Mojave Subdivision

The route over the Tehachapi Pass was constructed by the Southern Pacific Railroad as their main line south to the Colorado River.

As part of their charter, the company was steadily building south in the San Joaquin Valley after having abandoned plans to do so via the coastal route.

[1] The completion of the line through the Soledad Canyon in 1876 provided the first link between Los Angeles and San Francisco via rail.

After the Valley Division was opened in 1900, they negotiated with Southern Pacific for the right to run trains over the Tehachapi.

[5] This trackage rights arrangement persists to the era of the railroads' successors: Union Pacific and BNSF.

The Tehachapi Loop , the defining feature of the railway, as it traverses the Tehachapi Pass
SP 9266 near Mojave, California in March 1983
ATSF 5134 in the Tehachapis in March 1985