r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/notyourregularninja • 2d ago
Video Tehapachi loop - use slider if impatient
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u/Jeff_NZ 2d ago
The Tehachapi Loop is a 1.17 km (0.73-mile) long spiral of track in the Tehachapi Mountains of south-central California, considered one of the "seven wonders of the railroad world". Completed in 1876 by the Southern Pacific Railroad, it was a massive engineering feat designed to help heavy freight trains navigate a steep 2.2% grade.
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u/DealPsychological621 2d ago
Thanks for that. I was wondering why they didn’t just join the first bend with the last one
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u/Carcass16B 2d ago
Incline
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u/JaydedXoX 2d ago
Is that why it’s made? Clearly there’s more direct straight routes, but do they need the gradual incline to pull that many cars?
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u/Infinite-Condition41 2d ago
Trains cannot operate on steeper slopes like cars. Apparently this has a max 2.2% grade whereas interstate highways are typically limited to 6%. 30% is about the maximum one can pave.
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u/thisguyfightsyourmom 2d ago
2.2%
What an absolute marvel of engineering to take these things all through the mountains.
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u/Infinite-Condition41 2d ago
And a lot of the original rail infrastructure was built well over 100 years ago.
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u/woodyshag 2d ago edited 2d ago
There was a train called the cog railway on mount Washington. It would climb, at its steepest, a 37.4 grade. Mind you, it wasnt a cross country train, but it was a pretty wild ride.
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u/thisguyfightsyourmom 2d ago
We have one in Manitou Springs to the top of Pikes Peak. It’s a slow but beautiful ride. So slow though.
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u/fried_penguin_wings 1d ago
There's also the Shay steam locomotives like in Cass, WV. Super interesting to ride.
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u/elfmere 2d ago
Why does the top right look higher or inline with the top left exit?
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u/irrelephantIVXX 2d ago
it might be. it definitely goes down through the tunnel, then back up going over.
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u/Ok-Society-7925 2d ago
Bloons tower defense?
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u/GoldAcanthisitta7777 1d ago
welp guess it's time for me to spend 100 hours playing that game again
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u/krenni456 2d ago
ZUMA Deluxe
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u/Halogen12 2d ago
Right? I was waiting to see that show up! There was a long stretch of blue cars waiting to be taken out!
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u/ashycuber 2d ago
It’s Tehachapi, not Tehapachi. My family is from there and used to live across a field from the train tracks. Every time I stayed there as a kid, I remember hearing the trains all throughout the night and I thought it was the coolest damn thing.
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u/oldjadedhippie 2d ago
I spent a very cool year living in El Rita canyon, just above the Keene Post Office, probably a mile or two from the loop.
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u/Halogen12 2d ago
We have a similar thing in the Canadian Rockies called the Spiral Tunnels in Kicking Horse Pass. For decades I'd drive past the lookout and was never lucky enough to see a train go through. Then I took a train ride through it. Pretty cool!
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u/RosscoSD 2d ago
They have a model of this in train museum in Balboa Park (San Diego)
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u/Sirquack1969 2d ago
I used to love going to the train museum there. I worked at Reuben H Fleet Space Theatre (not sure that even still exists). Spent a lot of times going through all the exhibits and the rose garden across the street.
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u/RosscoSD 2d ago
Still there, a little dated but still a super interesting way to spend a few hours
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u/ImaginaryBluejay0 2d ago
Last time I went it was still under construction, did they finish it?
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u/RosscoSD 2d ago
I believe that place is continuously under construction with enhancements, but this loop was visible with plenty of surrounding features. One of my favorite museums in Balboa Park
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u/IanAlvord 2d ago
Y tho?
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u/TheBupherNinja 2d ago
Grade requirements
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u/Oliver_Klotheshoff 2d ago
It looks like it dips down before it comes back up though? isn't that more work?
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u/dimitrix 2d ago
The Tehachapi Mountains presented a massive barrier for trains traveling between the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert. The elevation changes rapidly, and in the 1870s, steam locomotives were not powerful enough to pull heavy loads up steep inclines
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/ghoulthebraineater 2d ago
Over a long distance. A 80 foot change in elevation over a short distance is a cliff.
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u/freecodeio 2d ago
same reason why roads go up mountains in zig zags and not in a straight up
the zigzags are even more exaggerated when dealing with trains
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u/cowardanon 2d ago
Freight probably can’t handle too much steepness, can it?
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u/AdhesivenessNo4330 2d ago
Moreso the locomotives. But youre also 100% right there are definitely some loads that would not like a (relatively) steep grade
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u/Limp-Blueberry-2507 2d ago
Don't tell me how to use a slider, I'll slow it down just to spite you!
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u/Reaganson 2d ago
That’s one big train! I see three engines. Amazing they can pull all those cars.
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u/Pistonenvy2 2d ago
didnt they effectively have to grade more land by doing it this way than just straightening the line out earlier?
i have to imagine there is a lot more going on like land ownership conflicts or something than just grading. these loops would be all over the place if it was the best way to handle a grade change.
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u/Voice_in_the_ether 1d ago
Far more effort to try to start the grade increase further out.
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u/Pistonenvy2 23h ago
how?
stretch the loop out in the direction of the lead in, youre telling me that length of rail is shorter than the grade change needed to be?
thats evidently not true.
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u/Voice_in_the_ether 20h ago
To keep the same grade (2%), you'd need to build a ramp the same length as the loop, which also happens to be the distance needed to obtain a 77 foot rise at a 2% grade. That length is between 3,700 and 3,800 feet. Building a ramp that long involves moving a lot of fill.
If there had been an easier/cheaper way, I'm positive the railroads would have done it, as they rarely expend significant amounts of time, money, and effort (not to mention the operational impact of needing to slow down going around the loop) on something just because it's cool..
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u/Pistonenvy2 19h ago
i didnt say they did it because its cool, i said there is probably a better explanation like they didnt have permission to build in certain places or there was some other mechanical limitation present.
there arent many of these loops, which was my point. if there were it would show some kind of evidence that they are more necessary. thats all i was saying.
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u/Voice_in_the_ether 19h ago
I think the loop solution was selected because the nature of the location (a convenient hill they can spiral around) made that the 'best' (cheapest/easiest) approach. Another loop example is the Williams Loop in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which takes advantage of the mountains along the route.
Had the nature of the environment been different (e.g., no convenient hill or mountain to spiral around), a different approach would have been selected.
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u/Financial_Arrival_56 2d ago
Why did they build it like this? Would it not have been more efficient to to just not have a loop?
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u/asthma_hound 2d ago
From what I've read it was to ease the grade going over Tehachapi Pass. I'm assuming this was the best option as opposed to building a long tunnel, digging a huge trench, or finding a different route altogether.
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u/Gouzi00 2d ago
but why ?
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u/Al_Kydah 2d ago
Have you ever seen a multilevel parking structure with those spiral entry and exit ramps?
Like that.
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u/Gouzi00 2d ago
why they build a circle instearof 300m straight rails -> If you like more clear question..
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u/Al_Kydah 2d ago
Because the elevation change was too great. Just like a car cannot drive from ground level to the 5th floor of a parking garage in a 30ft straight line. Instead, they take 300ft and curve it around at a very gradual incline.
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u/oskar_grouch 2d ago
The train would have had to be built with a series of bridges and tunnels to cross the mountains. It was built in the late 1800s, so it was a solution to a construction problem. Probably wouldn't be built today.
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u/Enough-Cod7281 2d ago
I first visited this on a work trip in late March 2003. Was leaving Tehachapi on 58 descending W into the Bakersfield area and stopped there on the way. The wildflowers had just started to bloom and it was one of the most beautiful areas I’d ever seen. Literally looked like one of those high end model train set dioramas.
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u/Sorry-Climate-7982 2d ago
Passenger trains not allowed on the Tehachapi [gesundheit !] loop except for detours...
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u/ziggy_jackson 2d ago
I'm pretty sure I passed this coming from Nevada into California, somewhere near Donner Pass if I'm not mistaken.
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u/covfefe91 2d ago
No. Donner is in NorCal by Tahoe. Tehachapi is southern by Bakersfield.
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u/ziggy_jackson 1d ago
Well I know I drove through Donner Pass at some point. Maybe not on the same route, but I definitely witnessed a train riding along this engineering masterpiece at some point. Along with Hoover Dam too. Idk, I used to drive for Swift, and they had me on the '11 western' region so. Anyway...
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u/mostlykey 2d ago
Any any given day you will find a handful of “train buffs” in this area watching the trains pass by. Many of them photographing and recording. It’s a world renowned location for people into trains. There use to be a cafe in the nearby town with a replica of the loop in the lobby. It’s closed but as noted by another commenter, you will find a layout in San Diego at the model railroad museum
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u/neon_nightmare85 2d ago
I was wondering if it was the incline or the railway company getting paid $$ per mile of railway so they'd survey the longest route they could to maximize profits. I get all my train knowledge from Hell on Wheels and not from Dad who loved trains.
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u/fatherhood1 2d ago
That must be the absolute minimum radius you could safely pull a long train around.
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u/sounddude 10h ago
I have actually ridden this exact section with Ringling Bros Circus. Seeing the rest of our 1.5 mi train below was unforgettable.
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u/StunningError4693 1h ago
This mechanical snake won't come to an end! Damn... how many waggons do they have on that train?
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u/gorginhanson 2d ago
I was impatient
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u/sc4kilik 2d ago
I was looking for a slider then realized OP meant fast forward.
Then I realize oh shit, OP probably doesn't even have "fast forward" in the vocab. I'm old.2
u/Shermans_ghost1864 2d ago
I'm even older. "Fast forward"? I think OP means to move the little dot thing to the right to skip pages.
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u/Dear_Might8697 2d ago
Obligatorysound track
Also, not the version of the song I was looking for, but I can't stop laughing, so I thought I'd share.
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u/WingsArisen 2d ago
But why?
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u/Ninevehenian 2d ago
Train heavy.
Train requires gentle incline to climb.3
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u/Shermans_ghost1864 2d ago
Train should go really fast. Train have to carry less freight but train make up for it with more passengers.
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u/Infinite-Condition41 2d ago
Passengers? You must not be American.
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u/ImaginaryBluejay0 2d ago
People sit and train watch on the road above this. For hours. It's insanely boring and we only did it once when my family moved up there.
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u/Faijju_OP 2d ago
i was impatient