It looks like a set out for MOW. We have two of them in San Timiteo canyon on the Union Pacific, nee Southern Pacific between Colton and Beaumont. When the crews are working they tie up one of the Mains. Nights and Weekends they store their equipment on these spurs so as not to foul the Mains.
Bob
ericsp Walong siding is named after W.A. Long. If I remember correctly he was a railroad surveyor.
Walong siding is named after W.A. Long. If I remember correctly he was a railroad surveyor.
Supposedly SP District Roadmaster W.A. Long. I am 400 miles away from my Tehachapi book, but I believe that reference to his position is correct.
Interesting the place names (and not just sidings) that are named after railroad folks. My favorite is Ripley, CA, the farthest ATSF got on their build to San Diego from the east. Not one of the prettiest spots on the globe.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
GN_Fan After many sightings and many thought sessions, I came to the comclusion they were the Euro equavalent to a derail. Instread of the usual derail, there is a switch with a full siding 1-3 cars long witha a full bumper, and in some cases a rock wall or concrete retaining wall. The switches were always lined for the siding.
After many sightings and many thought sessions, I came to the comclusion they were the Euro equavalent to a derail. Instread of the usual derail, there is a switch with a full siding 1-3 cars long witha a full bumper, and in some cases a rock wall or concrete retaining wall. The switches were always lined for the siding.
Probably not the case on Tehachapi, at least. I doubt if the switches are lined to the stub track normally. That would be more like the Saluda Grade escape track, I would guess. Anything that hit the Tehachapi stubs and didn't stop would just continue on the ground for a while, except maybe for the north side stub at Woodford siding, which looks like it would go into a ravine at the end of the track. I didn't see anything like a bumper at the three ends I eyeballed on Friday.
here in Italy i noticed the same thing but it is very prevalent. After many sightings and many thought sessions, I came to the comclusion they were the Euro equavalent to a derail. Instread of the usual derail, there is a switch with a full siding 1-3 cars long witha a full bumper, and in some cases a rock wall or concrete retaining wall. The switches were always lined for the siding.
Did a little bit of my "mouse hunt" above in person yesterday. I had never noticed the setout tracks, really, until this discussion and my browsing on Google Earth nine days ago. The setout at the Loop, which is near the west end of Walong siding (anybody want to volunteer where the name came from?) is not visible from the pull out at the Marker on Woodford-Tehachapi Road, but just to the east of there, up the hill, there is a little pull out on the north side of the road from which the setout is clearly visible.
At Woodford siding, the south-side setout is actually quite long and had nearer the switch a just nasty looking hopper, seriously rusted and from some weed-trash activity at one end looks like it has been there for quite a while. Nearly to the end is a UP MOW Tank Car (water) sitting, and it looks to be in pretty good condition. The little setout on the north side of the siding looks like it just takes off into the bushes, but there appear to be some steel sheds to one side of the track away from the siding.
No trains coming through in my brief window of opportunity (had to hurry down the road to get to the "garden spot" where relatives live) though, but plenty coming my on Thursday evening. Lots of stacks and pigs coming through in both directions.
Yep, it's a setout track...they have them on either side of a defect detector, generally 2-3 miles away so a train can get stopped and set out a bad order car...
Many of the small towns along the NS in GA have these small sidings. In some cases like the old one in Oakwood, GA all that remained was the spur. It looks just like your picture above with a random siding and no buildings. I've seen historical pictures of a very small shed sized depot building. Like it was mentioned these sidings were for the farmers that surrounded this small town of a couple of buildings. The sidings are now used for MOW equipment mostly, and when a drunk driver caused a derailment at the one in Oakwood, NS didn't even bother rebuilding it.
CSX also has some of these around here, and one of them used to be used to set out cars with plastic pellets and trucks would park next to it to load them.
My brother and I were discussing this last night, he's noticed alot of these spurs out in the deserts out west also. we concluded that a possible primary use is, being there are alot of isolated farms and houses out there maybe these spurs are used for farmers to get potable water, fuel, supplies, etc.
Paul_D_North_Jr Quiz: What's unusual about this one ? (mudchicken's not allowed to answer - he knows the 'secret' . . . ) - Paul North.
Quiz: What's unusual about this one ? (mudchicken's not allowed to answer - he knows the 'secret' . . . )
- Paul North.
Were I to guess, Paul, I would say that this siding has ample room for carmen to get to both sides of the equipment without putting themselves at high risk, at least as compared to the other little stubs. The fact that the ground is pretty worn on both sides of the track sort of suggests that.
Just north of that one is one facing the other direction on the north side of the Marcel siding at N37.185566 W118.512077.
And...there appear to be two on Woodford siding, one on the south side at N35.2114 W118.552182 and one on the north side at N35.216916 W118.555131 on the north side and even more unusual looking than the Cable one.
And, on the south west side of Rowan siding at N35.238 W118.57533 is another one with MOW equipment spotted on April 1, 2008 in Google Earth.
What an interesting "mouse hunt" this was!
Here're the coordinates of another one, a little further south at the Cable Siding, just north of the town of Tehachapi: N 35.16661 W 118.47410
Perhaps most/ all sidings out that way are equipped with them, as a standard practice ? Good idea !
Yeah, it looks to be about 90 yards long or more from the fouling point.
I had never noticed that other spur in the loop, probably because that area is not quite so visible from up on Tehachapi-Woodford road. It's about 225 yards long according to Google Earth.
Also, kind of cool that the current Google Earth image has a train actually on the loop. Good catch.
Last time we went through there (probably just after Labor Day), there was a MOW window in effect with some Plasser equipment out by Monolith, so we didn't even go down to the loop. The window closed by dinner time, because four WB trains came through during dinner at the Village Grill and there was quite a parade that evening until about midnight, when all the backup got taken care of.
Maybe better luck next week.
That's at Caliente, California, at about these Lat./ Long. coords.: N 35.28976 W 118.63086 From ACME Mapper 2.0's aerial/ Satellite view, it looks to be about 4 - 5 car lengths long for its tangent, maybe another car or so up to the "fouling or clearance point".
Carl's answer is the most likely and primary use for it,at least in these modern times. Then maybe Larry's - although a hi-rail truck could just as easily 'set-off' at one of the grade crossings a little ways to the northeast. Here are some other possibilities, in order of likelihood as I see it:
There's a similar siding - albeit slightly longer - on the outside of the curve at the southern approach to the Tehachapi Loop, at about: N 35.19737 W 118.53760
Maybe a place for a track inspector/hi-rail to "hide?"
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
That looks like it could serve as a setout track if a bad-order car should be encountered (one which cannot safely be moved in a train). It's accessible to repair trucks, which is a plus.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
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Maybe a place to park a helper engine? Dont know could be most anything.
It was next to a hill in the middle of nowhere (tehachapi mountains I think). The only foundation was ballast. it was one carlength, maybe two.
Here's an example, it's that little stub in the upper right corner.
viewphoto.php?id=342408&nseq=4
It could be quite a few things...what were the surroundings? Were there any signs of a ramp or foundation?
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Insufficient information supplied. Could be anything from a setout track to a runaway track to just about anything.
I was looking at a photo in an ATSF history book and came across a picture with a tiny spur next to the tracks. it looked to be about the length of the average freight car. there were no buildings in sight in the photo so what is that track?? what is it used for?
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