|
You are in the CarrTracks website Picture Gallery. Picture Gallery of Southern Pacific Railroad Trains
|
|
The Southern Pacific built east from Los Angeles in 1875 and went over Beaumont Hill, a gap between the San Gorgonio and San Jacinto mountains east of Colton. The tracks rise from 950 feet at the east end of Colton to 2,600 feet at Beaumont, then drops to 650 feet at Garnet. The maximum grade on the west side of the pass is 1.9 percent and was 2.0 percent on the east side. The railroad reached Indio in May 1876 and reached Yuma in September 1877. A unique feature of this line is that it is the only main line in the country to operate at 200 feet below sea level. Here is an idea of what traffic was like in the 1919. The January 1920 Southern Pacific Bulletin reported that during a one week period in November, the SP ran 42 passenger trains, 68 freight trains, 51 light engines eastbound with 43 passenger trains, 39 freight trains, 102 light engines running westbound over Beaumont Hill. This averaged 49 movements a day. To handle all this traffic, the SP installed block signals during the 1920s. CTC was installed over Beaumont Hill from Colton to Indio in April 1944. In 1948, CTC was installed between Los Angeles and Colton. And then in 1956 CTC was installed between Indio and Yuma. By 1960, CTC was in service on all of the single track sections from Los Angeles to El Paso. All pictures in this series are on disks 53, 54, and 55. You can purchase a disk and printout any of the pictures for your own use to dress up your train room or add color to a house that just cries out for more train pictures. Taylor Yard |
Main Gallery