Smoke in the tunnel: UP runs upwards toward Tehachapi.

Climbing out of California’s San Joaquin Valley is a Southern Pacific freight with SP SD40T-2 8505, SP SD40 7328, Cotton Belt SD45 8973 and an SD45T-2 providing the muscle to defy gravity and ge... (more)

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe stack train rumbles upgrade approaching Tunnel 2 at Bealville, California, on March 28, 2001. Former Santa Fe EMD SD40-2 “snoot” No. 6867 leads SD40-2 Nos. 8051 ... (more)

The hot North Bay to Willow Springs UPS train marches up Tehachapi Pass at Tunnel 2.

A Northbound UP general freight passes Bealville on the main in the late afternoon.

Two BNSF vehicle trains meet at Bealville on the west slope of California’s Tehachapi Pass on the afternoon of February 24, 2016.

Improvised helpers on the Hill As a Southern Pacific eastbound, powered by SP U33C 8771, U33C 8635, SD45T-2 9212 and SD45 8928, stalled while climbing over the Tehachapi Mountains when ... (more)

Climbing upgrade across the Tehachapi Mountains is a Santa Fe eastbound, with ATSF GP60 4027, ATSF FP45 93, Union Pacific SD40-2 3284 and UP SD40-2 3703 for power. (Bealville, California – Ma... (more)

A Union Pacific intermodal climbs the Tehachapi grade through the green hills of Bealville on a clear spring day, as a patch of wild Lupines bask in the early afternoon sunlight along the hillside... (more)

A 66-car Southern Pacific intermodal train approaches Tunnel 2 on the Tehachapi grade. Three SD45’s and a pair of SD40T-2’s muscle the tonnage over the mountains.

A southbound Union Pacific stack train is about to plunge into Tunnel 2 just west (north) of the siding at Bealville, California, on the afternoon of February 23, 2016.

A colorful HBARPAS takes the siding at Bealville in the late afternoon.

A northbound Roseville bound manifest pops out of Tunnel #5.

MWCRV passes the north switch at Cliff. They'll soon be at Bealville, seen below on the left.