He gave me a tour when. The shay pulled the Miramar Chief.

SP5103 Wrote:
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> Jim Lundquist never "ran" the group, though he was
> president in the 1990s and again after the divorce
> from Carrizo Gorge Railway. He is still active,
> being the Museum Services officer which I believe
> indicates he may be a board member.
>
> The track on the Mexican side was purchased from
> SP when Mexico nationalized their railroads years
> ago, and was a operated as the Tijuana & Tecate
> division of the S-BC, part of NdeM. When SP
> abandoned the SD&AE, it was purchased by MTDB who
> used the right of way from San Ysidro to the San
> Diego yard as part of the initial San Diego
> Trolley line, then converting the former El Cajon
> branch to LRT/freight in the next phase.
>
> MTDB/SDT has never operated freight service,
> always contracting it out. The first operator was
> Kyle Railways who operated it as the SD&AE buying
> the SP SW8 units left in San Diego plus 4 M-K GP9
> rebuilds. They operated through service but had a
> couple of bad storms, and gave up the gorge after
> a couple trestles mysteriously burned right after
> they received no support for subsidizing freight
> rates. This had been Kyle's largest operations,
> until the bought the Kyle railroad in Kansas
> (where the surviving engines were transferred.)
> There is still an SD&AE, as it is the actual owner
> (in turn owned by MTDB or whatever their name is
> now), and the board includes MTDB and one member
> representing the current freight operator.
>
> The next and current freight operator is San Diego
> & Imperial Valley (SDIY), which was the first
> railroad for Railtex which had previously been a
> freight car leasing company. Railtex used two
> xATSF SSB1200s and only switched San Diego, El
> Cajon and Tijuana/Tecate. There was an effort to
> reopen the Gorge, using the insurance settlement.
> I seem to recall that a couple tunnels burned too.
> As far as I know, SDIY (now part of G&W) is still
> the actual contract freight operator on the US
> side, but has never operated a train on the desert
> side. Any additional contracts, including the one
> with PSRMA, is with their consensus.
>
> PSRMA bought their first property at Campo when
> Kyle was still running. They moved the equipment
> themselves through Mexico to Campo in a couple
> trains after Kyle gave up the Gorge. By agreement,
> they began operations and maintained the track
> from Campo to Miller Creek where they installed a
> short siding to run around their trains.
>
> At this point, PSRMA frustrated with their
> inability to attract grants shifted from an
> elected board of directors to a self-appointing
> board of trustees. This turned out to almost be a
> fatal mistake, and is known as the "dark days"
> which included the sale of the Shay. Most of the
> museum's budget went to a paid administrative
> staff and for office expenses in the San Diego
> depot. There was also a coordination agreement
> with the Carrizo Gorge Railway (who were former
> museum volunteers), where they were suppose to do
> all maintenance, and in exchange were allowe to
> use the museum's rights and equipment to operate
> "special trains" including dinner trains and the
> popular trains to Tecate, paying the museum 10% of
> the gross. It was during this time that Carrizo
> Gorge Railway obtained a sub-agreement allowing
> them to reopen the Gorge. I'm not sure how the
> whole Mexican deal went, but basically SDIY got
> shoved aside for CZRY et al. On the Mexican side,
> they had to have a Mexican partner, on the desert
> line they were stripping all the sand they could
> off the right of way, transloading it at Campo to
> supply construction projects in San Diego. There
> was also some suspicion that the museum Executive
> Director was a secret investor in CZRY, but he
> died before anything was proven.
>
> Circa 2004, there was an effort by formerly active
> members to recall the board of trustees. After a
> year, two recall votes, and thousands of dollars,
> the museum was returned to an elected board of
> directors. It got back a derelict property and
> equipment with few active volunteers left, as well
> as a huge debt including the legal bills of the
> previous board to fight the recall. Bankruptcy was
> considered, but was somehow avoided and
> outstanding bills were negotiated.
>
> In the following years - PSRMA trains returned to
> Tecate at their invitation until tunnel 3 burned
> and the drug wars got too bad. PSRMA now runs
> their SD&A trains to the Tunnel 4 (the actual
> border is inside the tunnel) shoving one way since
> the small trestle the other way is out of service.
> The museum is maintaining the track they use,
> except for those few periods there is an actual
> freight operation. Most of the rail is only 75#.
> The regular weekend trains only operate certain
> months, most of the museum's income comes from
> special events and the North Pole Express trains.
> They have actually adapted, attracted new
> volunteers, and may be returning to Tecate this
> winter.
>
> In the meantime - Carrizo Gorge Railway has been
> an absolute soap opera. I can't even keep track of
> who the players are. The original group (Gary
> Sweetwood et al) was pushed out, now their is PIR
> which is pretty much an investment scheme by all
> appearances, plus whatever is going on the Mexican
> side. Back when, CZRY actually ran a test train
> from Plaster City into the gorge with double
> stacks and auto racks, but the reality is the
> investment required to upgrade the line versus the
> potential traffic can't really be justified. MTDB
> has been very cooperative with PSRMA through the
> years, but seem to accept every scam that comes
> along regarding the desert line. As I recall, it
> was the SD&AE/MTDB that ordered CZRY to cease
> gorge operations unless they repaired the bridges,
> which had been estimated at $1 million for the big
> trestle alone. The ownership of most of CZRY's
> equipment is challenged. CZRY was known to be very
> inventive in their business, including operating a
> charter passenger train in the gorge for the local
> clothing optional camp.
>
> Who knows what the next chapter will be? It was
> called the "Impossible Railroad" when it was
> built, but at some point its nine lives run out.