Tehachapi! Arguably one of the most famous stretches of railway in the world.

The storied 68 miles between Bakersfield and Mojave, in Southern California, is the not only the busiest single track mountain railroad in the world, it is also one of the most varied and scenic.



The seismic alterations wrought in the past three decades, with a change in the two joint operators of the trains traversing the line as a result of two mega-mergers in the mid-1990s, are nothing compared to the dramatic modifications proposed in the near future as major infrastructure enhancements and the building of a new high speed railway through the Tehachapis change the character of the line for ever.



Over 380 photographs from the UK's top railway photographers explore the dramatic railroading in depth; looking at the geography, seasons, climate, operations, the mergers (both those that did and didn't happen!), visitors, incidents and just the sheer mystique.



6 pages of topographical maps will be useful to both new and old visitors alike, with all the local accommodation along the length of the line both located and listed.



Whether it be SD45s in Run 8 or a 'Centennial' racing across the mountains on a streamliner passenger or a Dash 9 on fire, all aspects of the fight between man and machine and the mountains, carried out in the searing heat of the desert and the frigid cold of the mountains are covered in this extensively researched volume.



This is also available in a large landscape version at Blurb book Number 1586412