SD&AE Former Site Chronologically

Climbing on the reefers, not smart…but fun!

Jimmy, Mike and I would goof around by the packing plant and ice house which was just off L street where the tracks crossed. We had so much fun climbing on the reefers. These would have been the first of the PFE Reefers.

When I would hear the diesel horns of SP SD’s and GP’s on The San Diego
and Arizona Eastern in 1963/64 on K St. in Chula Vista, CA, I would place
a penny on the tracks and Michael and Jimmy would say the train is going
to derail. Well, it didn’t and the smashed coins were fun to collect. Watching those consists as a kid made me a fan of the bloody noses.
US Gypsum Plant at Plaster City

Plaster City, CA (US Gypsum Plant) at night off old US Highway 80. (MP 130.0)

US Gypsum Alco road switcher on a siding at the plant.

Tourist services at Plaster City are severely lacking. Where’s the mayor? In fact, there are no services in Plaster City. No gas stations, restaurants, parks, police, or pedestrians for that matter. Plaster City gives you no reason to stop, but plenty reasons to wonder about this strange industrial complex straddling Old US 80 in the far western edge of Imperial Valley.
If Plaster City looks like an outdoor factory. By the way, it’s because that’s exactly what it is. Owned by the U.S. Gypsum Company, the company mines raw gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) from the desert for use in everything from wallboard to crayons.
If passing through Plaster City is impressive, it should be. U.S. Gypsum is no slack operation. This is a Fortune 500 company trading on the New York Stock Exchange with shares going for $16.14. Operations extend to every continent and sales in 2008 reached $4.6 billion.
The company may have 12,600 employees, but a weekend pass through Plaster City finds the factory in shut down mode and not a soul in site. The bland white buildings, silver piping, chutes and stairways tower over the hot asphalt highway that leads in one direction – out of town.
Where do they get the gypsum? A three-foot wide narrow-gauge railway runs 25 miles to the north to a place called Fish Creek where ore containing the gypsum is extracted from the earth. It is estimated that the gypsum deposit covers an area of 2-square miles at an average depth of 125 feet.
Once mined, the ore is crushed into gravel and refined in a furnace and turned into a white powder we know as plaster of paris. About 3,000 tons of gypsum is hauled by the train to the factory daily. Back when the tracks were laid in 1924, the locomotives were steam. Today they are diesel.
Railroad tracks run adjacent to the Plaster City plant where the wallboard is manufactured in a building measuring three-quarters of a mile long. Inside, the wet plaster rides on a belt where it gets sandwiched between sheets of paper then heated through a kiln and finally cut to standard sizes. It is then shipped to major cities for distribution.
It’s at Plaster City where the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway (The Impossible Railroad) meets the Union Pacific. One flatcar can carry enough wallboard for the interior of 10 modern houses.
Plaster City is isolated from unwanted urban encroachment and miles of open desert separate it from the nearest town. The extensive Colorado Desert region surrounding the town is Bureau of Land Management property and open to off-road vehicle use at no charge.
Old US 80 was the main thoroughfare through the Imperial County until being superseded by Interstate 8 in the early 1970’s. The old highway once crossed the country, but has been reduced to mostly frontage roads in the west.
In Imperial Country, Old US 80 went from a wood plank road to a paved highway. Each improvement was built over the next, except in areas like the one between Plaster City and the town of Ocotillo. On the southern side of the highway, looking more like a sidewalk at 10 feet in width, is an early version of US 80 built for an era long past.

Amazing fast facts on the SD&AE

  • 50 miles of the line runs through Baja California with border crossing gates near Tecate and in San Ysidro.
  • The Goat Canyon Trestle across Carrizo Gorge is the longest wood train trestle in the world.
  • In 1977 Hurricane Kathleen wiped out major portions of the line.
  • The line goes through 21 tunnels over 14 trestles in just 11 miles.
  • Started by sugar tycoon John D. Spreckles, the line was later sold to The Southern Pacific.
My name is Chuck Geiger from Fresno, CA. Since 1964, I have been a fan
of The San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railroad. The little route that could.
Portions of the route from San Diego to El Centro went into Mexico, crossed
the largest wood railway trestle in the world and was run for a while by the
Southern Pacific Railroad.

I was a youngster living in Chula Vista, CA on the mainline of the SD&AE. Packing and ice houses and through freights running SP units of reefers and flats loaded with wallboard from Plaster City, CA (near El Centro) bound for San Diego. Freights leaving San Diego bound for the SP connection in El Centro, which would interchange and run north to Niland to proceed on the SP Yuma District. I have planned an HO and later an N scale version of the line.

FIND OUT MORE: SD&AE WIKIPEDIA

Railroad Timeline

1873: Population of San Diego 5,000.

1887: Sugar millionaire John D. Spreckles sails to San Diego.
1907: Population of San Diego tops 35,000. Spreckles begins construction of railroad.
1911: Imperial County is created. Mexican Revolution.
1916: Heavy flooding.
1919: First passenger train from El Centro to San Diego.
1920: Avalanche in gorge.
1930: Population of San Diego reaches 148,000.

Other Related DesertUSA Resources

 1932: A four-day fire collapses one tunnel, landslide closes another, a third destroyed by fire.

1940: Population of San Diegoreaches 203,000.
1942: U.S. Army patrols railroad for saboteurs.
1951: Last passenger train.
1976: Hurricane Kathleen does heavy damage in Carrizo Gorge. Railroad almost abandons route.
1982: Line closed by storm damage.
1984: Line Closed.

2004: Line reopen They anticipate having work trains passing through the Gorge at any time of the day or night and by the spring 2004, They will have freight trains at the rate of four a day in both directions.

Source: BLM

Alto

Image result for san diego and arizona eastern railroad border crossing san ysidro

Imagine 93 years of trains rolling through these gates. The US-Mexico border crossing on The San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railroad. The Border Patrol must have been driven crazy by this.

Everyone loves a goat!

According to the guide book, the structure is 200 feet high and 750 feet long. It is purported to be the longest curved trestle in the country (world?). Several attempts by vandals to burn it down have failed (obviously). Rumor has it the trestle has been used by Navy Seals for demolition training (sure hope they do a better job in time of war). While it isn’t possible to pick out the damage from this vantage point, it is evident to anyone looking over the rail from on top. Nevertheless, the trestle seems to be very rigid… of course the real test would be when 100’s of tons of rolling iron cross it at speed. From: http://www.stowell.org/goatcanyon97/goat9.htm

 

When The SD&AE ran out of here, it was a Union Station!

The Santa Fe Depot (as it was originally designated) officially opened on March 8, 1915, to accommodate visitors to the Panama-California Exposition. The depot was completed during a particularly optimistic period in the City’s development, and represents the battle waged by the City of San Diego to become the West Coast terminus of the Santa Fe Railway system’s transcontinental railroad, a fight that was ultimately lost to the City of Los Angeles.

In its heyday, the facility not only handled Santa Fe traffic but also that of the San Diego and Arizona Railway (SD&A) and San Diego Electric Railway (SDERy). The designation was officially changed to San Diego Union Station in response to the SD&A’s completion of its own transcontinental line in December 1919. The Santa Fe resumed solo operation of the station in January, 1951 when the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway (successor to the SD&A) discontinued passenger service, the SDERy having ceased operation some two years prior.
The historic Santa Fe Depot is located in Centre City (downtown) San Diego and is still an active transportation center, providing services to Amtrak, the San Diego Coaster, the San Diego Trolley, and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System bus system. It was the ninth-busiest station in the Amtrak system in FY 2007. (visit link)

If you haven’t seen this, you should: San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park

The San Diego & Arizona Eastern is the HO scale (1/87th actual size) layout of the San Diego Model Railroad Club. HO is the most popular scale in model railroading . The SD&AE models the prototype railroad of the same name connecting San Diego with El Cajon and El Centro. The San Diego – San Ysidro and San Diego – El Cajon portions are now part of the San Diego Trolley. This layout features an impressive 10 ft. high model of the Carriso Gorge (north of Jacumba in eastern San Diego County) and the Goat Canyon trestle. The actual trestle was the largest timber railroad trestle in the world at the time of its construction in 1932. Because of the rough terrain, the SD&AE has been coined “The Impossible Railroad”. The San Diego Model Railroad club meets every Friday evening. More at: http://www.sdmodelrailroadm.com/#

 Congressman Filner drives the ceremonial golden spike into the rail for the newly re-opened San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railroad

On May 15th, I welcomed community and business leaders to the Carrizo Gorge Railway grand opening ceremony for the first ride on the Jobs Train.  I have championed the re-opening of the San Diego-Arizona Railroad for more than a decade.


The lack of a direct freight rail link to San Diego and its port has hampered the real growth potential of the Imperial Valley economy.  Re-opening the Jobs Train will make San Diego a true maritime center.  This direct link for Imperial Valley will provide new transportation alternatives to Valley growers and shippers–and add thousands of high-paying jobs to our area.

The goal of this project was to repair and re-open the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railroad (SD&AE) so that the Port of San Diego for the first time could have direct rail connections to the entire U.S.  I have been fighting for this project for over ten years, and have secured $10 million for a SD&AE Railroad “intermodal yard.”  This area would serve as a staging yard where cargo would be transferred between trucks and rail cars, and where trains would be assembled and disassembled.  In addition, I have included provisions in the recent Transportation Bill to make the train eligible for certain grants and low-interest loans.

Now that this line is open, the Port of San Diego will gain its own freight rail link to the Imperial Valley and onto the rest of the United States.  This project will transform the economy of our entire region, and I am thrilled that I was able to see this project through to fruition.

 

The SW’s rambled past J&W Redwood in El Cajon

A good friend of mine’s dad owned J&W Redwood in El Cajon and The SD&AE’s SW’s with a few cars would rumble by on the way to the rest of the industries just up the street. Now J&W Lumber, it’s still on Marshall in El Cajon just off I-8. All part of what local foamers referred to as The City of El Cajon, the back to back SW-8’s chugging their way to El Cajon from Downtown.

This makes me sad

Freight Gateway Study - SD&AE Railway Improvements: Freight Intermodal
Freight Gateway Study – SD&AE Railway Improvements
The San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway straddles the U.S./Mexico border, connecting San Diego, Tijuana, Tecate, and the Imperial Valley. The U.S. section of the railroad is owned by the Metropolitan Transit System, and the 44 miles in Mexico are owned by the Mexican federal government and assigned to the state of Baja California for operations. The rail line east of Tecate was taken out of service in late 2008 for bridge repairs.

Dos Cabezas siding from Jessica Rae’s collection

I love this siding so much, I wish I could model it. If I didn’t model Plaster City, I could do this siding on the new SD&AE layout (under construction).

Plaster City Narrow Gauge Switchstand

One of the coolest things about The SD&AE

…is the different terrain this line goes through. From the coast, through the mountains into the desert and below sea level to 3800 feet. I love this picture and will replicate this near Plaster City on the layout. The mainline is covered with blowing sand. I wonder how they cleared it when got like snow and covered the rails. Did a covered wagon have a snow plow or something on the front and push it a side?

Love and leave em’

Derailment in the 70’s or 80’s? (not sure) on The SD&AE near Goat Canyon. It was easier to leave them instead of trying to haul in a crane and tow them up and re right them on the track.

Something new from the web on my SDAE search

San Diego Union Newspaper, July 17, 1950 full page add

Reasons for abandonment of passenger service on the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway

No doubt you have read recent magazine and newspaper reports on countrywide railroad losses from passenger service.

A great deal of this loss is due to the operation of trains that are really not needed, if the amount of public patronage is any criterion. In other words, the development of railroad passenger services which are popular is burdened and handicapped by losses from passenger services which the public does not use.

The losses are a burden on freight service, too, and shippers are be coming restive.
This general subject now becomes specific to the residents of San Diego served by our subsidiary, the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Company.

The operation of passenger service over this line has resulted in heavy losses over the years. They are now so burdensome that they can no longer be absorbed, and we are now asking for public authority to discontinue passenger service over the line.

Based on present patronage the operation of the passenger trains Nos. 362 and 363 between San Diego and El Centro (and Calexico) is resulting in an out-of-pocket loss of approximately $300,000 per year. This does not consider any return on the heavy investment, or taxes.

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