Nostalgia & History > SP West Valley Sugar Beet Finale

Southern Pacific hauled their last sugar beets out of Oregon's Klamath Basin to California processing plants in the fall 1995 season. UP acquired SP the following September and continued hauling beets in that corridor until the fall 2000 campaign. SP moved the unit beet trains on its main from K-Falls to Tehama, CA where they switched to the West Valley line for further movement west. California Northern leased the West Valley line in Sept. 1993 and the trains continued as before with runthrough SP power and CFNR crews.

One of the final trains of that '95 campaign is seen below accelerating out of Tehama in December of that year. SP6813-SP8533 struggle to move 8000+ tons of beets consigned to Spreckles Sugar in Woodland, CA.

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Woodland bound beets pass under Highway A11 in Tehama County. This train used standard coal hoppers, without any of the familiar beet hoppers with wire mesh extensions that increased cube capacity.

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Nice shots!! Very "SP" to be sure.

I really miss that outfit.

Soo Line Hoghead

Awesome pics. I remember the sugar beet trains that used to come into the Imperial Valley. Niland to El Centro. unload at Calipatria, Seeley, and Holtville. Anybody got any pics of El Centro sugar beet trains?. The last one I remember was in 1995, and the SP used the brand new AC44 units. Numbered 100-323.

Thanks.
Skeeter

My wifes Grandfather was one of the first beet farmers in the El Centro area. The family has pictures of her and her brother with beets almost as tall as they were, 3.5-4 ft. long.

I used to drill at the Navy Reserve Center in Pomona across the street from both the UP and SP mains. I watched many a beet train over the years, westbound, probably on their way to Betteravia. Some trains would have a rider or two in almost every car. Cargo guards?? ahemm.

The trains got a fair amount of attention because we were a sealift unit and the different outsized loads, containers and flat racks were of "professional" interest to most of us since loading containers and oversized cargo can be a challenge. For example, telephone poles don't fit in break-bulk ships' holds Generally any train would stall a class because the noise from the engines, grade crossing whistles and just car roar generally was too much to talk over.

Last beets came out of the Klamath Basin in December, 2000.

The sugar beet movement by rail in the Imperial Valley was generally outbound. The sites at Seely, Calipatria and Holtville were loaders. If there were any inbound beets they would have gone to the Holly Sugar Factory at Brawley. Interestingly the Imperial Valley factory is one of only two sugar factoies left in California. The other is located at Mendota.

Growing up watching the beet trains to Dyer and remembering the aroma for the Holly Sugar plant when then wind blew the wrong way.

So you liked the aroma?