Watch in High Definition! Much has changed on this rail line since I filmed this video. A new railroad, the Pacific Imperial Railroad, has become the designated freight operator over this line, replacing the Carrizo Gorge Railway. The Carrizo Gorge Railway was a short line freight operator that ran on the old San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway between Plaster City (west of El Centro in the Imperial Valley) and the US border at Tijuana. In 2008, the US portion of the line between Campo and Plaster City was embargoed to freight traffic due to deteriorating track conditions. Since then, another railroad has begun operations on the Mexican portion of the line between Tijuana and Tecate. The railroad was based out of Jacumba, located about halfway between Campo and Plaster City. Using one of its F Units and an 89 foot flatcar, the railway was able to transport a team of construction contractors to any point along the tracks to perform maintenance.
This video is of a cab ride on one of the final CZRy Maintenance of Way trips from Plaster City, through the famed Carrizo Gorge and across the Goat Canyon trestle, before continuing on west to Jacumba. See also the eastbound cab ride video that I posted several months ago.
100 is an EMD F7 A unit and was built in 1952 as B&LE 723A. Over the years, it saw uses as a locomotive for US Steel, the Texas Southern Dinner train and most recently the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train. It still wears the paint scheme of this most recent owner, but the words OF WASHINGTON were painted out.
The video starts early in the afternoon at a dirt grade crossing just west of Plaster City. We have just finished unloading several ties and sticks of rail to repair the damaged tracks at the grade crossing. Our work complete, we begin the trip west back towards Jacumba.
Departing west, we pass through Coyote Wells and under the Freeway 8 overpass. We then arrive at the S2 Highway crossing whose gates and lights were deactivated at the time. After flagging the crossing, we continue west. Around this time, a husband and wife in a Jeep began following us and filmed us at various locations as we passed. I sure wish I could see the pictures and videos that they got! Continuing, we pass over Freeway 8 at Ocotillo and again see the truck carrying the huge mystery load. We then continue our climb through the flat desert before passing through the sand blown area at Silica and Dos Cabezas Siding. We then begin the steep, snaking climb into Carrizo Gorge.
Once in the gorge, we snake our way along, passing over the Seven Sisters Bridges. We then approach Tunnel 16, the area where we dropped off the excavator and front loader on our trip east. We slowly proceed through Tunnel 16 and the Goat Canyon Trestle comes into view. The construction team was just finishing up at the Trestle, so we stopped and got out to take a walk. While the construction equipment was being loaded, I walked partially across the Trestle for a look at its amazing architecture. It's hard to picture this trestle in use in the height of the steam era. Once the construction equipment was loaded, we continued west to Jacumba. Along the way, we pass through the long Tunnel 8, Tunnel 7 Siding where the ex. AMT cars are stored and Tunnel 5, which marks the end of Carrizo Gorge.
We pass Dubbers Spur, the Highway 8 Overpass and Titus Siding before arriving in Jacumba. We shove the train into the Jacumba house track and call it a day.
This was an amazing trip for me and I tried my best to document it for others. I decided to keep more of the footage on this return trip which explains the longer video. I spent most of the video filming from the locomotive's cab and engine room. I apologize for the bad videography at times. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed filming it. If you haven't already seen it, be sure to watch the eastbound video: • Eastbound Cab Ride Thr...
Keep in mind that this is a very rare video, as the public is not normally allowed to ride a train into the Gorge. I must reiterate that nobody should ever hike along the train tracks into the Carrizo Gorge.
Enjoy!