:: Welcome to So Cal Rails :: Memorial Day weekend with the gang from Socalrailfan.com ::

5/26/06 SCRF's Memorial Day weekend gathering at Caliente, Ca.

After picking up the rental car at 0900, my roommate Mike and I did some last minute running around. We set out on the road to what we hoped would be a long relaxing weekend away from the stress of work. Arriving in Tehachapi in the mid afternoon Mike and I decide to go set up camp after a long day on the roads 6 hours from San Diego to be exact! It was a bad day to be on the roads. Even though it was sunny and hot the whole way up to Tehachapi when we arrived it was the usual dismal Tehachapi weather. The first catch of the day was BNSF 726 leading a massive grain train past the campsite.

Shortly after the massive grain train, a set of helpers pass by.

Like the rest of the group I woke up to discover that it is bitterly cold on day two. Our first train of the day was BNSF 5120 with a couple of goodies in the consist.

A shot of the same train from "Leia's Hill."

GEVO! GEVO! GEVO! Man BNSF 7671 sounded amazing as it roared by.

After catching BNSF 7671, Mike and I headed into town to get checked in at the hotel and grab a quick bite to eat. I showed Mike some of the sights and shared some info with him about the town grabbing a couple photos along the way.

After exploring the town of Tehachapi I made a quick call to Dave to see where he was at. We met up with hin just off the freeway where we grabbed some shots of BNSF 4096 and UP 4234.

Next up was another stop at "Leia's Hill" where we caught a meet between a UP manifest and a BNSF intermodal led by BNSF 7695.

After grabbing shots of BNSF 7695, I jumped in the car and raced up the hill to catch a BNSF train that was ahead of the UP Manifest that BNSF 7695 had just met.

BNSF 4722 ended up sitting on a red just outside of the tunnel due to signal problems so I headed back down to the campsite where UP 5762 was waiting.

We awake Sunday morning to find that nothing is moving on the rails. We begin to head to the campsite and along the way find BNSF 7777 posing in the early morning light at Bealville.

That'll Do! You're on the Ground!

As Sunday rolled around we all noticed a severe decrease in traffic on the rails. Dave, Mike and I decided that we were just going to make a run into Tehachapi for breakfast. After breakfast Mike and I decided that we'd get back on the road to San Diego. As we were cruisin through Mojave, we figured out why there were no trains running. It turns out UP made a boo boo.