Yesterday, Union Pacific brought down the 'telegraph' lines allong their right of way through Tehachapi. The era of the single strand wire, glass insulator, and wooden cross arm has ended up here. This followed the demise of the steam era signals within the last year as well; this including the gantry style signal that was at the approach to the pass just north of Mojave.

An interesting detail that is now lost forever was the taller poles located adjacent to the intersection of Tehachapi Blvd and Steuber Rd (Summit). The 'telegraph' lines were an extra 10-15 feet taller here; renants of the fact that once upon a time there was a wye to the south of the main here and the taller poles allowed the clearance for the diverging tracks. Amazing this detail had survived to 2015; as I understand it, the wye was torn out many decades ago.

If you're looking for a fantastic collection of glass insulators, get to Tehachapi and start asking around ASAP.

-Dustin