My dad's a railfan (I guess I am too) and I grew up with my nose in TRAINS and Model Railroader every month. That loop was one of those places we always wanted to go see. We got close on a family vacation to CA in '92, but I don't think we actually went by. The loop is crazy enough, but the approaches on either side are just as extreme of turns themselves. When you stop and think about the insane lateral forces on every inch of that train as it snakes around and crosses over itself, it's amazing it doesn't fall over or break apart. A couple—er, way more than a couple—thousand horsepower on both ends and some incredible couplers do amazing work. Trains, man. So cool.
Re: Stress relief
Posted: January 21st, 2016, 9:58 pm
by mattaudio
I remember seeing a loop like this somewhere out in the Canadian Rockies back in the day. But yeah, there's nothing quite like Tehachapi.
So, when are we doing our UrbanMSP/railfan train trip?
Re: Stress relief
Posted: January 21st, 2016, 10:05 pm
by mister.shoes
The Spiral Tunnels (read down the page a bit) below Kicking Horse Pass in Yoho Nat'l Park are pretty neat. We camped out there in '98 (I think) and could hear the train horns echoing in the narrow canyons. It was super cool.
Re: Stress relief
Posted: February 1st, 2016, 9:16 am
by Nathan
41 amazing public space transformations as captured by Google Street view.
The opposite of stress relief is when you wake up one morning and your cell phone has what looks like a layer of ink under the glass but above the image. LCD fail, I assume? But no drop to precipitate this.