Editing Tehachapi Loop (section)

==History==
One of the engineering feats of its day, the Loop was built by [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] to ease the grade over Tehachapi Pass. Construction began in 1874, and the line opened in 1876.<ref name=ASCE /><ref name="tehonline">{{cite web| url=http://www.tehachapionline.com/history-of-the-tehachapi-loop| work=Tehachapi_online| title=Tehachapi Loop history| access-date=December 1, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118132404/http://www.tehachapionline.com/history-of-the-tehachapi-loop| archive-date=November 18, 2011}}</ref> Contributors to the project's construction include [[Arthur De Wint Foote]] and the project's chief engineer, William Hood.<ref>{{cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HcUJAAAAIAAJ/page/n190 172] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HcUJAAAAIAAJ |quote=Arthur De Wint Foote. |title=Interviews with Mining Engineers |last=Rickard  |first=Thomas Arthur |year=1922 |publisher=Mining and Scientific Press |location=San Francisco |oclc=2664362}}</ref>

The [[Siding (rail)|siding]] on the loop is known as Walong after Southern Pacific District Roadmaster W.&nbsp;A.&nbsp;Long.<ref>{{cite book| title=Exploring the Southern Sierra, West Side| author1=Jenkins, Jim C.| author2=Jenkins, Ruby Johnson| name-list-style=amp| publisher=Wilderness Press| year=1995| page=[https://archive.org/details/exploringsouther00jcje/page/23 23]| isbn=0-89997-181-4| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/exploringsouther00jcje/page/23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=California's Geographic Names| author=Durham, David L.| page=1124| publisher=Quill Driver Books| year=1998| isbn=1-884995-14-4}}</ref>

The project was constructed under the leadership of Southern Pacific's civil engineers, James R.&nbsp;Strobridge and William Hood, using a predominantly Chinese labor force.<ref name="interestingengineering">{{Cite web|last=McFadden|first=Christopher|date=2017-02-11|title=Going Round the Bend With the Tehachapi Loop|url=https://interestingengineering.com/going-round-the-bend-with-the-tehachapi-loop|access-date=2021-05-25|website=interestingengineering.com|language=en-US}}</ref> The Tehachapi line necessitated 18 tunnels, 10 bridges, and numerous water towers to replenish steam locomotives.<ref name=ASCE /> Between 1875 and 1876, about 3,000 [[History of Chinese Americans#Transcontinental railroad|Chinese workers]] equipped with little more than hand tools, picks, shovels, horse-drawn carts and blasting powder cut through solid and decomposed granite to create the [[helix]]-shaped {{convert|0.72|mi|adj=mid}} loop with grades averaging about 2.2&nbsp;percent and an elevation gain of {{convert|77|feet}}.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Chang|first1=Gordon H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-6VDwAAQBAJ&q=Tehachapi+Loop+chinese+workers+2.2+percent&pg=PT430|title=The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad|last2=Fishkin|first2=Shelley Fisher|date=2019-04-30|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-1-5036-0925-9|language=en}}</ref> In 1882, the line was extended through Southern California and the Mojave Desert with 8,000 Chinese men working under Strobridge and another man.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Graybill|first=Andrew|date=2019-05-10|title=The Forgotten History of the Chinese Who Helped Build America's Railroads|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/books/review/gordon-h-chang-ghosts-of-gold-mountain.html|access-date=2021-05-25|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

[[File:ATSF 19870400 CA Walong.jpg|thumb|An eastbound Santa Fe train passes over itself on the loop in April 1987]]