UP Vallealmar Subdivision

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UP Vallealmar Subdivision It features UP, BNSF and Amtrak operations. The Right-Of-Way was explored, property was acquired and engineering studies were done.

Elson Trinidad's 4x8' N scale model railroad layout, started in 2006, depicts a fictional connection between Union Pacific's Coast & I-5 Corridor lines in Central California. A FICTIONAL HISTORY OF THE UP VALLEALMAR DIVISION:

In 1940, the Southern Pacific Railroad explored a possible connection from California’s San Joaquin Valley to the central coast via a 100-mile line over the Temblor Range a

nd Coast Range to connect with the Coast Line at San Luis Obispo. But the plan was put on the shelf. In 1966, the idea to build the line was revived, with a double-track line built from Bakersfield going west to the town of Cortes, at the foot of the Temblor Range. But construction was suspended due to financial and legal challenges. After the Southern Pacific merged with the Union Pacific Railroad in 1996, the idea to complete the line was revived yet again, this time taking to account the heavy amount of rail traffic through the Tehachapi Loop, which is shared with the BNSF Railway. The sheer amount of intermodal and manifest traffic through the loop into Southern California would create a rail traffic bottleneck, so the route from Bakersfield to San Luis Obispo would allow trains to use the lesser-used Coast Line into the Los Angeles area. Map of the UP Vallealmar Subdivision (in red). In 2006, the Union Pacific picked up where the SP left off and the line was named the Vallealmar Subdivision (Valle al Mar, meaning “Valley to the Sea” in Spanish, as the California geography is filled with names of Spanish origin, owing its historical ties to Mexico and Spain). In 2010, the first revenue trains rolled through the tracks for the first time. It was the realization of a 70 year-old dream of a railroad, finally fulfilled in the 21st century. The line is also served by the CalTrans-owned, Amtrak-run trial passenger line, Golden Poppy which links the Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquins trains. If successful, the former would either terminate in Bakersfield or the latter would terminate in San Luis Obispo, or both lines could possibly run as a through service from San Diego to Sacramento, providing coastal and regional linkages to the under-construction California High Speed Rail project.

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Union Pacific Vallealmar Sub, A Fictional History

In 1940, the Southern Pacific Railroad explored a possible connection from California’s San Joaquin Valley to the central coast via a 100-mile line over the Temblor Range and Coast Range to connect with the Coast Line at San Luis Obispo. The Right-Of-Way was explored, property was acquired and engineering studies were done. But the plan was put on the shelf. In 1966, the idea to build the line was revived, with a double-track line built from Bakersfield going west to the town of Cortes, at the foot of the Temblor Range. But construction was suspended due to financial and legal challenges. After the Southern Pacific merged with the Union Pacific Railroad in 1996, the idea to complete the line was revived yet again, this time taking to account the heavy amount of rail traffic through the Tehachapi Loop, which is shared with the BNSF Railway. The sheer amount of intermodal and manifest traffic through the loop into Southern California would create a rail traffic bottleneck, so the route from Bakersfield to San Luis Obispo would allow trains to use the lesser-used Coast Line into the Los Angeles area.

In 2006, the Union Pacific picked up where the SP left off and the line was named the Vallealmar Subdivision (Valle al Mar, meaning “Valley to the Sea” in Spanish, as the California geography is filled with names of Spanish origin, owing its historical ties to Mexico and Spain). In 2010, the first revenue trains rolled through the tracks for the first time. It was the realization of a 70 year-old dream of a railroad, finally fulfilled in the 21st century. The line is also served by the CalTrans-owned, Amtrak-run trial passenger line, Golden Poppy which links the Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquins trains. If successful, the former would either terminate in Bakersfield or the latter would terminate in San Luis Obispo, or both lines could possibly run as a through service from San Diego to Sacramento, providing coastal and regional linkages to the under-construction California High Speed Rail project.