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SPRR Yuma District - The East Line SEGMENT 2: APEX to 03/15/91 Introduction The upcoming
48 miles take the Yuma Line from the top of Beaumont Hill (the saddle
of San Gorgonio Pass) at more than 2600 feet elevation, down the eastward
side of the pass and finally out on to the gently sloping, sandy alluvial
fan that makes up the floor of the
Along this
stretch of railroad, the climate changes much more significantly than
the modest altitude change might imply.
While weather in
During winter or summer, the climatological differences
that you will experience between The primary
reason for the meteorological diversity is the unusual geology presented
by the narrow gap between the highest groups of peaks in Southern California,
the San Gorgonio Range on the north and the
563.3 APEX Switch (RIV151D6) EB/WB Absolute
Signals End Two Main Track
CTC Begin Single Main
Track CTC Signpost EB 50-40
MPH Speed Limit: EB
50-40 MPH; WB 50-40 MPH Speed Limit through
switch to #2 Track: 25 MPH To the
east there is single track mainline with occasional sidings all the
way to The Espee
Timetable indicates that Apex is at MP563.2; the actual switchpoints
are at 563.3. The north
side access road is passable to the east and west. 563.5 Potrero Creek Culvert Potrero Creek heads on the plain north of Note that
the bridge abutments are built of old railroad boxcar doors. Use what's available... The north side of the tracks remains passable
while the south side ends with a precipitous fall.
563.9 Leave County Lands: Enter 564.0 2570' AMSL; -0.8% EB 564.1 Highland Springs Underpass Block Signals:
EB 5642 - WB 5641 Leave Before
September 1989, this was just a nice, simple country grade crossing
with a little two-lane road. But
then they built the housing development and shopping center on the south
side of the track. So the
underpass was completed in the summer of 1990.
The north path along the right-of-way remains passable all the
way to Sunset Avenue. 564.3 Dragging Equipment / Hot Box DETECTOR (RIV151F6) Right along
in here is the actual dividing point between drainage that is destined
for the 565.0 West Switch PERSHING Siding (RIV151F6) EB/WB Absolute
Signals Siding Length 6498' 2530' AMSL; -0.7%
EB A low,
tan municipal water tank is just south and to the west; the south path
along the right-of-way ends in a deep gulley.
The north side path passes across the gulley floor. 565.3 Signpost WB 50-40 MPH (main track) (RIV152A6) Signpost WB 25
MPH (siding) 565.4 Smith Creek Culvert Smith Creek
has etched a deep gulley which the railroad crosses by means of a high
fill. The north trackside
road is passable by 2WD but right in the bottom of the wash itself there
is a patch of soft, moist gravel with which to contend.
(Generally, the gravel hasn't been too much of a problem in the
past few times that I've driven across). Smith Creek
drains the west end of the Banning Bench, a shelf-like ledge just north
of Banning, and is also the westernmost named creek in the Pass to flow
east into the Salton Sink. 565.5 PERSHING Station Deep Gulley with
Culvert 566.0 2495' AMSL; -1.3% EB 566.3 Sunset Avenue Grade Crossing (RIV152B6) The north
path along the right-of-way remains passable all the way to 566.5 East Switch PERSHING Siding (RIV152C6) EB/WB Absolute
Signals 566.8 To the
east there is access along both the north and south side of the rails
all the way to 567.0 Montgomery Creek Culvert (RIV152D6) 2425' AMSL; -1.6%
EB Montgomery
Creek, another drainage from the Banning Bench, flows south and east
to join with the San Gorgonio River. 567.6 West Switch BANNING Siding (RIV152E6) EB/WB Absolute
Signals Siding Length 6202' 567.8 SR 243
leads south up into the San Jacinto Mountains to Idyllwild, a mere 26
miles south, heart of the San Jacintos and an alpine interlude at just
over a mile above sea level. The access
road along the north side of the tracks also passes over on the railroad
bridge, so that maintenance crews don't need to exit from the right-of-way
to move along the rails. 568.0 2340' AMSL; -1.5% EB 568.2 BANNING Station Banning
Station, back in the distant past, stretched from here to about MP568.5. It was located along the north side of
the tracks and fronted on 568.3 San Gorgonio Avenue Grade Crossing (RIV152F6) For a spectacular
view of the whole San Gorgonio Pass, travel south on A good
dirt path leading east is available along the north side of the tracks;
568.9 East Switch BANNING Siding (RIV153A6) EB/WB Absolute
Signals 569.0 2250' AMSL; -1.7% EB 569.3 Entrance to Banning Airport Banning
Airport is along south side of tracks here; 569.4 A Couple of Nasty Gullies (RIV153B6) There is
a couple of nasty but passable little gullies along the path on the
north side of the tracks. There
are also many cobbles and larger rocks.
Drive with caution. 569.6 Begin Paved Road This road
is the half-buried remains of the eastern extension of 570.0 Dragging Equipment DETECTOR (RIV153C6) Block Signals:
EB 5700 - WB 5701 2160' AMSL; -1.7%
EB In October
1989 the normally female voice of this talking detector slowed down
to about half-speed, sounding more like someone on Quaaludes. 570.6 Truck Scales on
Interstate 10 571.0 210' Wood Bridge over the San Gorgonio River (RIV153D6) 2070' AMSL; -1.8%
EB The railroad
passes over the San Gorgonio River wash; the river is usually dry on
the surface except after a summer thunderstorm or when there is spring
runoff. The San Gorgonio River is formed by the
drainage off the south faces of Little San Gorgonio Mountain and Mount San
Gorgonio, the highest peak in 571.1 West Switch CABAZON Siding EB/WB Absolute
Signals Siding Length 16217' Speed Limit through
switch to siding: 20 MPH The rails
pass over a smaller wash. East to
about MP579.4 access to the tracks is available along the paved path
of old Route 60. The path
will narrow to single lane width but then at MP572.6 will widen to a
full four lanes. According
to the topographic map, this siding used to be called Owl; however,
the name "Cabazon" shows up on maps as old as 1884. Leave Banning:
Enter County Lands 571.5 Old OWL Station Owl, a
siding approximately 5900' long, appears on old timetables and maps. Owl has been absorbed as the west end of
Cabazon siding. 572.0 1975' AMSL; -1.9% EB 572.3 Exercise
caution when driving along this single-lane section of the old highway. Bicycles, pedestrians and very occasional
auto traffic may be found here.
The eastbound I10 offramp for Apache Trail covers all but this
narrow remainder of the old highway. 572.6 Apache Trail Grade Crossing Block Signals:
EB 5726P - WB 5725 Eastward
signal 5726, sporting a "P" plate, also indicates the status
of the barricade detector at MP574.3. Access
to the tracks continues along the old highway along the north side;
573.0 1875' AMSL; -1.7% EB 573.7 Site of Old Water Tank (RIV174A1) The tank
along the north side of the siding was used back in the "old"
days before diesels came along. Twelve massive concrete feet are all
that remain, across from 574.0 Broadway Grade Crossing (RIV174B2) West-facing 6345
Spur East-facing 6340
Spur Community of Cabazon 1785' AMSL; -1.6% EB Spur 6345
comes off the main, south track, crosses Broadway and ends about two
hundred yards east. Spur
6340 is located along the north siding track, just west of the grade
crossing and continuing west for a hundred yards or so. 574.1 CABAZON Station There is
a section shanty south of the 6345 spur.
According to a 1954 timetable, Cabazon had a north siding 122
carlengths (approximately 6200') long and a 125-car (6300') south siding. Site of Old Water
Tank Big Lizards The Cabazon
Offramp from both eastbound and westbound Interstate 10 provides access
to Immediately
south of the Notice
the twelve concrete footings of yet another long-gone water tank along
the north side of the tracks west of the intersection. 574.3 West Switch East Switch CABAZON
Siding EB/WB Absolute
Signals (WB Signals Carry "P" Plate) Barricade DETECTOR Mons Siding
is the longest unbroken siding in the Yuma Sub. Over three miles long between switchpoints,
it helps to clear up congestion on the east side of the Beaumont Hill. This particular
junction of these two sidings is called a "Lap Siding". Since the two sidings overlap one another
without joining, the sidings can be set up to hold a train that is much
longer than the length of either Cabazon or Mons and still provide room
for a passing train to get by.
More likely, though, the lap junction allows run-by meets for
opposing traffic without incurring tremendous slowdowns.
All told, between the lap sidings here and the total length of
the Mons/Fingal Sidings to the east, this provides nearly eight miles
of "double" track in case of a really slow meet. Check out
the long, single-railed wooden fence that runs for about 120' along
the north side of the railroad right-of-way, immediately across from
the freeway offramp. That's
a BARRICADE DETECTOR. If some out-of-control vehicle (a tractor and
semi-trailer, I suspect) comes flying off the freeway with burned-out
brakes, the vehicle might hit the barricade fence on its way to fouling
the railroad tracks. A single heavy wire is supported by the
fence and acts as a long pull-chain for a switch at the east end of
the fence. The theory is
that a truck will hit the fence, rip the wire out of the fence as the
truck goes through, and the wire will tug on a switch that also controls
the indications on the eastbound 5276P signal and the westward absolute
signals right here. However,
given the angle of the offramp, I think that there's a good possibility
that the vehicle would miss the fence completely, passing just to the
east and fouling the mainline without setting off the barricade detector. You wait and see... (NOTE: as of October
1989, the detector had served its purpose; the east end, right at the
control box, was creamed.) 574.6 Signpost EB 45-40 MPH 575.0 1700' AMSL; -1.7% EB 576.0 1615' AMSL; -1.9% EB 576.2 According
to that 1954 timetable, the old 576.5 East Switch West Switch FINGAL
Siding EB/WB Fingal Siding Length
11373' The Mons
Crossovers serve as the ends of the individual Just west
of the west end of the Mons Crossovers, the railroad passes over the
Colorado River Aqueduct, built by the Southern California Metropolitan
Water District (MWD) to bring Colorado River water from the Colorado
River through the headgates at Parker Dam, about 160 miles east, to
Los Angeles. The aqueduct passes under the tracks from
the northeast and heads about southwest, tunneling under the 576.6 Signpost WB 50 MPH Speed Limit: EB
45-40 MPH; WB 50 MPH 577.0 1515' AMSL; -1.7% EB 577.9 Old Propeller Farm South of Tracks (RIV175C1) South of the tracks about a half-mile is an abandoned
wind energy conversion farm, one of the dozen or so farms in the eastern
San Gorgonio Pass. 578.0 1425' AMSL; -1.5% EB 578.6 FINGAL Station West-facing 6369
Spur The 150
yard-long spur is off the south side of the siding track. Fingal used to be a mere siding of 5800'
length. Now it has been
lengthened and absorbed into what is now a near-double track railroad
all the way from MP571.1 to MP578.7, a total of 7.6 miles. 578.7 East Switch FINGAL Siding (RIV175D1) EB/WB Absolute
Signals (EB Signals Carry "P" Plate) The eastbound signals carry the "P" plate,
indicating that the signal will also display an indication due to the
state of the high-water detector in the bridge at MP579.2. 579.0 1350' AMSL; -1.7% EB
579.2 Two Bridges over Stubbe
Wash carries the outflow from Stubbe Canyon which heads on the southeast
side of Kitching Peak, the lone alpine peak in the foreground just a
bit west of due north. The Pacific
Crest Trail, the hiking path that leads from the Mexican border to The high
water detector located under the west bridge, a 50' wood structure,
also controls the indication at signal WB5801P and the eastward absolute
signals at MP578.7. The paved road and the tracks begin to curve to
the south. 579.4 Tracks separate from Ahead the
paved road ends at the Verbenia Avenue Ramp on Interstate 10. To continue along the right-of-way, there
is a dirt road that separates to the right off the paved road and eases
down to the tracks. The little
unincorporated community of 579.5 Rail Greaser Yes, another
messy, sticky, gooey rail greaser.
Don't touch the rails anywhere around here for the fear of becoming
mired in the glop. Don't
even walk in the stuff; you'll track it into your car and ruin the carpet
or the floormats. 579.6 Dragging Equipment DETECTOR As measured
by walking along the tracks, counting poles or looking at the odometer,
this detector is really at MP579.8; that's false advertising for you. 580.0 1259' AMSL; -1.9% EB 580.2 Block Signals: EB 5802 - WB 5801P (RIV175F1) The westbound
signal 5801 carries the "P" plate. This signal, in addition to traffic duty,
indicates the status of the high-water detector on the bridge at MP579.2. 580.6 State Highway 111 Overpass The junction
of SR111 and I10 lies about 0.3 miles north; SR111 continues east and
the city of 580.9 Track Access from The dirt
road along the north side of the right of way joins with The old
Whitewater Adobe lies inside a compound just north; this may be the
location of the old Whitewater Station, shown on maps as old as 1891. 581.0 1160' AMSL; -0.3% EB 581.2 High-Tension Power Lines Note the
Strange Contraption in the fenced compound along the north side of the
tracks. 581.5 Junction of A left
turn here (north) onto 581.6 West Switch WEST PALM SPRINGS Siding EB/WB Absolute
Signals Siding Length 6460' 581.8 Water Tank Foundations Concrete
foundations along south side of tracks mark the location of a water
tank used for steam engine watering.
Reportedly, the tank was installed in the Thirties and removed
in the Fifties and put into service up in the Sierras. The south
side of the track is now lined with a verdant, dense stand of athel
tamarisk, a shrub/tree imported from 582.0 1140' AMSL; -0.4% EB 582.4 Black Water Tank The black water tank along the south side of the rails
is allegedly as much as 100 years old, augmented long ago by the now-removed
water tank 0.8 miles west. 582.6 WEST PALM SPRINGS Station (RIV176C3) East-facing 6445
Spur Helper
sets will sometimes use the spur 6445 along the south side of the siding
track but not very often. Once,
in April 1989, the last of the unmodified GP20s, 4060, was set out on
this spur as bad-order. The 1954
timetable identifies this as " East from
here there are various paths across the upcoming The Over the
eons of regional uplift caused by movement along the San Andreas Fault,
the great mountains of San Jacinto and San Gorgonio rose out of the
landscape and both grew to heights over ten thousand feet. These mountains catch the water that erodes
the granite rock and carries the debris downhill toward the ocean or
the Salton Sink. The debris
carried by countless years of flood flow have built the great alluvial
fan upon which the railroad tracks cross.
The structure constructed by water-borne debris from The stream
paths, seen from the air, appear braided, twisting and twining around
each other as the courses change radically from year to year. Because of this, the railroad, the Department
of Transportation (Caltrans), the Wind Farm operators and the municipalities
along the path of the Whitewater have erected dikes and other barriers
and channels to attempt to keep the river pointed along a known path.
There are several bridges along the tracks for the next mile
or two, each reflecting one of the many possible courses that runoff
water might take on its gravity-induced fall. 582.8 East Switch WEST PALM SPRINGS Siding EB/WB Absolute
Signals (EB Signals display "P" Plate) Leave County Lands:
Enter The eastbound signals also indicate the status of the
high-water detectors of three upcoming bridges at MP582.9, MP583.2 and
MP583.3. 582.9 Passage is possible with care and skill over sandy path
about 100 yards south of the trestle.
Take care to avoid the myriads of two, three and four-wheel racers
that frequent these parts. One
alternate route is the path along at right-of-way of the natural gas
pipeline, about 0.3 miles north from here.
Go back to Tipton Rd. at MP582.6, and head north on the dirt
track that leads north away from the ninety-degree bend in Tipton Road. Follow this path to the wide, cleared pipeline
route and turn east. This
route will come alongside the north flank of the railroad tracks at
about MP584.7. This trestle
bridge incorporates a high-water detector (north side, east end), the
condition of which is displayed at signal WB5839P and at the eastbound
absolute signals at the east switch of The south
right-of-way path is very rocky and slow along here. There is no good path through here, only
ones less bad. Experiment. 583.0 1120' AMSL; -1.4% EB 583.1 A 100-foot-long,
concrete bridge carries the rails over this channel with enough clearance
for vehicular passage underneath. 583.2 Bridges over branches of the Leave The tracks
first cross a river branch with a 60' long, wooden trestle bridge. There is only a few feet of clearance under
this bridge, not enough for much more than a go-kart. The second
bridge, a few hundred feet east, is a 180'-long, concrete trestle which
includes a high-water detector that also controls the WB5839P block
signal and the absolute signals at the east end of West Palm Springs;
if the detector trips, the signals will display a Stop indication. "P" plates are intact on the
stanchions at both ends of this bridge.
There's only one problem with the placement of the detector:
it's at the northwest corner of the bridge, shielded from storm flow
by debris deposits and on the inside of the curve in the wash.
Any storm water running down the wash will erode the east end
of the bridge abutments long before water gets over to the detector. By the
way, even if there is water in the creek bed, don't try to go for a
swim; note the posted sign:
At the
time of this writing there was nearly 5 gallons of water per second
flowing in this channel. I
suspect the sign warns one of the head injury that they ll get from
a swan dive. The south right-of-way has a straightforward ford of the
stream about 75 yards south of the tracks. For the
next 0.2 miles the trail becomes very cluttered with cobbles, stones
and just plain boulders. Pass
with caution and care. 583.3 Bridge over branch of the This 50-foot
steel and concrete bridge, like the bridges at MP583.2 and 582.9, incorporates
a high-water detector that again controls the WB5839P and the eastbound
absolutes at MP582.8. Again,
"P" plates are used at each end of this structure to indicate
its protected status. 583.4 Bridge over branch of the The gulley
is spanned with a 50'-long, wooden trestle bridge with insufficient
clearance underneath for vehicle passage. 583.5 Bridge over branch of the This gulley
is spanned with another 50-foot-long, wooden trestle bridge with insufficient
clearance underneath for vehicle passage. The southside
access road passes through firm sand in the bottom of the wash; don't
dawdle here, otherwise a two-wheel-drive vehicle might get stuck. |
