My god. Thanks for posting the pic. Anyone know what happened yet? I hope it was just something electrical and not intentional. The depot has been here my whole life and it made me so sick to hear about it this morning when I woke up, especially after all the beautiful work that had been done. I guess that's why I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I knew something was going on! I almost dread driving downtown to see the aftermath. What a horrible loss. :(

Ohhhhhh, say it ain't so Joe!!!!  Looks fully involved, wow, that hurts.  A tragedy.  They were so close too, wasn't it supposed to open July 4th weekend?  Can't wait to hear the story on this one.

Oh no. I thought it was amazing that a group got together to save this. This is very very sad.

I'm so sad about this...    I was excited about the work they have been doing on the Depot.   I was hoping to someday be able to go inside and feel the history of it.    UGH....very sad indeed, I'm in tears.     What happened???

WOW the depot is completely gone......man that's to bad.

Ugh, I just drove by it and it made me cry. There is 1 wall still standing (the east facing wall) but the rest is totally gone. It looks bizarre to be able to see kelcy's without the depot blocking the way. I'm just now remembering I had the camera in the car so I should have taken a photo! I hope they find out what happened. They've got everything blocked off so it looks like they're investigating as I type this.

What a horrible tragedy.  A terrible, terrible loss.  Arson has to be suspected.

Wow...what news to wake up to this morning. I hope it wasn't intentional either... 

What awful news! Here is the link to the bakersfield story on it http://www.bakersfield.com/...

What a sad day,I was so looking forward to seeing the depot restored to her original beauty, and visiting the museum. So sad, such an old building..

I was driving by the depot everyday to keep track of its progress. I was excited to see it almost complete. This is a very upsetting day for all of us. I hope the City rebuilds.

Press release from KCFD,

 TEHACHAPI, CA – Friday, June 13th at approximately 3:08 A.M., a call was received by the Kern County Fire Department, for a structure fire in the 100 block of West Tehachapi Boulevard. 24 Kern County Firefighters responded to the incident. The fire was under control in approximately 76 minutes.

As the first responding engine left their engine house, several blocks away, they could see the fires glow in the night sky.  Upon arrival, crews faced a large wooden structure that was fully involved in fire, a second alarm was called.  The building was a historic structure, a train depot that was under renovation to be used by the City of Tehachapi for commercial and retail space. The depot was a design #23, one of only 6 left, it was rebuilt in 1904, due to a fire that destroyed the original depot built in the 1880s.  Due to the involvement a defensive action was taken. Fire crews worked to protect other buildings in the area.  The fire destroyed in excess of $1,000,000.00 of property and contents, and the loss to community cannot be measured.

Rail service on the adjacent tracks was stopped during suppression action but now has resumed.
There were no reported injuries.
The cause is under investigation.
 

Great photos (must have been take before arrival of Fire Dept or Police dept.  This is a huge loss for the community.

MAN, I moved to Tehachapi in 1976.  I grew up with that Depot as a landmark.  Man I am sure a lot of life and work went on in that building.  I am so sorry and sad that it went up in flames.

 Very Sad....I was watching the progress of the reconstruction too. I liked the old buildings being restored to the older and original state, downtown was starting to look nice.

What a huge loss!  We too are very saddened by this!