Since relocating for the winter to Death Valley National Park, most of my time has been spent settling into the new job, sightseeing, and taking pictures of Death Valley. I have not forgotten entirely, however, about railroading. Although there are no railroads today within a hundred miles of Death Valley, there is a relic here of a railroad which penetrated the fringes of the Valley. It is sad, however, to see this old 2-8-0 in her current condition rusting away. The Death Valley Railroad was a narrow guage shortline owned by the US Borax Company. The rails connected the company's mine at Ryan with the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad at Death Valley Junction. This oil burner hauled borax to the junction where the ore could be transfered to the standard guage cars of the T&T.
The Tidewater and Tonopah has been abandoned for more than sixty years. Begun in the early years of the twentieth century never realized either of it's goals stated in the name of the railroad, i.e., Tonopah nor San Diego (Tidewater). The starting point for the T&T was at a junction in Ludlow, California, with the Santa Fe. It got no closer to Tonopah than the mines surrounding Goldfield, Nevada, and that far only by trackage rights on the Goldfield and Bullfrog Railroad. Portions of the roadbed are still visible where the T&T now parallels California Highway 127. There are no ties remaining on this section of roadbed. Ties still remain on other sections of the route, but these locations are accessible only with high clearance or 4x4 vehicles. Here and there a structure related to the railroad can be found. There is a small museum located in the hamlet of Shoshone and it exhibits a few photographs and items from the T&T. Shoshone was never much more than a water stop on the rail line. Availability of water was always a determining factor for settlements in this desert region. To my knowledge no T&T locomotives still exist, but a caboose is on the property of the Nevada Railroad Museum.
This past weekend I managed some time to get a little farther afield. I followed Highway 190 west out of the Park. I had never ventured out this way before. I can see why this route was not followed by the 49'ers or other early travelers. Even for an automobile the 9% grades and the narrow twisting road present a challenge. Once out of the Park, I headed south toward Los Angeles, but there was one stop to be made along the way. My time was very limited but I finally saw for myself a North American railroad landmark, the Tehachapi Loop. It is almost unavoidable to have seen photos and videos of the Loop, but seeing it is still a new experience. Photographic media can never convey the full context in which the subject is set. I had never realized how confined the Loop is by the surrounding mountains. Traffic over the Loop was at a standstill while I was there. From my vantage points it was difficult to see for certain the cause of this halt, but it seemed as though a track crew might be working in the cut on the east side of the tunnel. But having a UP train stopped on the Loop was something of an advantage for my picture taking.
This allowed me to get shots of a train from more than one location. There was also a BNSF train holding west of the Loop. Maybe I will have another opportunity to visit Tehachapi when I will have time to do the tromping around which is required to properly photograph the Loop and the adjoining trackage. But the light was fading and I planned to spend the night in Los Angeles.
After spending the night in Los Angeles I negotiated the rain covered freeway maze and headed for Barstow. A futuristic tower watches over a sizable classification yard. There is a humping operation visible from the public driveway. But what was most fascinating to me was the museum located in the old Harvey House and passenger station. The Harvey House exterior is pretty much in original condition, but the interior is unused for the most part. A large employee dormitory which once occupied the site was demolished long ago. 
It is difficult to understand how today's small towns such as Barstow and Winslow could once have had these grand passenger facilities. There is not much rolling stock at the museum, but it has good collection of railroad memorabilia. One entire room is devoted to a collection of date nails from many railroads. It is not all past history. You can also look inside a cab belonging to the latest Union Pacific diesels.
Amtrak still passes through Barstow and the rails in front of the station are kept busy with plenty of BNSF trains. It seems that for some reason AT&SF was in the habit of choosing to locate their stations on the north side of the tracks. This creates a very unfortunate lighting condition for anyone wishing to photograph passing trains from the platform. A rail grinding train happened to be parked on a track next to the station which provided me with one last shot before I had to leave. But I expect to do more exploration of this region which is new to me. I have heard of a railroad museum in Bishop, California. Maybe that will be the next place I visit.
