Tehachapi! The name and the place stand among the pantheon of American railroading. And now, the legendary and rugged rail line shared by Union Pacific and BNSF comes to Train Simulator with Dovetail Games’ Tehachapi Pass route! Spun over and through the daunting Tehachapi Mountains of California, the Tehachapi Pass route was constructed by the Southern Pacific, opened in 1876, and connects the arid Mojave Desert with California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley. Today, the route is Union Pacific’s bustling Mojave Subdivision and is a heavy tonnage artery for both Union Pacific and BNSF, the latter of which utilizes the line via trackage rights. The Tehachapi Pass route for Train Simulator re-creates this historic line in contemporary form from Mojave to Bakersfield, California, a distance of 68 route miles. Anchored by busy yard facilities at both Mojave and Bakersfield, the route takes you to all of Tehachapi’s numerous renowned locations – Sand Cut, the Caliente horseshoe, Bealville, Walong siding, Cable, Summit, and, of course, legendary Tehachapi Loop, where the line uses a full loop and tunnel to cross over itself in truly dramatic fashion. The sight of a long freight looping over itself at Tehachapi Loop is indeed one of the great sights of railroading anywhere in the world! With a steady flow of intermodal, unit train, and manifest freight traffic tackling twisting grades of 2.2 percent, Tehachapi has long been home to big motive power and the Train Simulator route features Union Pacific’s General Electric AC4400CW and ES44AC diesels along with Electro-Motive SD70ACe and GP40-2 diesels as well as BNSF GE ES44DC power. And the route includes a variety of contemporary intermodal and freight rolling stock. The Train Simulator Tehachapi Pass route includes six realistic career scenarios, three railfan scenarios, and is quick-drive compatible, so you’ll be ready to climb aboard and immediately test your skills as an engineer on one of America’s most challenging and legendary rail lines! The Tehachapi Mountains are also crossed by Tejon Pass at the southwest end of the range. ES44AC UP BNSF: GE AC4400CW UP: Cab View: EMD SD70ACe UP - BNSF GP40-2 UP: Cab View:
You are not really going to beat the Run 8 version or the other sims the route appears in. Tehachapi is a bit like Settle & Carlisle for the UK, a cliché that has been done to death already.
I'd love a vintage 1950s-60s version with F7 A/B units in both ATSF (Blue/Yellow) and SP (Black Widow) liveries, SP/ATSF RSD-15 "Alligators," SP/ATSF GP7 or GP9 units, SP SD7/SD9, ATSF/SP GP20, SP/ATSF SD45, SP/ATSF GP30, SP/ATSF GP35, or ATSF SD24. For steam, we could get an SP AC-series Cab Forward and maybe an ATSF 5011-Class Texas 2-10-4, 2-10-2, or 3751, 3765, or 2900-Class 4-8-4. For a 1970s-80s version of the route, we could see SP SD40T-2s, SD45T-2s, SD40-2s (ATSF, UP), SP SD40Rs, SD45s (SP, ATSF, UP), GP40-2s (UP), U-Boats, B23-7s, C30-7s, SP SD7s/SD9s, and other locos.
