Goat Canyon Trestle

Coordinates: 32°43′45″N 116°11′00″W / 32.72917°N 116.18333°W / 32.72917; -116.18333
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Goat Canyon Trestle
Redwood[1]
Total length597[6]–750[1][7] ft (182–229 m)
Height186[2][6]–200[1][8][9] ft (57–61 m)
History
Construction start1932[8]
Construction end1933[6]
ReplacesTunnel number 15[6]
Location
Map

Goat Canyon Trestle is a wooden

San Diego County, California.[1] At a length of 597–750 feet (182–229 m), it is the world's largest all-wood trestle.[1][8][10][11] Goat Canyon Trestle was built in 1933 as part of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway, after one of the many tunnels through the Carrizo Gorge collapsed.[6][7] The railway had been called the "impossible railroad" upon its 1919 completion.[12] It ran through Baja California and eastern San Diego County before ending in Imperial Valley.[12] The trestle was made of wood, rather than metal, due to temperature fluctuations in the Carrizo Gorge.[6] By 2008, most rail traffic stopped using the trestle.[13]

Background

Under the direction of

Southern Pacific Railroad, instead of going north on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.[18] At the opening of the railway, and prior to the construction of the Goat Canyon Trestle, the most significant bridge on the route was the Campo Creek Viaduct, which is 600 feet (180 m) long and 200 feet (61 m) high above the ground.[15][19]

North end of collapsed Tunnel 15

The San Diego and Arizona Railway experienced a series of difficulties, including collapsed tunnels and rock slides, which led to the periodic closure of the railroad.[2] One such difficulty was the collapse of Tunnel 15 in March 1932;[6][7] it had been caused by an earthquake.[9][20] Its remnants can still be seen today.[10]

History

Designed by Chief Engineer of the San Diego and Arizona Railroad, Carl Eichenlaub, it was built to

Redwood timber,[1] the same type used for railroad ties along the rest of the route,[25] was utilized because Carrizo Gorge's considerable temperature fluctuations could have led to metal fatigue in a steel bridge.[6] To resist Goat Canyon's high winds, it was built with a 14° curve.[8][26] Additionally, the bridge was built without nails.[8] Construction was completed by 1933, leading to a realignment of the railroad route.[6] For fire suppression a tank car was located near tunnel 16.[27]

Panoramic photograph of the area just north of, and of, the Goat Canyon Trestle

After

2003 Cedar Fire, crews working on the railway repairs assisted the California Department of Forestry by extinguishing fires set by arsonists along the railroad tracks.[33]

The Carrizo Gorge Railway resumed service on the line after repairs were completed in 2004.[15] Pacific Southwest Railway Museum provided trips on the railroad from Campo.[15] In 2008, the Desert line, which includes track north of Mexico including Carrizo Gorge closed indefinitely for repairs, ending revenue rail usage of the trestle.[34] In early 2017, tunnel Number 6 near the trestle collapsed, and the route was obstructed.[35] In January 2018, Baja California Railroad assessed the line hoping to repair it to allow it to return to operation,[36] but efforts to repair the line had been abandoned by 2021.[37] The trestle remains a popular destination for hikers.[2][6][9][38]

Surrounding environment

Main article: Goat Canyon (Carrizo Gorge)

Goat Canyon is a valley in

crystalline basement.[41] Since at least the 1970s, there has been a population of bighorn sheep, an endangered species, living near the trestle.[2][42] Another endangered species in the area of the trestle is the Bell's vireo.[43] During a desert bloom, which occurred in 2017, monkey flowers were observed flowering in the canyon.[44]

Replicas

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum hosts a HO scale replica of the trestle.[45] HO Scale is 1:87 scale.[46] It stands six feet (1.8 m) off the floor[47] is 10 feet (3.0 m) tall in total.[48] It is older than the museum itself, having been built in 1941.[49] The museum also contains a smaller N scale (1:160) replica of the trestle, based on an 1855 surveyed route.[46][50]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Cowan, Ernie (May 2, 2004). "World's largest wooden trestle is in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park". North County Times. San Diego County. Archived from the original on May 1, 2004. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Japenga, Ann (March 30, 2004). "Rail renegades". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  3. ISSN 0022-4383
    . Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Stewart, Joshua (June 9, 2016). "Border rail line to connect U.S., Mexico". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  5. ^ Amezcua, Carlos (November 15, 2018). "SD&A Centennial celebration airs on San Diego's KUSI". KUSI News. San Diego. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
    Jennewein, Chris (May 9, 2014). "Reopening Cross-Border Rail Line Gets South County Support". Times of San Diego. Retrieved September 7, 2019. It includes the 186-foot-tall, 630-mile-long Goat Canyon Trestle, a historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
    McCarthy, Eric (August 2016). "Flying into Writing". In Flight USA. San Mateo, California. Retrieved September 7, 2019. About three quarters of the way through the gorge is the Goat Canyon Trestle, a massive trestle bridge that, at 186 feet tall and 630 feet long, was in its day, the tallest wooden structure in daily use. It became a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1986.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The Canyoneers (July 19, 2017). "Get close but not too close to Carrizo Gorge trestle". San Diego Reader. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c Rangel, Alexis (August 12, 2013). "San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway, the 'Impossible Railroad,'". Imperial Valley Press. El Centro, California: El Centro Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Bell, Diane (April 19, 2017). "Science Channel spotlights marvel in San Diego's back yard". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c Baran, Robert (May 29, 2010). "Goat Canyon Trestle Trek". San Diego Reader. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-0-916251-78-9
    .
  11. OCLC 1035427182
    .
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-0-932653-64-2
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89997-802-4
    .
  14. ^ Dodge, Richard V. (June 29, 1956). "San Diego's 'Impossible Railroad'". Dispatcher. Railway Historical Society of San Diego. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  15. ^
    Ramona, California. Archived from the original
    on February 18, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  16. ^ Carrico, Richard L. (January 23, 2011). "Book Review: Book on 'impossible railroad' well done". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
    Eddy, Lucinda (Summer 1995). "Visions of Paradise". San Diego Historical Society Quarterly. 41 (3). Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  17. ^ a b Price, James N. (April 1988). Scharf, Thomas L. (ed.). "The Railroad Stations of San Diego County". The Journal of San Diego History. 34 (2): 123–135. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  18. ISBN 978-0-520-25164-9
    .
  19. ^ The Station Agent: Official Publication of the Order of Railroad Station Agents. Order of Railroad Station Agents. 1920. p. 9.
    McGrew, Clarence Alan (1922). City of San Diego and San Diego County: The Birthplace of California. American Historical Society. p. 172.
    Earth Mover and Road Builder ... Traffic Service Corporation. 1920. p. 6.
    Randall, Laura (June 30, 2016). "In Campo, California's Old West roots remain". Stars And Stripes. Washington Post. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  20. ^ "Goat Canyon Trestle Viewpoint Via Mortero Palms". Anza Borrego Foundation. Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Goat Canyon trestle was built in 1932 after an earthquake collapsed one of the tunnels of the Carrizo Gorge section of the San Diego and Arizona Railway.
    Key, Kevin. "The Massive Goat Canyon Trestle – Brilliantly Illuminated by a Nearly Full Moon". Getty Images. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  21. ^ Carl, Eichenlaub. "SD&A# V-2/13" [map]. San Diego & Arizona. Campo, California: Southwest Railway Library, Pacific Southwest Railway Museum.
  22. ISBN 978-0-9776279-0-5.
    "SDAG Meeting Announcement"
    (PDF). San Diego Association of Geologists. January 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  23. ^ San Diego and Arizona Railway. "WO-1111" [work order]. San Diego & Arizona. Campo, California: Southwest Railway Library, Pacific Southwest Railway Museum.
  24. ISSN 0022-4383
    . Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  25. ISBN 978-1-4396-4047-0
    .
  26. ^ Meet the Most Dangerous Wooden Railroad. Mysteries of the Abandoned. 2017. Science Channel.
  27. ^ Pacific Southwest Railway Museum volunteers (March 2016). "Attachment A: Desert Line - Rolling Stock Inventory" (PDF). San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway Company. San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
    "Carrizo Gorge Wilderness and Goat Canyon Trestle". Summitpost.org. February 16, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
    Brennen, Christopher Earls (February 10, 2001). "Hike K16. Carrizo Gorge". Adventure Hikes and Canyoneering in the Southwest. Caltech. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
    "SD&A H-285" [map]. San Diego & Arizona. Campo, California: Southwest Railway Library, Pacific Southwest Railway Museum.
  28. ^ Pamela Daly (November 2015). Draft Historic Resource Technical Report For the Chollas Creek Multi-Use Path To Bayshore Bikeway Project, San Diego, California (PDF) (Report). City of San Diego. p. 17. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
    "Southern Pacific Bulletin 1957". Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Association. December 5, 2000. Retrieved April 10, 2018. Let's imagine we are boarding a train for a ride over this amazing route in spring when the country is at its best. It will be a freight train, because all through passenger service was abandoned in January, 1951. Fast highways drained away the passenger traffic.
  29. ^ Journal of the Senate, Legislature of the State of California. California State Print. Office. 1953. p. 209.
  30. ^ Pacific Rail News. Interurbans Publications. 1995. p. 44.
  31. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89997-780-5
    .
  32. ^ "Trestle- California's Gold (1006)". Huell Howser Archives. Chapman University. January 8, 1999. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  33. ^ "The 'Impossible' Goat Canyon Trestle". Roadtrip America. Flattop Productions, Inc. November 2003. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  34. ^ Dibble, Sandra (February 11, 2013). "Rebuilding historic U.S.-Mexico rail link". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved March 16, 2018. The last operator, Lakeside-based Carrizo Gorge Railway, was able to re-establish limited service in 2004. Those operations stopped in 2008 after the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, which owns the Desert Line, raised concerns about its safety and demanded repairs that Carrizo Gorge could not afford.
  35. ^ Hangrove, Dorian (February 3, 2017). "MTS responds to Baja Rail charges". San Diego Reader. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  36. San Diego Union-Tribune
    . Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  37. ^ Smith, James Emerson (November 13, 2021). "San Diego MTS determined to rehab 'Impossible Railroad' despite latest setback in the desert". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
  38. ISBN 978-0-89997-780-5.
    "Goat Canyon Trestle Bridge via Carrizo Gorge Road"
    . Alltrails.com. September 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  39. ^ "Goat Canyon". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. January 19, 1981. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  40. ^ Baran, Robert (May 29, 2010). "Goat Canyon Trestle Trek". San Diego Reader. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  41. ^ James R. Evans (1988). Landslides in Crystalline Basement Terrain: Annual Field Trip 1988. San Diego Association of Geologists.
  42. ^ Raftery, Miriam (March 17, 2014). "Experts Voice Alarm Over Survival of Local Bighorn Sheep". East County Magazine. La Mesa, California: Heartland Coalition. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  43. ^ "Eastern San Diego County Resource Management Plan and Record of Decision" (PDF). El Centro Field Office. Bureau of Land Management. October 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  44. ^ Brandis, Jack (April 6, 2017). "Weekend Driver: Flowergeddon". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  45. ISBN 978-1-55838-121-6
    .
  46. ^
    ISBN 978-0-89024-334-3
    .
  47. ^ "Americana". Americana Magazine. 1990. p. 57.
  48. ^ "All Aboard San Diego's Railroad Museum". Coronado Lifestyles. Coronado Lifestyle Magazine. September 7, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2018. There's even a 10-foot-high model of the Goat Canyon Trestle that crosses over the Carrizo Gorge.
    Radcliff, Chris (May 28, 2007). "Geeky Places To Take Your Kids: San Diego". Wired. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  49. ^ Voss, Paul; Schaumberg, William C. (March 2001). "20 years of the San Diego Model R.R. Museum". Railroad Model Craftsman. White River Productions. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  50. ISBN 978-1-931199-28-5
    .

Further reading

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External links
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