Following train through Tehachapi Loop

I drove from Missouri to the Bay Area via the I-40 route a couple of years ago. Going from I-40 to I-5 via Bakersfield takes you by the loop, so I stopped off there to watch the trains - it's an amazing sight. I'd obviously heard about it and seen video, but I'd never been there.

On the way back, I stopped off at the giant meteor crater in Arizona.

Cool!! I'd of liked to have stopped, but my daughter was driving, and we had a long way yet to go to get to Phoenix. If it had not of been raining (Yes, yes it was!) I might of asked to stop for a few minutes, but -----.

Cool. A couple years ago on a car trip, we skipped Meteor Crater, but did the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon.

How impressive did you think Meteor Canyon was?

Have you ever seen the Berkley Pit? - that's a big deep hole!!

1,780 feet deep, about 7,000 feet wide!

Meanwhile, as I said above

There are indeed model train tracks built with it in mind:

Tehachapi Pass - HO Scale - Part 1 6:36

This is an HO scale layout at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. The layout models Tehachapi Pass. See Part 1 for Caliente and Ilmon. Filmed on 7/31/2010 Part 1 ends as the train is about to enter the tunnel.

Tehachapi Layout June Modern Operating Session 2013 HD 14:58

Tehachapi Layout January Modern Operating Session HD

NS HO scale looping on the Tehachapi Loop GGMR 2:12

Tehachapi Layout 3 Way Meet HD

I've never been to Montana.

I lived my first 40-something years in Britain before moving to the US to work in Silly Cone Valley.

That layout was on my list to see, but I never made it. When I lived in California I never went further South than Dana Point where a fellow British expatriate and fellow British O-scale modeller lived.

Britain has its own Tehachapi-like loop on the 2' gauge Festiniog Railway. This is the oldest surviving railway company in the world.

The Northern end was severed when the Llyn (Welsh for "lake") Ystradau reservoir was built as part of a pumped hydro-electric storage scheme for the now closed Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, flooding the original trackbed North of Dduallt as well as the Moelwyn tunnel.

So for many years, the tourist service terminated at Ddualt.

But one of the major achievements of the British volunteer-run railway preservation movement, was a new trackbed above the reservoir, which was 35' higher than the old one.

So a loop was built at Dduallt staion, and a new 300 yard tunnel built through the Moelwyns. Almost entirely by volunteers.

Amazing all! I've just spend a hour about that all area on Google maps & google. A thousand questions to ask, but,,,,,,,,, By any chance is that where Thomas the tank engine runs?

Thomas the Tank Engine - Wikipedia

Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the ...

Thomas & Friends New Theme Song 1:16

Thomas & Friends: Discover the Latest News and Activities

Spend a Day Out With Thomas! Take a train ride with your child's favorite No. 1 Engine, meet Sir Topham Hatt, and enjoy more fun activities-coming soon to a ...

Thomas & Friends | PBS KIDS pbskids.org/thomasandfriends/ Be a really useful engine with online games, videos, and printable activities with Thomas & Friends.

Thomas the the tank engine full episode - YouTube Video for Thomas the tank engine 9:55

Feb 29, 2012 - Uploaded by mattman978 Thomas the Train! Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends' Fill-Up Pit Stop Trackmaster Set Playtime - Duration ...

Shunting trucks and hauling freight. Red and green and brown and blue, they're the Really Useful Crew. All with different roles to play, round Tidmouth Sheds or far away. Down the hills and round the bends, Thomas and his friends. Thomas, he's the cheeky one. James is vain but lots of fun. Percy pulls the mail on time. Gordon thunders down the line. Emily really knows her stuff. Henry toots and huffs and puffs. Edward wants to help and share. Toby, well let's say, he's square! They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight, shunting trucks and hauling freight. Red and green and brown and blue, they're the Really Useful Crew. All with different roles to play, round Tidmouth Sheds or far away. Down the hills and round the bends, Thomas and his friends. They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight, shunting trucks and hauling freight. Red and green and brown and blue, they're the Really Useful Crew. All with different roles to play, round Tidmouth Sheds or far away. Down the hills and round the bends, Thomas and his friends!

The original is a fictional character; the ones that you see running around are using the appearance under licence; there are quite a few of them.

The fictional island in the books is Sodor. "Sodor and Man" is a diocese of the Church of England which includes the (real) Isle of Man (not part of England). The author of the TTTE books was the Reverend W Awdry (1911-1997), a CoE cleric -

who had an interest in railways (and worked on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales in the 1950s). Add that lot together and you have the ingredients which lead to "The Three Railway Engines" (originating from stories invented to entertain his son while he was ill with measles) and the following Thomas the Tank engine books.

The closest to a "real" locomotive associated with the books is Gordon rather than Thomas :-

but that is named after General Charles Gordon. It was built in Glasgow in

1943 and spent its working life on the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire; at that time W Awdry was in Birmingham. The names thus appear to be a coincidence while the army locomotive probably didn't match colour until after the war when most locomotives (military or otherwise) were simply painted black. refers to _some_ LMR locomotives being painted blue rather than the usual green in the post-war period so you might again have a simple coincidence. The LMR Gordon is a 2-10-0 while the one in the book is a 4-6-2.

Are you still in California? I would suggest that you really ought to some time tour Yellowstone Park. It is very interesting and unique.

It was amazing.

As the piece of string said, I'm a frayed knot.

I did get to Yosemite quite a few times. Coming into it from the South, gives one of the most spectacular views I've seen on both sides of the Atlantic as you comeout of the tunnel at Inspiration Point, park the car and look down and along the valley towards Half Dome. I'm now in small-town Missouri but there is plenty of action. I'm close to an extremely busy North-South freight line and there is another just over the river.

It's pretty flat around here. I don't often drive down to Kansas City but there's an excellent model train store (Doc's Caboose) and there's plenty of action with huge rail yards as well as Amtrak, not to mention the Airline History Museum and the TWA Museum, both at the downtown airport - there are a Constellation and a 1011.

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Very interesting & lovely!!!!

"Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways About Us Train travel as it should be done Outstanding scenery, comfortable carriages and historic steam engines await you here in the heart of Snowdonia. Glorious coastlines, ancient oak woodlands, mountains, rivers and castles, all beckon as you embark on your journey on our award winning railways. With some of the most comfortable carriages on any preserved railway

- standard or narrow gauge - you can step back in time to a more civilised age.

Relax and enjoy the stunning scenery of Snowdonia in comfort, with at-seat buffet service, snacks, refreshments and a fully-licenced bar featuring locally-brewed award-winning beers. As the oldest railway company in the world still operating trains, we know a bit about what makes a journey special. Even a short trip on our railways will help you unwind - so much so, we think you'll want to do it all over again... The Ffestiniog Railway is the world's oldest narrow gauge railway with

harbour in Porthmadog to the slate-quarrying town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

We still operate three of our original locomotives - over 150 years old-- Our historic trains climb over 700 feet from sea level into the mountains through tranquil pastures and magnificent forests, past lakes and waterfalls, round tight bends (even a complete spiral) "

As I view things, Google maps was not very helpful. It called that lake "Tanygrisiau Reservoir".

Sounds neat. Up in my area, we have a similar, runs from town of Snoqualmie Washington (actually tracks go just NW of Snoqualmie Falls) to North Bend. Northwest Railway Museum

I've ridden it a few times, before I emigrated to the US. British Rail used to do weekday circular trip tickets from where I lived (Manchester, as in the Manchester United soccer team). There were a lot of changes of train - Crewe, Shrewsbury, Dovey Junction and Porthmadog onto the Ffestiniog.

Then the ride up the valley to Blaenau Ffestiniog with drinks service at every seat - there were diaphragms between the cars - on the 2' gauge. Pulled by one the Double Fairlies.

Change to British Rail again for another train down the Conwy Valley to change at Llandudno Junction for the express along the North Wales coast back to Manchester.

I also used to drive there, across the National Park,

The Ffestiniog is now connected to the re-opened Welsh Highland Railway which operates 2' gauge Beyer Garratts repatriated from South Africa, While these are too large to operate on the Ffestiniog, there are through trains.

On special occasions, there is an 80 mile round trip covering both lines.

But in that area, there are so many narrow gauge lines. There's Britain's only cog railway up Snowdon and the nearby Padarn Lake Railway, the Tallyllyn railway and the Vale of Rheidol plus a few smaller ones.

Most of these were built to carry slate from quarries in the mountains down to the sea before the main line railway arrived,

I looked at those web sites.

Is the 2-6-6-2 one of the logging articulated Baldwins?

They have a tank engine version at the Niles Canyon Railway, near where I used to live after I moved to the US.

Unfortunately, it is awaiting restoration.