วีดีโอ

Growing up in Burbank in the 1970's my friends and I used to ride our bikes to the golf course to find golf balls outside the fence line. We'd try to sell the balls to golfers as they passed by us. Wish I was aware of who I might have spoke to, or sold a ball to for .25 Lots of great memories there! Thank you for posting the video!

I spent much of my childhood hiking around those three tunnels. When I was really little, in the early 2000s, my dad and I would pack a picnic breakfast and go up and sit on that large boulder that is at the west end of #27. The track was still jointed then and we would listen to the clicking as the rails expanded in the morning sun. A few years later maybe around 2003-5 they replaced the jointed rails with continuous rail. The clicking stopped, and it removed a big piece of the ambiance of the place.

Roscoe and topanga 1960s-1980? What I would do to go back in time. Early 70s I would hitchhike there to topanga beach.

Hello, Brad! I just discovered your channel with a recommendation for your video about the Chatsworth and Newhall tunnels. Thanks for the updates about the Old Trapper’s Lodge. I worked near it for several years. FYI, the Amazon buildings are on former Lockheed Skunk Works property, specifically where my office was. There was never a flight school there. The FBO and flight school were at the southwest corner of the airport, on the right side of the approach end of runway 7. For many years, wind allowing, aircraft land on 7 and take off from 15. We very seldom see landings on 15.

Nowadays Here, You Face The Ever Threat Of Being ARRESTED BY THE POLICE! I Remember We Used To Go Through The SANTA SUSANA TUNNEL With Its 22 CUTOUTS! NO CUTOUTS WHATSOEVER IN THE SANTA CLARITA TUNNEL!

If you enjoyed this video please consider subscribing to my channel.

Great video. Thanks for posting. I've wondered about those tunnels ever since I first watched White Heat.

We lived in nearby Sherman Oaks when I was a kid. The tract was built amidst a huge walnut tree grove. Everybody had a walnut tree in their backyard.

Never knew that one tunnel was over 7000 feet long! It’s interesting that Beale’s cut has gotten filled in with erosion so that it’s no longer 90 feet deep anymore. Nice video!

"20:37-I LOVE that railway lantern!!!!!

Always is always forever As long as one is one Inside yourself for your father All is none all is none all is one It's time we put our love behind you The illusion has been just a dream The valley of death and I'll find you Now is when on a sunshine beam So bring all the young perfection For there us shall surely be No clothing, tears, or hunger You can see you can see you can be

The extra rails you showed us, sitting a few feet to the right of the tracks believe they were put there to help hold back falling rock and boulders. Not very high I know but then again you might be correct in saying replacement rails. Enjoyed your video, very well done and educational. Thank you and your awsome little sidekick .

Great video, lots of good stories!

I grew up living in Newhall California, and when I was between 12 and maybe 15 years old, I would ride my bike to the train tracks from my house which was maybe a 30 minute ride, and I'd take a back pack with some food and water, and hike to the tunnel entrance and just find a place to sit and wait for trains! Numerous Southern Pacific freight trains would pass through the tunnel daily and I spent probably 100's of hours over a couple of years, enjoying some time to myself and watch the trains come and go through the tunnel. Fantastic memories ❤️ Thank you for your video and for bringing back so many find memories of my adolescent adventures! 😊

Interesting to find out the history of the train paths from the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley. Brad Bell has an interesting way of showing the current paths and historical paths of the tracks.

Ntsb digital reenactment th-cam.com/video/mXCpMrD_5i8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-vu0TGaYfCHPtwuh

4 locomotives…

I was a paramedic in Simi Valley/Thousand Oaks from 1984-1995. I ran several dozen 9-1-1 calls involving trains and specifically the Chatsworth tunnels. If ever a place were haunted it would be the tunnels. One night, about midnight, we got a call for a possible body on the tracks halfway through the tunnel #26. Train service was stopped. Fire and ambulance staged on west end of tunnel and a firefighter and I walked into that tunnel with flashlights. You could feel the cool wind blowing through the tunnel. We walked to the cutout area, our eyes straining to see anything and hoping no train was accidentally let through. My partner shined his light to the left into the alcove and there lay a man who tragically had passed. He had a pistol in his right hand. It is a vivid memory of the tunnel I will never forget. I ran several calls of people found dead in that tunnel. RIP. BTW my Cousin just retired as an engineer from SP. He has stories too from the engineer birds eye view of people walking on tracks. Not pretty.

May have missed it…didn’t the Chatsworth 2008 collision happen just east of the easternmost tunnel?

Very informative, thank you.

Be careful with your pup, up here in Oregon we can carry a firearm, it comes in handy at times. Coyote will take the pup, even though you don't see them in daylight very often, they are there. I have run into several packs in the springtime up here, they can number over 30, every spring they come together and have a party on newborn calves, they will take almost anything in those numbers, even you. It depends upon how hungry they are, but they tried me at night once, to drive them off you have to take out the leader right in front of God and everyone present, they don't come back to that area for years afterward. I grew up down there, spent allot of time in Chatsworth, but I didn't go in the tunnels, I suppose I was smarter than average, it's so dangerous. Keep sticker safe, dogs make great friends, I defend my friends to the end.

I really enjoyed this because I grew up in Northridge back in the 60’s and on a visit to Chatsworth park I was told that the tunnels were forbidden to me because the Manson family members were living in and around them. So, this is the first time I’ve gotten an up close look at the tunnels. Appreciate it!

Real shame about all the radiation in this area from the meltdown at the Santa Susanna Hot Lab.

Thank you for a beautiful video. I was actually raised within walking distance of that place and still to this day when I have a very stressful day I still go to this park and just sit and feed the ducks. It's a blessing and so is your channel

I rode through these tunnels on the Starlight in the late 80's. Someone had put a folding chair in Tunnel 28 and we ran over it, severing an air hose on one of the cars. We had to stop to make repairs. BTW: The fences are there to keep people OUT. Since this video is now out in public domain, it should be noted that walking the rail IS trespassing RR property and you can/will be prosecuted.

Friend, great vids. Also, you were walking through the wreckage site of a plane crash causing the eruption in flames of the Beale's Cut Oil Refinery.

Brad enjoyed this! The Santa Susanna train depo/museum in Simi as you pointed out is very close to Corrigan Ville Park and the area has a lot of fun adventures and history/ Thanks for the posting..

Great video. Something that should be shown in local high school and college geopgraphy classes. The foundations and tanks you came across walking to Beals Cut were of an old oil refinery that shut down in the late 80's/early 90's. I remember ski trips back from Mammoth on the 14 at night, and that facility was lit up like something out of Star Wars!

Just a safety tip. You should NEVER walk down railroad tracks like that. Not only is it illegal trespassing (as it is also illegal to walk alongside tracks or be on railroad property in general), but it is very dangerous. Operation Lifesaver points out the dangers but the most important are that trains can move any direction at any time, and you cannot always hear them. According to Operation Lifesaver, there were 715 trespass-related fatalities in 2023, 190 in California alone. And, of course, many more injuries. If you do choose to trespass, at least stay off all tracks.

Excellent video! I just subscribed. I believe most modern RR trackage is what they call CWR or Continuously Welded Rail.

Can’t believe only 16 likes after 5 months. Good vid, thanks for your interest in nature, birds & trains.

Very cool video. Just a note, Beale did not build the cut. The original cut was built by Phineas Banning in 1854. Beale gained rights to the cut in the following years, deepening it to cut down on the challenging grade. He collected tolls from those who traversed it

Love the video. However, PLEASE stay off the tracks when you’re hiking!!! As a retired Conductor with 8 fatalities in my 20 years, I can tell you that there isn’t a more helpless feeling than coming around a blind curve, or out of a tunnel, and seeing someone on the track. Once you set the emergency brakes, there’s nothing else the engineer can do to not hit you. They can’t swerve and the train isn’t going to stop in time if you don’t get out of the way. Also, you’re far less likely to get turned in to law enforcement if you’re well away from the tracks. Railroads don’t take kindly to trespassing anymore. So please hike away from the track and stay alert. “Expect a train on any track, in any direction, at any time.”

Fantastic video!! Have loved trains my whole life and particularly enjoy learning about the railroad history native to the Newhall area where I grew up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I was the kid who loved to park alongside the rails with his scanner radio tuned to the train frequencies hoping to hear a bit of official train chatter. In those days you could walk into the Newhall Tunnel's north portal and listen for trains coming through the other end. You could hear the train long before you could see it's bright headlights as there was a slight incline from south to north, peaking somewhere near the middle of the tunnel. Fun times for a kid living through quieter, simpler times.

All the remains in the canyon where Beales Cut used to be an oil refinery (name escapes me). This includes the tanks, foundations and other items.

The standard length of rails are 1/4 mile long and are welded together. Any rail or hardware lying alongside a track are either old or are spare pieces. The labor to remove old pieces usually are not worth it unless there’s a need for it. BTW, all railroad property is private and is against the law to trespass on it. Normal width is 25 feet either side of the track unless fenced off.

My uncle, cousin and I were walking through the tunnel when my uncle thought he saw the light at the end. It was a light, but not sunlight. We barely made it out of there alive.

My friends and I (as teenagers) used to wait in the middle Chatsworth tunnel for the train. Exciting!! The rails are welded nowadays so there is no separation.

Are you aware of the tracks that run parallel to Highway 126 which used to go through Santa Paula Fillmore and all the way to San Francisco?

Awesome thank you

I have been to these tunnels more than a few times. You can access tunnels 26 and 27 via Chatsworth Park North (tunnel 28 goes under Topanga Canyon Blvd). The dates stamped into the tunnel openings are 1904 (original date) and 1922 (a rebuild/reinforcement) WARNING!!!! This is an active rail line (for Amtrak, Metrolink and UP) so be EXTREMELY CAREFUL if exploring these tunnels!!!

Tunnels through Santa Susana mountains are at about the halfway point for my commute between DTLA and Camarillo. Thanks for making this video!

yay! I like hearing about weird historical train stuff around the world, but these are my local tunnels!

I was born in Van Nuys in 1953. The Valley was actually pretty cool when I was a kid. The Burbank div ran close to my house and ran down Chandeler st. Freight trains would deliver to lumber Co near my house. Now the Valley is a pit! Millions of people. Crime. Glad I saw it before the deluge.

The Big Wreck was just past that Tunnel on the curve.

Hey Dude thats Welded Rail its over a quarter mile long ! OMG You almost stepped on that Snake. 😮

Thats where Jimmy Cagney and Gang held up the Train !😊

Fun fact: at 21:40, Corriganville, that open, flat area by the parking lot was the stand-in set location for Spahn Ranch in Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” (The actual Spahn property was on the other side of the mountains, 3-4 miles away, near the RR tracks and tunnels 27 and 28 on Santa Susana Pass Road.)

Thank you, I learned some things for sure. But the vandalism of all our historic sites really disgusts me.

I believe the concrete foundations near the Newhall tunnel were from the oil refinery that used to be in the area.