Here's a photo I took on November 11, 1981, FORTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, of a loaded iron ore train running on the now-abandoned Eagle Mountain Railroad that ran from the now-abandoned Kaiser Steel Eagle Mountain mine to the junction with the then-SP Sunset Route on the eastern shore of Salton Sea in Riverside County, CA. This mine and railroad kept the now-abandoned Kaiser Steel mill in Fontana, CA supplied with taconite pellets used in the production of steel. Coal was brought in from York Canyon mine in northeastern New Mexico, served by Santa Fe, and from central Utah, served by the Utah Railway, Rio Grande and Union Pacific.

Since the Eagle Mountain Railroad was a non-common carrier that basically hauled one commodity, it died when the steel mill died.

The train is about to pass under Interstate 10 near the Red Cloud Road exit (Exit 182).

John Ferris' Railway Club of Southern California ran a passenger excursion on the Eagle Mountain Railroad sometime in the 1940s, either shortly before or after it began revenue service. I would imagine this was the only passenger excursion that operated on the line. The railroad was used for movie work for "The Professionals" and "Tough Guys".

I seem to remember that I was standing alongside my friend David Busse when we took our respective photos, and his appeared, along with an article he wrote, in an issue of CTC BOARD.

All that remains today is a barren right of way, as seen here in the GOOGLE Streetview image:

[maps.app.goo.gl]

[maps.app.goo.gl]