Tehachapi Loop Overlook

What a beautiful photo taken by our New President of FOTD Diana Buerge after a well needed rainfall. Thanks for sharing Diana.

Also on display until the end of Dec. is our Christmas train layout.

Thank You Larry Wines for this display
The train under the Christmas tree"". It will be up throughout December.

This is an open invitation for a rare opportunity to see the Tehachapi Depot Museum’s Stokoe Signal Garden IN ACTION! On Sunday, July 30, at 2:00 p.m., Mark McGowan (www.YouTube.com/) will be conducting an in-person demonstration of the Southern Pacific (SP) signals that are located on the museum’s campus. The signals were collected by the late Bill Stokoe (who had an over thirty-year career as an SP signal maintainer) and were featured on the television program Road Trip with Huell Howser in 2001. This 30 minute event is free. All aboard!

Note: Photo by Marlan Woodside

We have a table at Farmer's Market, located on Green Street from June 1 thru August 17 from 4 pm to 7 pm. Please come by and say Hi. You will probably meet Diana our Gift Shop Mgr.

Tehachapi's Railroad Club Train Show is Back.

FOR MEMBERS ONLY

Special one-day event sponsored by the Model Train Museum of History & Technology.
Enjoy "National Train Day" in Tehachapi
May 13, Saturday, 11 AM to 4 PM
101 W. Tehachapi Blvd., Tehachapi, CA 93561
Phone: 661-823-1100.

The Tehachapi Depot Railroad Museum is sponsoring a special, one-day display for "National Train Day." It marks the museum's first use of scale model trains combined with historical artifacts beyond the museum's extensive collection.

The special display includes:
• a scene of the May 10, 1869 Golden Spike ceremony

National Train Day is this Saturday, 13

Friends of the Tehachapi Depot Curator group has coordinated with the Model Train Museum of History and Technology to have a display in the depot freight room to celebrate this event. See the attached flyer above.

So, this Saturday, 11 AM to 4 PM will be your ONE AND ONLY opportunity to explore this exhibit.

Please make plans to stop by the depot and explore this exhibit. National Train Day is this Saturday, 13

Attached is our March 2023 On Track Quarterly Newsletter.

Tehachapi Loop Newspaper Article.

The Railroad Depot Museum is Expanding

Exciting things are in the works at the Railroad Depot museum. We
have two major projects underway that will transform our campus and grow our museum.

Caboose:
The first is our Caboose Project. For many years a historic 1941
Southern Pacific caboose has sat between the Tehachapi Depot Railroad Museum and Kohnen’s Country Bakery, and being privately owned it had no connection to the museum.
Incorporating this piece of railroad history into the museum itself was a long-term objective.

We plan to move it onto the museum’s property within the year. It will be “slotted” into the existing rear viewing deck, forming an integral addition to the museum, and extended out to the area occupied by the current playground. The playground will be eliminated, paved over, and the slide relocated off the campus.
An extension of the deck will be added alongside the back of the caboose to provide easy visitor access without needing to climb steps. The caboose will sit on a section of track and ballast, both of which will be donated by Union Pacific. Then the big event arrives: when the site is ready to receive the caboose, a crane will lift the 20 ton unit from its present location and precisely sit on the awaiting track.

Next up: the deck will be modified and extended. Finally, further work including decorative fencing and lighting will transform the area into an inviting visitor attraction. The next phase of the project is a multi-year task to fully restore the caboose to its original look and configuration when it was operated by Southern Pacific Railroad. It will start with a much-needed repairing and repainting of the exterior parts. The interior will be completely refinished, replacing missing fixtures and appliances.

Annex:
In concert with the caboose project, we will be adding a 1,000 sq ft
building to provide a storage area for our growing collection of railroad artifacts as well as a curator’s office area. The new building will be an annex to the existing maintenance/rest room building on an unused, vacant parcel of land. The exterior will match the appearance of the museum.

Why do we need an annex? Currently we are storing those artifacts not on display haphazardly in our basement as well as at an off-site storage facility. We are also continually receiving donated items and running out of adequate storage. The Annex will provide a large, safe, and environmentally-controlled area to house these possessions. The additional office area will allow our curators ample space to prepare and catalog all our property. This building will gain us a professionally–managed storage and cataloging capability. Plans are currently being drawn, and construction of the building will start following the relocation of the caboose.

So this is our far-reaching objective. Accomplishing these goals,
however, requires considerable financing; architectural and
construction services are expensive. The Museum is currently seeking grants and will be embarking on a major fundraising drive. There is along way to go, and if you wish to help, simply visit our w webpage at tehachapidepot.com, click on the Donate button and contribute a donation. Large or small all donations will go to these vital projects. We are a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization

This photo was taken at the Loop on President's day in February 2023

A little while ago, I posted an article that stated "Help Me" It is about moving the caboose from Kohnen's bakery to the Depot grounds. The other project is building an Annex to house the artifacts safely and in a drier place then in the basement.
I am attaching the Qtrly. Newsletter issued for the Qtrly. General Meeting. On page 3 of the newsletter is more information about it. Then on Page 4 is an article about Cheryl Butters who spoke about the train cams, very very interesting. See Separate Posting.
Also attached is a rendering of the Depot grounds with the two projects finished. AGAIN "HELP ME" is appropriate as we need your help to get this accomplished. You can go to the website "Tehachapidepot.com" and you can use the donate button. Thank you and enjoy.
The caboose will be attached to the patio and we will be extending the restroom building for the Annex
The Rendering was prepared and donated to the Tehachapi Depot Railroad Museum by Alex S. Kosich, Jr. -- THANK YOU ALEX

Article posed yesterday in the Mojave Desert News.
http://www.desertnews.com/news/article_7823ff9a-f62b-11ec-a98e-af48b8653af5.html

History of the Tehachapi Loop Throughout the course of the last year and a half, I have been researching and writing on the history of the high desert. What I found throughout the course of

To see the before picture go to the "Tehachapidepot.com" website. I had a problem loading it here.

What a difference a few months make. See attached picture of the Tehachapi Loop View Area before the Overlook Project was started, then see the after picture. Every time I go past it there is several people at the view area, which is more then when the before viewing point that wasn't safe.

https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/retiring-public-works-director-most-enjoyed-projects-public-loved-best-like-parkway-tehachapi-loop/

Retiring Public Works director most enjoyed projects public loved best, like Parkway, Tehachapi Loop BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – The politicians we know. We see them on TV on a regular basis, read their names in the paper. And that’s in non-election years. The ones who actually do the work, draw …

Flashing Safety Lights will be added for additional safety for the railfans crossing the road to get to the Overlook. There will be two for cars going up or down the Woodford Tehachapi Road.

Thank you again to pacific Railroad. Plus the additional funds from Railroad Company.

https://www.tehachapinews.com/news/new-tehachapi-loop-overlook-celebrated/article_2c8abecc-eef5-11eb-ade0-f7cbc0c7d27c.html

New Tehachapi Loop Overlook celebrated A ribbon-cutting held at the Tehachapi Loop Overlook site Monday brought to a close a successful four-year project to upgrade the century-old viewing site. Safety was a major consideration as

Thank you from Friends Of The Tehachapi Depot

Thank you from Friends of the Depot The Tehachapi Loop, our world renowned railroad landmark, draws thousands of visitors annually. The present viewing area is inadequate to accommodate the vast number of visitors that come every year. To address the situation, Friends of the Depot (FOTD) has embarked on a project to build a viewing p...

Visitor Guide: Get ready to see The Loop from a new overlook Visitors to the Tehachapi Loop will soon have the pleasure of viewing the landmark after a fundraiser secured funds to build a platform at the historic site.

www.facebook.com

Tehachapi Loop Overlook construction has started!! Watch it live on YouTube
https://youtu.be/S2A5r1DEwf4
Thank you Tehachapi Live Train Cams!!

Tehachapi Live Train Cams at The Tehachapi Loop We are truly honored to have been the feature story in the Union Pacific Railroad Track Record last year and #4 of their TOP 10 articles in the year of 2020!...

Curious about the construction of the overlook? You'll be able to watch most of the construction live on Tehachapi Live Train Cams. Here is the link 🚂😀
https://youtu.be/S2A5r1DEwf4

From a vision to reality! Watch the CONSTRUCTION of the new TEHACHAPI LOOP OVERLOOK LIVE beginning June 21st! https://youtu.be/S2A5r1DEwf4

23ABC Bakersfield is keeping "track" of our progress 🚂😀

Group raises over $100,000 for Tehachapi Loop project A group looking to create a viewing platform for the Tehachapi Loop has succeeded in reaching its goal of raising $100,000.

We are very excited to announce that construction of the Tehachapi Loop Overlook will be starting next week. 🎉
We would like to remind everyone to keep their distance and that active construction zone areas should only be accessed by trained workers. 🚧🚜
Friends of the Tehachapi Depot and the Loop Overlook Committee have professionals that will be photographing and documenting the construction process. We will be sharing many updates on this page. Thank You! 😀🚂

National train day is this Saturday!🎉🚂

Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner presented Friends Of The Tehachapi Depot with a check for $10,000 today for the Loop Platform 😊🎉🚂

Thank you Marlan Woodside for becoming a major donor honoring Friends Of The Depot board member, Keith Sackewitz. 😀🚂