Nostalgia & History > San Diego & Imperial Valley over the years

When Kyle Railways ended its operation of the former San Diego & Arizona Eastern,  the SD&IV came into being.  Living in San Diego,  I was able to cover the changes as second hand  motive power arrived and over the following years.  Here are some images over the years.

1.   Former ATSF 1229 hastily re-lettered for its new home.  San Diego,  11/29/84

2-3.  The 1229 was eventually fully repainted as shown here in San Diego on 1/23/88 and on 5/18/88 at the yard in San Ysidro on the border with Mexico



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/21 12:12 by masterphots.

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4.   Another former ATSF unit,  No. 1237 in San Diego  6/5/85

5.  Former ATSF GP7U 2168 at San Diego.  8/28/93

6.  GP9 5911 at San Ysidro  6/16/89

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That first one looks like its lettered for San Diego and Imperial 'Yalley' ; > )

n.b. oops, thought you were done!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/21 07:58 by valmont.

7.   One-off GP20 1438 at San Ysidro shops.  The paint job wasn't repeated either.  6/26/89

8.  GP39 3861 in San Diego  8/2/89

9.  GP38 5537 eastbound with an excursion.  Valle Redondo,  Baja, Mexico on 2/24/96



 

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Wow, those are great. Always look forward to your posts from MY neck of the woods.
JB

10.   GP38 5537 at San Diego  1/15/98

11.   Genset 701 at San Ysidro  3/18/10 

12.   Gensets 701-702 by Petco Park, San Diego  5/18/13



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/21 05:34 by masterphots.

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Great photos of interesting engines.  Did the US Border patrol give you the stink eye for being up there on the trackage that close to the border crossing at San Ysidro?  Looks like one checking you out in image #3, with a San Diego MTS train off to the left.

Rich



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/21 08:01 by PasadenaSub.

PasadenaSub Wrote:
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> Great photos of interesting engines.  Did the US
> Border patrol give you the stink eye for being up
> there on the trackage that close to the border
> crossing at San Ysidro?  Looks like one checking
> you out in image #3, with a San Diego MTS train
> off to the left.
>
> Rich

Nah,  we were down there all the time and they never approached us at all,   other than a wave now and then.

Super set of photos from a lesser-known railroad.
Bob

Nice shots!  Where did this railroad run to/from?

Thanks!

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

This was part of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern/Tijuana and Tecate Railroad operating as part of the SP system from San Diego to connect with the parent SP line at El Centro. Until the early 1950s, there was thru Pullman service continuing east on the Golden State Ltd. After discontinuance of the thru service, passengers could still ride the mixed train in a rider coach between Tijuana and Tecate. The most spectacular part of the route is the Carrizo Gorge but thru freight service hasn't been re-established since costly bridge and tunnel repairs have not been done. Regular weekend excursion trains run on a small part of the route out of Campo.
The website is psrm.org.

The San Diego Trolley features light rail service mosly on former S.D. and A.E. lines including the run between San Diego and San Ysidro next to the international border with Mexico.

There was a Tren Turstico offering train rides between Tijuana and Tecate but I am not sure if they are still running. I was fortunate to ride a one way trip in equipment of the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum from San Ysidro to Camp with a photo run-by at Valle Redondo in Baja California back in 1988.

Today the railroad provides freight service between San Diego and El Cajon,  as well as from San Diego to the international border at San Ysidro. Genessee & Wyoming is the current operator.  Freight trains operate at night when the trolleys are not running,.

valmont Wrote:
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> That first one looks like its lettered for San
> Diego and Imperial 'Yalley' ; > )
>
> n.b. oops, thought you were done!

The SDIV was assigned SDIY as it's reporting marks due
to the existence of a trucking company that was also known
by San Diego & Imperial Valley (SDIV) as it's reporting marks!

Mike

Alan,

Thanks for posting these photos, they bring back lots of memories
of the time I worked for SDIV and even before that!

The ex ATSF SSB1200s 1229 and 1237 were repainted by myself
and a few other volunteers with the Pacific Southwest Railroad Museum!
They were then lettered by a good friend of mine, Dan Williams of
Chastain Signs!
This was done as repayment for favors done by SDIV for the museum.
These 2 units were used to restart service on the SD&AE after Kyle left
San Diego, they had chased away a lot of customers, and shutdown service
in Mexico.

Later spent time maintaining and operating these units with SDIV!

The ex DRGW 5911 was a locomotive that just kept on going and going,
it did need tender loving care at times. Changed out a few power assemblies
and traction motors on this unit, but it was a strong puller!

The ex UP 1438 came to SDIV while I was working there. It was an interesting
unit to operate, had it's own idiosnycracies, it ended up being the SDIV's
'Roundhouse Queen'! The paint was in decent shape, so the boss didn't want to
repaint it, I touched up some of the striping and the walkways and repainted the
cab interior.

The ex ATSF 2168 was one of three, including the 2151 and 2162, that Railtex
purchased from Santa Fe and assgined to SDIV. They purchased 11 rebuilt GP7s 
from the SF, AS IS! They needed some work before going into service but were
decent pullers. I had to use a single unit to pull 36 cars from the San Ysidro yard
into Tijuana. I had 3 tankcars full of lard on the nose, with the remaining cars behind,
had a facing point switch into the Lard Plant just a short distance across the border.

Went about a quarter mile into Tijuana, cut off the lard cars and locomotive to spot
the lard cars, returned to the train, hooked up, recovered the air and pulled to the
east end of the Commercial Track, 3/4s of a mile south of the border, to set out 24
cars loaded with Barley/Malt destined for the Brewery in Tecate! These had to be
set out and sit for 24 hours and be tested/inspected by Mexican Agricultural inspectors.
Took the rest of the cars to set out at various customers along the way!

Once again, great photos Alan!

Mike



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/21 14:18 by 2720.

Mike, I was hoping you'd chime in as nobody knows as much about the recent history of the railroad than you.  Thanks so much.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/21 04:18 by masterphots.

We had the 1229 and 1237 in Richmond yard for the AT&SF for a fair spell.  No. 1237 was one of the best of that class in that it did not have a reverser delay relay built in to the wiring, which made switching difficult:  e.g. "giving a pin" to a switchman could be slow.  No. 1229 was the first of the SSBs to show up with MU  and was a total mess;  the brakes barely worked at all.  It eventually got shipped to San Bernardino to get straightened out.  The true star of that whole series was 1241, better than any CF7 or rebuilt Geep.

I think the picture of the two gen-sets must have been taken later than 2003. G&W did not buy RA until late 2012.

Eric,  2013,  thanks for noticing the typo