California Southern Railroad
standard gauge |
The California Southern Railroad was a
Construction began in
History
The California Southern was organized on July 10, 1880, as a means to connect San Diego to a connection with the
The California Southern built its track northward from a point in National City, south of San Diego. The route, portions of which are still in use, connected the present day cities of National City, San Diego,
.In Barstow, then known as Waterman, the California Southern would connect to another Santa Fe subsidiary, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The Atlantic and Pacific was chartered in 1866 to build a railroad connection westward from Springfield, Missouri, connecting Albuquerque, New Mexico, then along the 35th parallel to the Colorado River. From there, the railroad was to continue to the Pacific Ocean following whatever proved to be the best route. The route was scheduled to be completed by July 4, 1878.[3] However, the Southern Pacific was able to get a clause favorable to their own interests inserted into the charter:
- ... the Southern Pacific Railroad ... is hereby authorized to connect with the said Atlantic and Pacific railroad formed under this act, at such point, near the boundary line of the State of California, as they shall deem most suitable for a railroad line to San Francisco.[4]
Southern Pacific had already established a connection to Mojave, so their crews built eastward from there through Barstow (then called Waterman) to Needles, California, completing the connection across the Colorado River on August 3, 1883.[5] The California segment was leased to the Santa Fe in August 1884,[6] and fully acquired by the Santa Fe under foreclosure in 1897.
San Diego
The California Southern began construction in National City on land originally acquired by
In 1881 and 1882, the California Southern received ten locomotive shipments by sea at National City. The last three of these, delivered in November 1882 aboard the ship Anna Camp, have been identified as the last three locomotives ever delivered to the United States Pacific coast after traveling around Cape Horn.[9]
Temecula Canyon
To connect to the Atlantic and Pacific line in the quickest way possible, surveyors and engineers for the California Southern pushed the route through
Despite the warnings, track work through the canyon proceeded at a quick pace. They completed the line to Fallbrook on January 2, 1882, then to Temecula on March 27, 1882.[11]
Many parts of the canyon had suffered storms. In February 1884, a storm hit. The train was delayed and the canyon walls brought boulders crashing down on the rails. On February 3, the train was unable to get through. A few days later, the wires were down. The train from Colton to San Diego could not get through. Disaster was averted because a local resident, Charlie Howell, hurried up the tracks from his family homestead near Willow Glen and managed to stop the train.[citation needed] A series of devastating washouts on the section through Temecula Canyon occurred amid heavy rain storms that flooded the area starting on February 16, 1884, just six months after the first trains operated the entire route between San Diego and San Bernardino. The storms brought more than 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain in a four-week period. Two thirds of the mainline through the canyon were washed out with ties seen floating as far as 80 miles (129 km) away in the ocean.[12] Temporary track repairs were made after the first storms, but later in the month, additional rains and flooding washed out the entire route through the canyon. Repairs were estimated at nearly $320,000, a figure that could not be recouped effectively.[6]
The canyon was finally bypassed completely with the completion of the Surf Line on August 12, 1888, and the line through the canyon was relegated to branch line status.[13] By 1900 it had been abandoned by AT&SF. Finally, the 1928 construction of Railroad Canyon Dam submerged the section of track between Elsinore and Perris beneath Railroad Canyon Lake (now known as Canyon Lake).
The crossing at Colton
Construction of the California Southern was repeatedly interrupted by Santa Fe's rival,
The Colton Crossing was the site of one of the more notable frog wars in American railroad history. In the summer of 1882, tensions reached their boiling point when construction of tracks for the California Southern reached Colton, California. In an attempt to forcibly prevent the California Southern Railroad crews from completing construction, the Southern Pacific (SP) parked and then slowly moved a locomotive and gondola along the SP track at the location of the planned crossing. In addition, the SP hired armed men, including the famous Virgil Earp, to guard the tracks. Before the violence could get out of hand, Governor Robert Waterman ordered San Bernardino County Sheriff J.B. Burkhart to enforce the state court order. Waterman personally ordered Earp and the crowd to comply with the court order. Earp backed down and told the SP engineer to move the locomotive. The crossing was built, ending the Southern Pacific's monopoly in Southern California.[14][15][16]
Cajon Pass
The first structure that the California Southern used as a depot in San Bernardino was a converted boxcar.[17] Building north from San Bernardino, the California Southern was able to piggyback on the survey work done by the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad up to a point near Cajon.[11]
The original grade of the line up the pass rose at a 2.2% slope between San Bernardino and Cajon, where the grade steepened to 3% until reaching the summit 6 miles (9.7 km) further.[18] The route over Cajon Pass was completed with a "last spike" on November 9, 1885,[19] and the first train to use the pass carried a load of rails southward from Barstow on November 12 to be installed near Riverside.[20] The first through train from Chicago via Santa Fe lines arrived in San Diego on November 17, 1885.[21]
Construction of the original route through
Consolidation
To reach Los Angeles, the Santa Fe leased
During construction, Santa Fe officials worked to consolidate the many subsidiary railroads in Southern California to reduce costs. At a stockholder meeting on April 23, the eight railroads and their prominent stockholders, minus the California Southern, voted in favor of consolidation, and the California Central Railway was formed as a result on May 20, 1887. After the consolidation, although the California Southern remained a separate subsidiary, the National City shops were downgraded and the services provided there were moved to the newly constructed shops in San Bernardino.[25] One of the first official lists of stations on the California Southern and California Central railroads published on July 13, 1887, shows the California Southern divided operationally into two divisions: the San Diego division covered the territory between National City and Colton; from there, the San Bernardino Division covered the route through Cajon Pass to Barstow.[26]
The Santa Fe underwent a massive financial overhaul in 1889. The major investors in
Company officers
Presidents of the California Southern Railroad were:
- Benjamin Kimball 1880
- Thomas Nickerson 1880-1885
- George B. Wilbur 1885-1887
- George O. Manchester 1887-__[30][31]
Visible remnants
Much of the
The two ends of the former railroad are still in use as of 2013. The section between Barstow and Riverside through
The maintenance shops in San Bernardino are still in use by BNSF Railway, although not to the extent that they were used in the 20th century. The
South of Riverside the track is still in place to Perris. This section has been rehabilitated to the 91/Perris Valley Line, with service to stations at Riverside–Hunter Park/UCR, Moreno Valley/March Field, Perris–Downtown, and Perris–South. Though the 91/Perris Valley Line curves east south of downtown Perris to South Perris and eventually San Jacinto, the original right-of-way continues south of downtown Perris on tracks now owned and operated by the Southern California Railway Museum, which is also the location of one of the original station buildings for the line at Pinacate. For years, the museum had a connection to the mainline, but it was severed during the rehabilitation of the 91/Perris Valley Line. The museum has been working to regain their connection, and hopes to be able to run trains to downtown Perris once again.
At the southern end the section between San Diego and Oceanside also sees heavy use by Amtrak California's Pacific Surfliner trains as well as those of the Coaster. As part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's rail network, it was part of what has come to be known as the Surf Line. As of January 2006, this line is the second busiest passenger rail line in the United States.[34]
Although San Diego's
References
- Notes
- ^ Serpico, p 18
- ^ Waters, p 72, and Serpico, p 18.
- ^ Waters, p 64-65.
- ^ Waters, p 65.
- ^ Waters, pp 69-71.
- ^ a b Waters, p 73.
- ^ Dodge, Richard V. (April 10, 1958). "The Fallbrook Line". Archived from the original on July 12, 2006. Retrieved July 9, 2006.
- ^ Serpico, p 18-19.
- ^ Huffman, Wendell W. (Spring 1999). "Railroads Shipped by Sea". Railroad History (180): 7–30. Retrieved July 9, 2006.
- ^ Duke and Kistler, p 22.
- ^ a b Duke and Kistler, p 27
- ^ Duke and Kistler, p 29.
- ^ Duke and Kistler, p 43
- ^ ISBN 0-88418-000-X.
- ^ Waters, Leslie L. (1950). Steel Trails to Santa Fe. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press.
- ^ The Earp Brothers of Tombstone: The Memoirs of Alvira Earp, by Frank Waters
- ^ Serpico, p 20.
- ISBN 0-87046-095-1.
- ^ Waters, p 74.
- ^ a b Duke and Kistler, p 32
- ^ Signor, p 18.
- ^ Signor, p 37.
- ISBN 0-517-46084-X.
- ^ City of Victorville, California (22 August 2014). "City History". Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
- ^ Serpico, p 23-24.
- ^ Serpico, p 26.
- ^ Serpico, p 30.
- ^ Serpico, p 34
- ^ Duke and Kistler, p 45-46.
- ^ Poor's Directory of Railway Officials. New York and London: Poor's Railroad Manual Company. 1887. p. 23.
- ^ The Official Railway List. Chicago: Railway Purchasing Agent Company. 1888. p. 25.
- ^ San Bernardino Associated Governments (2004). "A Brief History of the Santa Fe Depot". Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved July 17, 2006.
- ^ San Bernardino Convention and Visitors Bureau (2006). "A Brief History of San Bernardino". Archived from the original on July 20, 2006. Retrieved July 17, 2006.
- ^ Amtrak (January 2006). "Monthly Performance Report for January 2006" (PDF). Retrieved July 10, 2006.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places: California - San Diego County - Vacant / Not In Use". Retrieved July 9, 2006.
- Sources
- Duke, Donald; Kistler, Stan (1963). Santa Fe ...Steel Rails Through California. ISBN 0-87095-009-6.
- The Official Railway List. Chicago: Railway Purchasing Agent Company. 1888.
- Serpico, Philip C. (1988). Santa Fé Route to the Pacific. Palmdale, California: Omni Publications. ISBN 0-88418-000-X.
- Signor, John R. (1988). The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company; Union Pacific's Historic Salt Lake Route. San Marino, California: Golden West Books. ISBN 0-87095-101-7.
- Waters, Leslie L. (1950). Steel Trails to Santa Fe. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press.
Further reading
- Duke, Donald (1995). Santa Fe...The Railroad Gateway to the American West. Vol. 1. San Marino, CA: OCLC 32745686.
- Eichstadt, Howard (October 1941). "Cajon Pass". Trains: 38.
- Hoyt, Franklyn. San Diego's first railroad: The California Southern. ASIN B0007FWTA2.
- Middlebrook, R.P. (November 1957). "Santa Fe Fallbrook Branch". Pacific Railway Journal. 2 (4). San Marino, California: Southern California Chapter, Railway and Locomotive Historical Society.
- Walker, Chard (1987). Cajon: Rail Passage to the Pacific. ISBN 0-87046-072-2.
External links
- The California Southern Railroad and the Growth of San Diego - Part I and Part II; from the Journal of San Diego History.
- A Chinese American in 1884: Floods, Fall Brook And Fallbrook; describes the washouts in Temecula Canyon in 1884. (Dead link)
- Perris and its Railroad; by Richard V. Dodge, 1959.
- Santa Fe Railroad Routes in Southern California 1888