Kaiser first got its ore from a mine near Kelso, via the UP, during the period of WWII and for a while there after. Kelso actually had a fairly good sized yard, and "town" back then, and you can see pictures of UP ore trains there, from that era.

I don't recall ever seeing any raw ore from Eagle Mountain, so maybe that was before my time, we only handled taconite, for the mill, or for export via the port.

Export ore from Industry to Dolores (the harbor) was usually a night job, with a PE protected hoghead, but I sometimes caught it off of the extra board. It went from COI via the UP main, and Bartolo, down the 605 next to the San Gabriel River, around the weird wye (almost a complete reverse loop) configuration approaching Los Nietos, then crossing the ATSF main, making the turn toward Huntington Park on the PE Brea line, on rails relaid for the ore trains, with welded rail.

Nothing quite compares to the memories of going through Huntington Park at about 3 in the morning, blowing the crossings, at 10 mph., as you slow down approaching Slauson Jct. and the turn down Long Beach Avenue on the old PE "4 track" through Watts, to Dolores.

Solitude and independence, back in the days before big brother and black boxes, just you, the sleeping brakeman, the engines humming, and 10,000 tons of pellets, watching the sun rise over the City as it wakes up.

What a long strange trip it's been...…..