Loop Ranch

The Tehachapi Loop is a .73 miles (1.17 km) long 'spiral', or helix, on the Union Pacific Railroad line through Tehachapi Pass, of the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, south-central California. The railroad line connects Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley to Mojave in the Mojave Desert.One of the greatest engineering feats of its day, the Loop was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad beginning in 1874. The first train to use it reached Los Angeles in 1876. The Loop became the property of the Union Pacific in 1996, when it absorbed the Southern Pacific. Trains of the BNSF Railway also use the loop under trackage rights. Today, the railway line, with almost 40 daily trains on average, is one of the busiest single-track mainlines in the world. The Loop is today one of the prime railfan areas in the country with its combination of frequent train traffic and spectacular scenery. A railroad museum displaying related relics stands in the nearby town of Tehachapi. In 1998, the Loop was named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The site is also now registered as California Historical Landmark #508.