Nostalgia & History > The Midland, California water train

For those who don't know this train, this was a (shuttle) train service ran on the Santa Fe's Ripley District, perhaps normally in all days but Sundays. It carried water from Blythe, from what I only know at a siding between Hobsonway and Bernard Street, to the town of Midland. Midland was a remote desert town with a United States Gypsum mine(s) and plant established in the mid 1920s, today a ghost town. A newspaper article in the 1930s mentions the fact that its products were transported as far as places like Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. Pictures on the newspaper reveal a fact I sought to confirm: the tankcars were ATSF TK-L's (100800 series), having a capacity of estimately 16000 (or 16500) gallons each.

According to the Palo Verde Valley Times, May 27, 1937, Midland was probably the largest town in the country with its water needs, industrial, domestic, and commercial, shipped by rail. At this time, the train ran with four tank cars on average. In that issue, it's said it is "impossible to drill wells and obtain a water supply fit for use." In a 1934 article, the well water there has "high mineral content." As of August 1940, it is now 8 cars on average.

This service is mentioned in Selected excerpts from: Testimony of D. A. Baumgartner Interstate Commerce Commission on Transcontinental Divisions Sep. 5, 1956, where it says 30 are assigned, perhaps as of the mid 1950s.

In the first nine months of 1964 were 2783 loads, according to another article, averaging 13 cars daily. According to the article, Santa Fe kept 33 to 35 tank cars for the Blythe-Midland trade. The water came from Blythe's water mains, entering the tankcars via a spout or more. It took a couple of hours to load the tankcars. Midland's home owners may had paid more than a dollar for 100 gallons. It is also mentioned here that the water gets chlorinated, then stored in a 150000 gallon tank before delivery to the homes. There's another 150000 gallon tank for the plant and a 35000 gallon tank for fire use. In one picture is one of the cars stenciled "DOMESTIC (v) WATER (v) BLYTHE MIDLAND (v) TRADE". (All the (v)'s means line down to the next word(s) and are not seen in stencil; looks like there's a dot or so between "BLYTHE" and "MIDLAND" in the photo, but can't confirm.) In this article, the water shipments are credited for letting the productivity of the Midland plant to happen. It's also stated a water pipeline to Midland would be expensive.

In an August 1965 photo, tankcars are seen crossing Hobsonway, south of the usual place to load water, while the now-standing crossing signal cantilevers are being installed.

In a November 1966 article, when USG's announcement to close the plant is featured, the railroad said the closure won't cause a dramatic decline in local rail receipts. 5-7 cars a day was the average.

In early 1967 is an article announcing the "divorce" of Midland station agent Manuel A. Ortiz from his job, plus the coming end of railroad service to the dying Midland (although it still had sidings - per 1987 CLIC bulletin, two sidings for Figueroa Brothers). His superintendent A. K. Johnson in San Bernardino called him to close the Midland station as of March. Stated here are closing days of the board plant, November 23, and the packing plant, December 2, on the previous year. Ortiz said he will "probably bump somebody over on the coast." There were five weeks left to move the inventory (maybe just plasterboard) out. This article and cited press released also stated that at Midland's peak, it produced enough walls and ceilings for a four bedroom house every 15 minutes. The article claims that a "building slump, and general overbuilding in southern California" led to Midland's demise, but there are other reasons too. I can't find when exactly did the water service end.

There is probably no picture of the locomotive pulling the water train that I can find. I also didn't look or remember the beginning of the water service. But in ebay I found a 1937 picture of 4-6-2 1337 at Blythe with a tank car behind its tender; that may or may not be the water train.



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/16 21:09 by technoty.

Really interesting post, I'd been on my job for about a year and a half when three of us went down to
Midland to look over some hydraulic systems that USG had bought a couple years before for sale back
to us. Amazing what two years in the middle of nowhere could do to hydraulic components. In the end
we decided not to repurchase and I believe that USG shipped some of that equipment to Nevada, scrapped
some and sold some to South America. Absolutely desolate place.

Out

Midland still shows up on the Arizona & California RR Blythe Subdivision at Mile Post 17.4 in the Calif. Region Timetable, and my "Streets and Trips" map shows the location as being on Midland Rd. running northwest out of Blythe.

DNRY122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Midland still shows up on the Arizona & California
> RR Blythe Subdivision at Mile Post 17.4 in the
> Calif. Region Timetable, and my "Streets and
> Trips" map shows the location as being on Midland
> Rd. running northwest out of Blythe.

The entire Arizona and California Blythe Subdivision (originally ATSF Ripley District) was abandoned a few years ago except for the first few miles south of Rice.