become fuel. Fortunately, this part of the Tehachapis has been spared from any serious fires this summer, although on this day there were three other large fires decimating rural areas to the south, in the San Bernardino, San Gabriel and Santa Ana Mountains. But this day was beautiful … too bad the Union Pacific (on whose trackage BNSF has trackage rights) had a work window, and this hot train was the only one I saw all day until after 4:00 pm (16:00). *sigh*
