Nostalgia & History > Ree-oh or Rye-oh, There Were Some Grande Times Around Cajon

Regardless of the pronunciation, during the 1970s and 1980s it wasn’t uncommon to see D&RGW power hauling unit coal trains over Cajon with loads bound for Kaiser Steel in Fontana.  The coal originated at mines around Sunnyside, Utah, and was routed D&RGW to UP at Provo, UP to AT&SF at Barstow, then AT&SF to Kaiser.

The D&RGW units in the pool usually appeared well-used, the result of earning their keep in this long-distance shuttle operation.  Knowing that “pool is cool” though, the Rio Grande units were worth the frames of Kodachrome despite their appearance or perhaps having lensed a unit on previous occasions.

With respect to the thread title, I recall from somewhere that the river is the Ree-oh Grande, while the railroad was simply “The Rye-oh.”  I’m unsure if this is accurate or not; corrections welcome.

Thanks for looking back,
GK

1.  SD45 5336, UP SD40-2 3640, and D&RGW SD45 5337 are westbound at Ono during February 1977.

2.  SD45 5326 leads two UP SD45s with eastbound mtys at Summit, March, 1981.

3.  5326 again, westbound this time at MP54 with UP SD45s 47 and 48, October, 1980.  Looks like a friendly conductor is ready to drop a set of trainorders from the cab for the railfans. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/20 12:40 by TheNavigator.

---

---

---

4.  Eastbound SD40T-2s 5412, 5347, 5381, 5409, UP “straight 40” 3024 and SD40-2 3648 pass the site of the old Cajon station, September, 1982.  I blew the focus on this one.  Rescued it as best I could in Photoshop.

5.  The ever-present 5326 again, but this time with UP DD35 90B and DD35 82 heading east near Alray, November, 1978.

6.  Three SD45s -- 5327, 5326, and 5328 -- eastbound on the North Track near MP57X in September, 1980.

---

---

---

A couple of somewhat more recent D&RGW leaders, long after the Kaiser unit trains had become a thing of the past:

7.  SD45 5323 with an MRL unit tucked between 2 SP motors is westbound (old SP direction) approaching Hiland on the Palmdale Cutoff in June, 1993.  At this date, Rio Grande Industries had owned the SP for 5 years, but acquisition by UP was still 3 years in the future.

8.  SD50 5509 is the leader westbound near the Swarthout Canyon Rd. grade crossing in November, 1998, two years after UP acquired the combined D&RGW/SP.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/20 22:13 by TheNavigator.

---

---

You certainly caught some unusual consists. Great photos.
Bob

When did the coal trains to Fontana stop running? Great series!

Posted from iPhone

atsf121 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When did the coal trains to Fontana stop running?
> Great series!
>
> Posted from iPhone

I think it was late 1983 or early 1984, wheneve the steel plant shut down.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to remember the name was pronounced by employees one way on the western end of the system and the other way on the eastern side, not sure who used what. Nice pics BTW!

Great look back when Cajon was Grande.

Adam

Many employees and executives pronounced it Rye-Oh including Kennefic, to whom I asked this exact question, many years ago.
Dick Eisfeller

On the AT&SF L.A. Division those black and orange locomotives were known to be the property of the "Rye-oh Grand" Railroad.

Thanks for the great look at the Grande on Cajon!

Larry

Just like that town they ran through, "Sa-Lee-duh" or "Sa-L=eye-duh", just depens on who you ask. But,
the Spanish for a river tain't "rye-oh". 

Out