Category Archives: Southern Pacific

District 9, Highways, History, Inyo County, Old Alignment, Railroads, Southern Pacific, SR-136, SR-190

Old State 136 near Keeler, CA

September 15, 2023 Michael F Ballard Leave a comment

Map of Dolomite Loop Road and current State 136. Stars at center mark the former railroad crossing locations. Photos below show the southern crossing.

The Owens Valley in Inyo County, California is home to many fascinating highway relics. One road in particular toward the southern end of the Owens Valley southeast of Lone Pine, State Highway 136, had a very unique and rare feature – old railroad grade crossing markings. Until 1964, it was known as State Highway 190 and was realigned quite a bit between the Owens River and Keeler in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s as travel to Death Valley became more popular. Most of the old alignments are still traversable today, complete with original paving. The longest intact section is known as Dolomite Loop Road and runs between the Owens River bridge to just north of Swansea.

Former SPRR (Carson and Colorado Railway) grade crossing near Dolomite mine. Remains of rails and ties can be seen here at the darker asphalt patch.

These crossings were still in use until the whole line was abandoned in April 1960. The markings themselves likely date to the 1940’s. They are made of a large X and an arrow pointing to the crossing itself.

Looking southerly toward the northern Dolomite mine grade crossing.

Northerly view at the Dolomite mine crossing. The former railroad grade can be seen low berm to the left of the roadway.

History, Image, Los Angeles County, Railroads, Rivers, Santa Clara River, Santa Clarita, Southern Pacific

Featured Image – 8/20/2019

Image August 20, 2019 Michael F Ballard

On September 5, 1876, the golden spike was driven near Lang, California on the Southern Pacific Railroad line connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles. That line would bring the sleepy town of Los Angeles into a spotlight that persists to this day. A small train station was built near the site, which served as an access to local mines and ranching. For a time, it also served as a transfer point for a small railroad that ran up nearby Tick Canyon that served a borax mine. By the late 1960’s, the railroads were eliminating many smaller stations as technology was making them obsolete. Lang Station was torn down and the debris was unceremoniously pushed into the river bed of the Santa Clara River. Bits of the station can still be seen today. This photo shows the station and surrounding buildings in 1967. Lang Station was located just east of Santa Clarita near the Antelope Valley Freeway (SR-14) and Soledad Canyon Road interchange.

Lang Station area in 1967. Courtesy – Caltrans

History, Image, Kern County, Railroads, Southern Pacific, Trains, Union Pacific, US 466

Featured Image – 8/14/2019

Image August 14, 2019 Michael F Ballard

1909 postcard of the Tehachapi Loop in Kern County along the Southern Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific Railroad)

Completed in 1876, this loop still stands as an engineering marvel and a unique way of keeping the grade steady while climbing over the Tehachapi Mountains between Bakersfield and Mojave.