Are there any other full loops like Techachapi and William’s elsewhere in the United States.
Are these two loops the only ones used by railroads to gain elevation?
Georgetown Colorado on what is left of one of the narrow gauge rrs. One in West Virginia on a tourist line. Probably several others.
OldViking (3-7):
Tehachapi and Williams Loop are the only ones I can recall. Up in western Canada there is a tunnel loop, where the portals are sort of above each other.
You probably know Tehachapi is having another track put in in limited areas. Photos of that are below.
Interesting thread you started, OldViking!
Take care,
K.P.
Actually the CP has two loops in the Kicking Horse Valley; one on each side of the river. Thirteen years ago, I was able to get a pictue of a train as it entered the tunnel on the north side and as it exited the tunnel. Sad to say the train was not long enough for me to get one picture that captured both ends of the train. The tunnel on the south side is not easy to get to, but there is a spot on the north side of the highway which gives a good view of both portals.
Thanks, railroad engineering is just as interesting as rolling stock and locomotives.
Isn’t there an area called “The Loops” on the former Southern Rwy. near Old Fort, NC? Never been there, so don’t have a clue whether it’s an actual loop or not.
There’s another loop in Newfoundland near Trinity Bay called, appropriately enough, the Trinity Loop.
It was built in 1911 on the Newfoundland Railway’s Bonavista Branch Line to deal with the very hilly terrain in that area. The circumference of the loop is 6600 feet, turns 310 degrees, and has a drop of 34 feet.
When the Bonavista Branch was to be abandoned in 1984 local preservationists, railfans, and veteran railroaders banded together to save the Loop. It’s still there today as part of a park, and a small train pulled by a steam profile locomotive runs for visitors from June through October.
The tracks came very close, but did not cross over one another.
There was another one in Colorado, on the D&SL on the Rollens Pass line that was abandoned after the Moffat Tunnel was built.
Here’s a You Tube video of the N&W 611 on the" Horeshoe Bend" by the Andrews Geyser, in 1992 with 4 diesel helpers pushing her train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XYubcZV0Uc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XYubcZV0Uc
The one posted is #2 of three videos of 611 on the ‘Loops’.
Still shows it on google …
Yes, that’s the “Hook and Eye.”
Thanks, Sam. The sound of the whistle takes me back to Bristol in the last three years of steam on the Southern trains that the N&W fowarded between Monroe and Bristol. I enjoyed going downtown after supper–just to see the J that took #42 out.
It depends on how you define “loop.” If the track has to cross itself to be considered a loop, then the Loops at Old Fort would not qualify. But anyone who has been to Old Fort and waited until a train comes rumbling by, then again, then again, then again would not hesitate to call these switchbacks “loops.” It’s mountain railroading as good as it gets east of the Mississippi.
In the summer, thick foliage sheeted with kudzu prevents you from seeing more than two levels of the switchback from most locations. But in the winter, you can see the trains go around “Round Knob,” then back above the entry point, and you can hear them looping back again and again, even if they are out of sight from lower vantage points. It’s an amazing shrine to mountain railroading. There is a man-made geyser there, called Andrews Geyser, which is fed from a mountain spring, and is not powered by a pump, if I remember correctly. That’s a nice meeting spot, but you can’t see much from there in the summer. There are higher vantage points if you can find them, and if you can get permission from the landowners. I don’t recommend walking the tracks. There are places where you could not escape a train drifting downgrade briskly, and in some of those spots you would not be able to exit the tracks. Not to mention that it’s illegal. But there are some mountain roads that give you visual contact with the same train at two levels, seemingly going in different directions. Use Google Earth or Apple Maps to plan your route.
One more thing: the loops are ea
As the Rio Grande (now the UP) comes down the west slope of the Wasatch, the Gilluly Loops are traversed–but there is no real loop there, just a reversing of compass direction as the grade is eased. Several years ago, one of the coach attendants called them “switchbacks” as he described them. I remonstrated with him, pointing out that since the train did not back up, they are not switchbacks (such as the Great Northern used in its first crossing of the Cascades, or the Cass Scenic uses as it climbs to the top of Bald Knob). A true switchback has a train stop, a switch is lined, and the train backs up.
The line went through a tunnel, then crossed over the tunnel on a trestle. After the line was abandoned the right-of-way was converted to an auto road, but the tunnel caved in, and both it and the trestle were bypassed.
I know Tehachapi and went around it on SP Daylight years ago. Have 8mm movies of that. Don’t know Williams Loop or where that is? Have been to Williams,AZ and rode with #4960 to Grand Canyon, but don’t remember any loops. I also rode thru Spiral Tunnels in BC on the CP Canadian. We had seen the openings on a tour and then when we continued on our trip west, we went through, around and out again. Also did the Georgetown Loop in CO.
This summer friends and I will be in NC area and guy planning the trip has mentioned the Old Fort Loops, we do plan to see them. We did #611 trip last summer, but going too late to catch her trips this year, I see she is doing one around those Loops.
Williams Loop is on the former WP Feather River Route between Portola and Keddie Wye.
There was another Colorado line that made sort of a cross-over loop. The narrow gauge D&RGW Poncha Pass line branched off the Marshall Pass line west of Salida. At first the line diverged to the north and climbed, but then made a reverse loop over the Marshall Pass line and climbing the south side of the valley before turning south to Poncha Pass and Alamosa. Although this is not exactly the type of loop that the OP was looking for, some coal cars off the Marshall Pass line (Baldwin Branch) passed under the loop, and then went over the loop on Poncha Pass trains.